Women, Girls and Education

Female literacy as being a key to overall development ...

Female literacy reduces birth rates in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. How-ever, the reductions are surprisingly small in percentage terms. Thus, female literacy, even when we account for its impact on the age of marriage and cohabitation, is not the magic bullet for population control that it is often thought to be. Other mea-sures, such as economic development, greater development of women and their participation in the workforce and provi-sion of health and family planning service are also needed. Female literacy is a critical preconditioning for women's development and must be encouraged. Yet, without overall development, don't expect miraculous reductions in fertility, just from it.

- How Effective Is Female Literacy in Reducing Fertility?, KIRIT S PARIKH, CHIRANJIB GUPTA, Economic & Political  Weekly, 01/09/2001, [J.ELDOC.N00.01sep01EPW.pdf]

The lives that are most burdened and impoverished by over-frequent bearing and rearing of children are those of young women. A greater voice of young women in family decisions tends, therefore, to cut down birth rates sharply. For example, the fertility rates   in the different districts that make up India vary extremely widely, from almost 5 (roughly, five children per couple) in some districts to less than 1.7 in some others. Empirical investigations by Mamta Murthi and Jean Drèze indicate that only two general variables significantly help to explain these differences: female literacy and female economic participation.

- All they need is a school, Amartya Sen, Asian Age, 30/05/2002, [C.ELDOC.N00.30may02aa.htm]

This paper highlights the causes for the inequality in educational transitions in India. Where education is concerned, not only do girls lag behind, but also certain communities and classes fare worse than others. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to highlight the factors responsible for this inequality for both boys and girls from socially deprived origins, and secondly, to highlight in particular the inequality faced by girls at each educational transition stage...

- Gendered Inequality in Educational Transitions, Divya Rao, EPW, [J.ELDOC.N00.280804EPW3297.pdf]

Education has led to cultural changes, Young educated girls from this village are finding out the hard way that not everyone respects education. Some are confronting a cultural shock in their married homes. Moveena, 21 and a mother of three has been sent back to her parents. She is the centre of pity because she studied up to the eighth-class and was later married . It seems she could not cope in an uneducated in-laws' home. What happened? 'Unko bolne ki tameez ati nahi," (They don't know how to use civil language) she vol-unteered.
Pahari village is very proud of an 11 year-old Zeenat. Sports encouragement from Lok Jumbish had turned her into an athlete. Physical training (PT) is a part of the school curriculum and Zeenat, a sprinter, came first in the Bharatpur district sports meet. Why is it that these girls have to marry unedu-cated men? According to Vija); who is managing the Lok Jumbish office, educated boys demand dowry.

-  Meos left in the lurch: Lok Jumbish moves on, Grassroot Development, 01/03/2001, [J.ELDOC.N21.01mar01grd1.pdf ]
 

Literacy levels amongst women in India...

As per Census 2001, Kerala has the highest literacy rate for women (88 per cent) and Maharashtra the second highest (68 per cent). During the death centenary year of Savitribai Phule, 1997, the State had made two-thirds of its female population literate. Within 15 years of the introduction of the State government-sponsored Savitribai Phule Foster Parent Scheme, which involves the combined effort of the State government, school authorities, proactive teachers and citizens to promote and financially support girls' education in schools run by village councils, tehsil councils, district councils and municipal corporations in Maharashtra, millions of girls from the marginalised sections have successfully completed formal education. In the secondary and higher secondary examinations in the State held in March 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003, girls performed better than boys. In the SSC examination in 2000, 53.34 per cent of the girls and 47.45 per cent of the boys passed, while in the HSC examination, 68.02 per cent of the girls and 55.92 per cent of the boys passed. Increasing numbers of middle- and upper-class girls are joining engineering, medical and law colleges and business management schools.

Human Development Report, Maharashtra, 2002 recommended the empowerment of women by stressing better compulsory elementary education. The Maharashtra State Education Policy, which has made a provision for free education for girls up to Class 12, has proved to be a boon for the development of the State.

- Schools to empower women, VIBHUTI PATEL, Frontline, 01/08/2003 N00, [C.ELDOC.N00.01aug03frn20.htm ]

- Sensing the Future: Female Literacy on the Rise in All Communities, RAVINDER KAUR, Times of India, 14/10/2004,  [C.ELDOC.A32.14oct04toi1.html]

 

Enrolment of girls in school...

UNESCO had then criticised gender parity ratio in India's school enrolment figures. In a report on South and East Asia, released in Paris this week, the agency has repeated the same fig-ures and painted quite a sorry state of Indian educa-tion. The fresh report gives out the same figures of O.83 as India's gender parity in-dex which means for every 1,000 boys enrolled, there are 830 girls seeking admis-sion.

On India, the report repeats that for children between six and ten, the total enrolment is 86 per cent. This is an-other figure that the Gov-ernment had contested at the time. The agency says even if the enrolment figure is high, the drop-out rate is over 50 per cent by the time the students move over to high school.

- UNESCO gives HRD blushes Fresh report repeats its gender parity figures in Paris, DIPTOSH MAJUMDAR, Indian Express, 12/02/2005 [C.ELDOC.N20.12feb04ie1.pdf]

- Meeting the MDG of gender parity in basic education, www.infochangeindia.org, [C.ELDOC.A32.girl_edu.html ]
 

While the household's ability to defray schooling related costs, both opportunity costs, as well as direct costs in terms of expenses on textbooks, uniforms, etc., featured as salient determinants of girls schooling, the rela-tionship between a household's economic standing and the enrollment of girls in school was not always clearcut. Thus, the better-off households had girls who were not in school while the poorer households had school-going girls. At the aggregate level, the relationship between per capita household income and the per cent enrolled among girls of school-going age was erratic (table 3). In contrast to the relationship between household income and girls' schooling, girls' enrollment was very consistently a function of the schooling exposure of parents.

- The Sociological Context of Girls' Schooling: Micro Perspectives from the Slums of Delhi, Rajiv Kalakrishnan, Social Action, 01/07/1994, [J.ELDOC.N00.01jul94SOA2.pdf]

The report, "Gender and Education for All - The Leap to Equality",  points a finger to the unfulfilled targets and highlights the undeniable link between poverty and enrolment levels in schools. It reiterates the prevalence of social norms and cultural practices that work against the enrolment of girls. It also takes a hard look at the functional notion of education or literacy where quality takes a beating. It notes with alarm the increase in child labour, the feminisation of the workforce and their links with poverty and the inability to secure good education.

-- Elusive goals, T.K. RAJALAKSHMI, Frontline, 19/12/2003, [C.ELDOC.N21.19dec03frn8.html ]

The starting point of this paper was the proposition – commonly put forward by researchers and supported by case studies – that literacy level of Muslims, particularly in low-income households, are low. This phenomenon is explained in terms of the values prevalent within the Muslim community. As a result dropouts and non-enrolment is high in Muslim households, there is an in-built resistance to educating daughters and the madrasa is the common vehicle of education. This survey, despite its tentative nature, questions the validity of these propositions. The view that Muslims reject the value of education is not supported in the survey findings – respondents argued that education was important for both boys and girls. Thus, the value theory cannot be accepted as an explanation of the low levels of education.

-  Analysing Demand for Primary Education - Muslim Slum Dwellers of Kolkata, ZAKIR HUSAIN, Economic & Political Weekly, 08/01/2005, [J.ELDOC.N21.08jan05EPW137.pdf ]
 

 

Initiatives by the government... 

The government of Maharashtra has adopted effective strategies to reduce gender disparities in education. Some of them are:

* Lowering the direct and indirect costs of girls' education for parents.

* Developing relevant and gender sensitive curricula.

* Advocacy of girls' education that includes awareness generation about social and economic benefits of girls' education.

* Promoting training and recruitment of women teachers.

* Improving access to schools, especially by providing safe transport.

* Supporting NGOs working in the rural and tribal areas, such as Vidhayak Sansad in Thane district, Manavlok in Aurangabad district, Abhvyakti in Nasik district, Janarth in Dhule district, and SEARCH in Gadchiroli district, which are promoting women's education along with gender-sensitive socio-economic development.

* Developing a flexible school calendar and converting one room of the school into a crèche where girl students can keep their siblings, attend their classes and finish homework.

* Promoting literacy training of parents through television programmes such as Akshardhara and community radios.
* Using a multiple delivery system - formal, non-formal and alternative.

-Schools to empower women, VIBHUTI PATEL, Frontline, 01/08/2003 N00, [C.ELDOC.N00.01aug03frn20.htm]
 

Schemes and Programmes for the upliftment and education of women...

Its (Mahila Samakhya's) objective was to enhance the self-esteem and self-confidence of women; build their positive image by recognising their contribution to society, the polity and the economy; develop their ability to think critically; enable them to make informed choices in areas such as education, employment and health, especially reproductive health; and ensure equal participation in developmental processes. But the programme remained marginal throughout the 1990s. For every Rs.100 allocated for elementary education in the Union Budget, hardly 25 paise was given to it. In due course of time, even this miniscule programme lost its basic direction...

The focus on collective reflection and socio-cultural action by organised women's groups was abandoned. It became a mere enrolment programme for the girl child. Critical issues such as the participation of girls in schools, gender sensitising of learning material and teacher education and other holistic educational aims were ignored.

  - Education for too few, ANIL SADGOPAL, 05/12/2003  [C.ELDOC.N00.05dec03frn6.htm]

Now the administration has embarked on an ambi-tious Rs 35 crore primary school education pro-gramme where the focus is on enrolment of every child. ... Girls are being given books and three kg of rice is offered as an incentive every month for attendance in primary schools.  PAPN imparts skills like tailoring to girls so that they can fall back on it in times of need. "We believe that learning a skill will at least postpone the marriage-able age of the girls," Mr Verma said.

- Where the Mind Is Without Fear..., Meena Menon, Humanscape, 01/12/1997, [J.ELDOC.N00.01dec97HUS4.pdf]

The Uttar Pradesh government has announced special concessions for setting up girls' high schools under private management in interior blocks to extend educational facilities in the state. Under this scheme a subsidy of Rs ten lakhs will be given for building, library and science equipment. According to the government order, gram samaj land measuring one acre or more would be made available free of cost for opening these schools.

- U. P. grants benefits for private girls schools, Times of India, 19/10/1994, [C.ELDOC.N00.19oct94toi1.pdf]
 

Gender Sensitive Education - Curriculum and teaching that aims to break sex- specific stereotypes 

In 1990, the Ramamurti Committee's findings revealed that "vocational education"   for the girl child was being interpreted in all the States as "women oriented" education they were being taught cooking, interior decoration and stenotyping. The Economic Survey 2001-02 revealed that the drop-out rate of girls was 42 per cent at the primary level and 50 per cent at the elementary level. Does this not call for correction on a war footing?

Some of the successful non-governmental (NGO) models in non-formal methods of imparting education include:

1. Anubhav Shikshan Programme of the Youth for Unity and Action, Maharashtra is on community-based youth activities through the critical examination of firsthand experience; learning from the literature produced by marginalised sections of society; unlearning sexism, casteism and communalism through exercises such as role-play and role reversal; and having mutuality in the relationship between the teacher and the taught.

 

2. Vidhayak Sansad is doing similar work in the rural and tribal villages of Thane district.

 

3. Stree Mukti Sangathana : Since 1974, the SMS has been involved in women's education through songs, skits, ballets, plays, carnivals and mobile exhibitions, to promote gender-awareness. By 1985, the SMS managed to go high-tech by marketing its productions through a series of audio and video cassettes...Its plays on the social uplift of the girl child, dowry and so on, have been staged across Maharashtra. Since 1992, the SMS has made special efforts to reach out to the minority communities through active participation in the literacy mission of the State government.

 

4. Granthali:

Granthali is a library movement spearheaded by the secular intellectuals of Maharashtra. The most attractive aspects of this movement are the publication of original Marathi works, translation from other regional languages and English, and the distribution of books through mobile exhibition-cum-sale. Educational material produced by Granthali has been found to be useful for classroom teaching and teachers' training on issues of social development.

According to the National Family Health Survey (1998-99), of the total female population in Maharashtra, 38.6 per cent were illiterate, 18.1 per cent were literate (though they had not completed primary schooling), 17.8 per cent had completed primary schooling, 10.8 per cent had studied up to middle school, 7.9 per cent had passed the secondary examination and 6.9 per cent had passed higher secondary and above.
 
-Schools to empower women, VIBHUTI PATEL, Frontline, 01/08/2003 , [C.ELDOC.N00.01aug03frn20.htm ]
 

EFAdoes not give due importance to education for women and girls...