Cover; Contents; List of Tables and Boxes; Abbreviations and Glossary of Indian Terms; Acknowledgements; Section 1: Desk Research; 1 -- Introduction; 2 -- What DPEP and Other Data Sources Reveal; 3 -- Hierarchies of Access; 4 -- Institutional Mechanisms and Strategies; 5 -- Alternative Schools and Education Guarantee Scheme; 6 -- Inside the Classroom: Content Analysis of Classroom Processes Studies in Eight States; Section 2: Qualitative Micro Studies; 7 -- An Overview of Micro Studies; 8 -- Long Live the Alphabet!; 9 -- More Unequal than Others: Evidence from Surguja District, Chhattisgarh.