AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government may be making tall claims about its “Kanya Kelavani” and school enrolment drive, but a report shows the state has performed much poorly than other states in championing girls’ education.The Sample Registration System-Baseline Survey 2014 reveals that Gujarat (with 73.4 per cent of girls in school) is at the 20th position among 21 major states, just a notch above Rajasthan (72.1 per cent). According to the survey, around 26.6 per cent of girls in the age group of 15-17 years in Gujarat have either dropped out or have never been to school. That means 26.6 per cent of girls in the state have not reached the class IX or X level.It reveals the all-India average of girls attending school, which is 83.8 per cent, is higher than Gujarat’s by about 10 per cent. According to officials, when data was gathered, the programme to improve girl child enrolment in Gujarat schools had been in operation for more than a decade. As part of the annual “Kanya Kelavni” program and “Shala Praveshotsav”, ministers and government officials fan out in rural areas to ensure children’s enrolment. Despite the high-level push, however, even states termed backward have performed better than Gujarat.In Bihar, 83.3 per cent of girls in the age group 15-17 years attend school; in Assam the figure is 84.8 per cent; in Jharkhand it is 84.1 per cent; in Chhattisgarh it is 90.1 per cent; in Madhya Pradesh it is 79.2 per cent; in UP it is 79.4 per cent; and in Odisha it is 75.3 per cent.In fact, Gujarat is ranked among the bottom five states even when it comes to education of girls in the age group of 10-14 years. Data reveals that overall 73.5 per cent of girls in the state are literate. But of these, around 59 per cent have not studied beyond class X, and only 14.8 per cent have completed class XII.Of the 14.8 per cent who study beyond class X, only 7.3 per cent complete graduation. Gujarat education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma said, “We are aware that the drop out rate among girls is high and hence we launched the enrolment drive even in class IX.”He said this would ensure that girls don’t drop out after class VIII. He said the drop out ratio was not more than 20 per cent. “We are taking measures to ensure that girls study and the government is dedicated to achieving 100 per cent literacy among the girls,” he said.