The first issue of the journal Education Review, looks at the gender biases that affect education of the girl child in India. This is an excerpt from an article in the journal.

In 2002, the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act made elementary education a Fundamental Right for all children in the age group of 6-14 years. Most academic experts know that the primary hurdle in achieving this target would be bringing the ‘girl child to school’, especially those from lower and backward economic classes and castes of the Indian society (Report of the task force on education for women's equality). It is of little surprise that the current United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, now entrusted to meet the law, has a particular emphasis on education reforms, with special weightage being given to “empowering women” and “education for women’s equality, in their National Common Minimum Programme. The NCERT framework that provides a guideline for the syllabi in the primary, middle and high school curricula is due to be released in April 2005. The central advisory board of education (CABE), which is the apex advisory body on education, has formulated a special sub-committee for “Girl’s Education and Common School System” as well as “Committee for Universalization of Secondary Edcation”, to identify the obstacles for gender parity in the current educational set up.

Education is on the Concurrent list and hence a responsibility of both the Central and State Governments. In July 2003, a special thrust on women’s education came from the Indian government through the National Programme of Education for Girls at Elementary Levels (NPEGEL), as a part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). A budget of over Rs. 10 billion has been promised to this scheme. The programme aimed to develop a Model Girl Child Friendly School at the cluster level (10 villages) with incentives to provide uniforms, stationary, free text-books, remedial teaching, bridge courses etc. Another scheme was formulated on behalf of the government – the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) to encourage preferentially backward class and caste girls to be in school.

That women’s education is a critical focus for any ‘welfare state’ has been brought out in reports by various committees and sub committees, since India’s independence. There has been special provision for the education of women in every five-year plan projects in India. Under the Constitution of India, men and women are equal citizens in the eyes of the law and hence have the equal rights to all state resources. But social, economic and cultural dynamics have prevented the law from translating into reality. As recent as 2001-2002, the participation of girls in primary middle and high school are 44.1, 41.8 and 39.5% respectively. Female literacy stands at 53.7% compared to 76% for men, from the 2001 census report. According to government reports, 45 districts in India, mainly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharhand and Orissa have female literacy below 30%, according to the claims of Government of India’s report.

What we have seen so far is that the policy makers have time and again opened the dialogue and tried to impress upon the State and its people the gravity and the need to address the role of education in gender parity and gender in educational framework. In the 1967-68, The Education Commission clearly stated in their report – “For full development of our human resources, for improvement of homes and for moulding the character of children during the most impressionable years of infancy, the education of women is of even greater importance than that of men. In the modern world the role of women goes much beyond the home and bringing up of children. She is now adopting a career of her own and sharing equally with man, the responsibility for the development of society in all its aspects. This is the direction in which we will have to move.”

The National Policy on Education (NPE) that was drafted in 1986 and revised in 1992 was a landmark in the field of policy on women’s education in that it recognized the need to redress traditional gender imbalances in educational access and achievement. It recognized that the entire “educational system is alive to the gender and regional dimensions of educational disparities” and that there is a need for a “positive interventionist role in the empowerment of women. In their Plan of action it was recommended that all Bureaus of the Department of Education would prepare a concrete action plan addressing gender related concerns as well as a monitoring unit would be created in the Planning division of the department to ensure integration of gender issues into policy programmes and schemes. In addition, all annual reports would have to clearly spell out what steps had been taken to improve the access of women and girls to education. It is clearly stated in the Report of the Task force on education for women’s equality, that “It is impossible to achieve Universal Elementary Education unless concerted efforts are made to reach out to the girl child”.

However, despite a progressive policy on education, why does India still face an acute challenge in bringing the girl child to school?

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Posted by collective at February 20, 2005 12:52 PM