The United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child to recognise girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. This year’s theme is “Innovating for Girls’ Education”.
Education is a fundamental right of every human being. It lays the foundation for the development of society. Women are an indispensible part of a society. The future generation’s development mainly depends on the education of women. So, education of women is realised to be the most essential part for the society’s development. It can help every woman educate her children to be good managers of the family as well as active members of the society.
Females constitute about 50 per cent of India’s human resource, but lack of education snatches their chance to be part of the county’s’ progress. Due to this, there is a considerable gap between male and female literacy rates in the country.
India’s literacy rate grew to 74.04 per cent in 2011 from 12 per cent at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was greater than a six-fold improvement, the level is well below the world average rate of 84 per cent. There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India and the effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14 per cent for men and 65.46 per cent for women. Kerala has the highest female literacy rate (92% as per the 2011 census) whereas Rajasthan (52.7%). Odisha has a female literacy rate of 64.4 per cent and male literacy rate of 82.4 per cent.
Poverty is the root cause of many problems in India and also of low female literacy rate. More than one-third of Indian population is living below the poverty line. More than 50 per cent of girls in India fail to enrol in school and those who do are likely to drop out by the age of 12. Another contributing factor is the rapid population growth. Most Indian households have a number of children whose needs are much higher than their earning capacity. This leads to the neglect of girl education and puts more emphasis on the education of the boy child. This becomes as an impediment in the education of the Indian woman.
Though Government is putting efforts to make primary education free, parents are still not ready to send their girls to school. This is connected with the accessibility to schools. In most of the rural areas, lack of easy accessibility to school is another reason for low female literacy. Parents do not prefer to send girls to schools if these are located at a far distance from their homes.
Even if schools are there then lack of adequate school facilities becomes a hurdle. Some schools are really in pathetic infrastructural conditions and do not have even basic facilities.
Empowering adult women, building their confidence and education levels can have a powerful impact on enrolling more girls in schools. International leadership on girls’ education is currently dispersed across a number of organisations which need to improve the way they work together.
The Unicef is tasked with the lead role for girls’ education. It is also leading the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), which is a global partnership established to raise the profile of girls’ education. The CARE’s Girls’ Education Programme (GEP) in India has been in operation for over 10 years. Significantly, the successful implementation of residential camps and other innovative education strategies for marginalised girls have enabled the CARE India to shape national educational policy, contributing to adoption of residential bridge courses as part of a national scheme to get more girls into school. The CARE has collaborated in the design and rollout of the Government’s Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) schools, a residential school scheme at the upper primary level for girls from minority and educationally-disadvantaged communities. The GEP seeks to improve opportunities for girls and women through their increased participation in formal and alternative education systems.
The National Programme for Education of Girls for Elementary level (NPEGEl), launched in September 2003, is an integral but distinct component of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
It provides additional provisions for enhancing the education of underprivileged/disadvantaged girls at the elementary level through more intense community mobilisation, the development of model schools in clusters, early child care and education facilities and provision of need-based incentives like escorts, stationeries, work books and uniforms for girls. All Educationally Backward Blocks have been included under the NPEGEl.
The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme was launched in 2004 for setting up residential schools at the upper primary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities. It is implemented in educationally-backward blocks where the female rural literacy is below the national average and the gender gap in literacy is above the national average.
But despite all reasons, women must realise that education is highly needed for them so that they can live a life with pride. In case of any misfortune in life, it is education that would help them and not anything else.
literacy is one of the key socioeconomic indicators which helps plan a country’s development path. In India, the low literacy level is a result of the prevailing socioeconomic factors. The literacy rate is also lower in rural areas than urban areas, with the rural areas reporting a rate of 68.9 per cent and urban areas 85.0 per cent. The pronounced difference in the rural-urban distribution proves that significant efforts need to be undertaken to improve the literacy status in the rural areas. The Government should really work towards the number, distance and quality of schools in rural as well as urban India.
The country’s future will largely be shaped by today’s girls and tomorrow’s women. An educated Indian woman will yield a positive impact in the society by contributing positively to the economy of both the country and the society. The low level of literacy not only has a negative impact on women’s lives but also on their families’ and on the country’s economic development. India has consolidated its earlier educational reforms with increased resources and stronger policy commitments for achieving elementary education for all children, particularly girls. Besides, community attitudes can also play a critical role in shaping the parameters of girls’ access to education.
(Dr Mayarani Praharaj works at the Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar)