About 60% of children walk to school in India: NSO survey

Approximately 60 per cent of children in the country go to school on foot while about 12 per cent use public transport and 11 per cent ride bicycles, according to the latest National Statistical Organisation data.

The data also shows a disparity between girls and boys on the mode of transport used to travel to school.

According to the 2017-18 data, overall, 62 per cent of girls travel on foot to reach school, which is slightly higher than the 57.9 per cent of boys who do the same.

The ratio is skewed in rural areas with 66.5 per cent girls travelling on foot as compared to 61.4 per cent of boys. The difference is lesser in urban areas with 49.4 per cent boys walking to school as compared to 50.8 per cent girls doing the same.

A similar trend can be noticed in second most favoured mode of transport even though the variation is not huge. On an average, 12.6 per cent of boys avail public transport as opposed to 12.3 per cent. Compared to this, 12.5 per cent of boys ride a bicycle to school while only 9.7 per cent of girls do the same.