Riya topped her Class 12 board exams in a government school outside Darbhanga, but the celebration barely lasted a week. The nearest college is three hours away — one side — and her parents refuse to let an 18-year-old girl make that journey every day. They’re urging her to take up part-time work at the village tailor’s shop instead, and casually mentioning that “it’s time to start thinking about marriage.” It’s a future she has dreaded since Class 9, and one that no amount of academic merit can override.

Riya may be fictional, but the crisis she represents is painfully real. India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is stuck at 28.3%, far below China’s 60%+ and well behind several developing countries.

In many rural districts, the gap is even starker: girls who finish school sim

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