This study tries to assess through a field based study whether, to what extent, and in what ways the cumulative impact of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) interventions has been able to advance girls education and gender equality outcomes in selected contexts.

The mandate of the Committee was massive, to assess the status of women in India in all aspects of their lives, keeping in mind the diversities (class, caste, religion, ethnicity, region, abilities, age groups etc.), complexities and paradoxes that prevail in our society.

Of all the forms that violence against women can assume, sexual harassment is the most ubiquitous and insidious; all the more so because it is deemed 'normal' behaviour and not an assault on the female entity.