after marriage, with plans for the daughter's marriage during the secondary school age in some cases. Post-secondary education Participation in post-secondary education for girls in India has changed over time. One 2012 examination conducted by Rohini Sahni and Kalyan Shankar, published in High Education, investigated the aspect of inclusiveness for girls in the realm of higher education. The source indicates that overall participation for girls in higher education has gone up over time, especially in recent years. However, there are persisting disparities in terms of spread across disciplines. While boys tend to be better represent all educational disciplines, girls tend to have concentration in selective disciplines, while lacking representation in other educational realms. There has also been research on the dropout statistics across time in higher education. A 2007 source authored by Sugeeta Upadhyay in the journal Economic and Political Weekly, described that the dropout rate in higher education in greater for boys rather than girls. This trend is reversed in secondary education with dropout rates being greater for girls versus boys. The article suggests that the dropout rate in higher education could be explained by the sense of necessity and urgency that boys may feel to acquire employment. Thus, as employment is attained, boys may be more likely to drop out compared to girls in higher education institutions, as the employment urgency could be less pressing for girls. Literacy Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. According to Census of India 2011, literacy rate of females is 65.46% compared to males which is 82.14%. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out. According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy. From 2006 to 2010, the percent of females who completed at least a secondary education was almost half that of men, 26,6% compared to 50.4%. In the current generation of youth, the gap seems to be closing at the primary level and increasing at the secondary level. In rural Punjab, the gap between girls and boys in school enrollment increases dramatically with age as demonstrated in National Family Health Survey-3 where girls age