The Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Monday launched a web-based tool ‘Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls Education’ with geographical representation of data to help States in policy making and implementation.

The gender atlas, which is a geographical representation and time series data on various levels of education related parameters in the country, is freely available on the Ministry’s website.

“There are pockets in the country which need little more attention. As you move up the education cycle and enter secondary education, there are challenges that emerge,” Vrinda Sarup, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, told reporters here.

The tool, developed with support from UNICEF, was officially unveiled on Sunday by Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani in Raipur.

States can use this to identify and ensure equitable education with a focus on vulnerable girls, Sarup added.

Using available Government data such as Unified District Information System for Education data (2011-14), Census 2011 data and District Level Health Survey 2007-08, the atlas can provide comparative analysis of individual gender related indicators over three years which enables a visual assessment of change and whether some policy has worked or not.

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