Digital gender atlas to track low performing pockets

To give a fillip to effective implementation and execution of schemes pertaining to education for girls, the Government has launched a ‘digital gender atlas’ which will identify low performing geographic pockets for girls on specific gender-related indicators. With contents of visual representation of the vulnerabilities impinging education of girls, the atlas has been prepared in collaboration with UNICEF and was released by HRD Minister Smriti Irani in Chhattisgarh on Sunday. 

“It is a tool used for education planning and administration and help us target a plan of action for effective implementation of the programmes,” School Education Secretary Vrinda Sarup said. The atlas provides comparative analysis of individual gender-related indicators over three years that enables a visual assessment of the change and also an understanding of whether some intervention introduced in the geography has worked or not. It also visualises the vulnerability status of an area based on composite index of three parameters such as rural female literacy and per centage of boys and girls with disabilities, particularly girls.

The performance status of individual indicators can be visualised at a State and district level, differentiated by colour coding. For example, the level of vulnerability of districts and blocks in Chhattisgarh or western Gujarat or Rajasthan can be measured with the digital atlas.The atlas is available online on HRD Ministry website. It has been developed as a hands-on management tool to enable critical decisions and actions in pockets where gaps are to be met, the Secretary said.

The map has been prepared with data collated from the Unified District Information System for Education Data, Census 2011 and District-level Health Survey. While India has achieved high enrolment for girls at primary and upper primary levels, enrolment, however, remains low at the secondary level. At upper primary level, the representation of girls in total enrolment is 48.66 per cent and at the secondary level at 47.29 per cent.