Background: Despite the national policies and efforts taken by the governments, India still faces obstacles in providing education for all in the country. This paper describes the gender disparity in education in terms of interstate and rural-urban variations in India using the NFHS-5 data.

Methods: The proportion of women and men with ten or more years of education was extracted from NFHS-5 reports and compared across 28 States and eight Union Territories (UTs) in India. 

Results: In India, 41% of women and 50% of men received ten or more years of schooling, with the lowest proportion for women (23.2%) and men (29.4%) in Tripura. The highest proportion for women was observed in Kerala (77%) and for men in Lakshadweep (80%). The rural-urban difference in education was seen to be the highest in Meghalaya for males (36%) and females (34%), and the most considerable difference between women and men in education was observed in rural Ladakh (25.6%).