Written for and at the behest of international donor agencies interested in this subject, this collection of specially commissioned essays with an introduction and conclusion by the editor poses the question: what is the role of NGOs as change agents in reducing the gender gap in basic education in India? Put like this, the answer seems simple enough-very little, since NGOs have hardly entered this sector. This narrow perspective,
deliberately chosen, is both the strength and the weakness of this book. It works very well as a kind of project evaluation report and set of handy guidelines; but at another level, as an attempt to assess the issues raised by the gender gap in education, it does not go far enough.