Girls Education: towards a roadmap Ratna M. Sudarshan, ISST 18 November 2010
Expected Outputs Annotated bibliography on girls education in India Research Paper on status and challenges of girls education in India Proposed roadmap for girls education
Suggested outline of paper Context: persisting challenges Situating education within the gender equality discourse Girls education: vision for action Policy on girls education/ towards a roadmap Resources, within and outside the education sector
Context Overall gender parity index shows considerable progress: 0.94 at primary and 0.92 at upper primary level But data on children out of school (never enrolled + drop outs) shows wide variation by gender, caste, location. (data source used here: EdCil)
Social Group Wise children out of school as a % of total children out of school: all India
Children OoS as percentage of all children OoS (source: EdCil) MuslimSTSC OBC and other All IndiaMale 4,112, Female 4,038, BiharMale 624, Female 721, DelhiMale 70, Female 53, OrissaMale 206, Female 228, RajasthanMale 403, Female 614, Uttar Pradesh Male 1,467, Female 1,302, West BengalMale 378, Female 328,
Children OoS as %age of all children in that age group and social class: All India
Children Out of School as a % of total children in the social group: Rajasthan
Children OoS as %age of population 6-14 in social group: Bihar
Challenges Persisting systemic biases Understanding the role of the private sector in education Reaching to the most deprived – location, caste, income, gender
Education within gender equality discourse, and gender within education discourse Education for women – pre and post Independence Education for social change – Mahila Samakhya Special programmes – KGBV, NPEGEL, training for Muslim girls education However limited linkage between ECCE and schooling; need for broader focus on adolescent girls
Vision for Action: what steps can be taken Within education Around education
‘Pressure points’ – hh, school, community No of animals per family, distance to forest, drinking water sources (Vaidyanathan and Nair 2001) Suggestions from consultations – schools and classroom practices, curricula Teacher recruitment, education Incentives eg transport subsidies/ escorts Gender discourse with village groups
Roadmap Long term engagement – changing deep seated social norms around gender Linking pre school to school, working with adolescents Learning from innovative models (govt and non govt) Building links across sectors (infrastructure, women and child….) Responding to diversity
Thank you