Uncovering Gender Issues in Acess and Human Capital in Secondary Education

The present study will try to find out the gender issues in access of children to secondary education, the performance and academic achievement motivation of girls and boys and the underlying self esteem. Gender equality in education is the basic human right. Human capital is defined as the stock of knowledge and personal abilities an individual possesses, and is perceived as a factor of production that can be improved through education, training and experience. A normative survey method was used. Stratified random sample of school going children were part of the study (N=104). 52 boys and 52 girls were part of the study. Rosenberg self esteem scale and Sharma academic achievement motivation test (AAMT) were used as measuring instruments. The data obtained was analysed statistically. The results indicated that gender plays a significant role in access of enrolment of girls in secondary education but there is no significant difference in human capital.