Why it is absolutely essential to have women get the most from Indian education system
SHARE:
Status of women in India - Girls in schools
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- The story: Women empowerment starts at home, and is reinforced via education. Indian women have taken great strides in various fields, but a lot remains to be achieved. India cannot afford to ignore half the potential workforce if it aspires to be an economic powerhouse.
- Women as force multipliers: As a society, women can be the pivot to bring about critical and lasting social transformation. As individuals, they have the basic human right to be given all freedom to excel. There is a need to relook into various issues related to women's education especially higher education. As they say "educate a man, and you educate one man; but educate a woman and you educate a family".
- Girls dropping out: The reasons for many girls dropping out include primary ones like (i) Engaged in domestic activities (31.9%), (ii) Financial constraints (18.4%), (iii) Not interested in education (15.3%), and (iv) Marriage (12.4%).
- Gender biases: States having the highest rate of secondary school drop-outs among girls are also the ones where a significant percentage of girls get married before the age of 18 years. Deep-rooted gender biases are also reflected in the choice of schools, access to private tuitions and the choice of discipline in higher education. The average annual household expenditure on girls at this level is Rs 2,860 less than that on boys. In India, the average annual cost for professional courses is much higher compared to that of simple graduation programmes (Rs 50,000 vs Rs 8,000). Of the girls who do manage to enrol in a tertiary degree, a smaller proportion go on to pursue professional courses such as engineering (28.5%), while many more take courses such as pharmacy (58.7%) or opt for “normal graduation” (52%) as per AISHE 2019-20. Their representation is lowest in institutions of national importance, followed by deemed and private universities.
- Statistics: It is estimated that over 2.4 crore girls globally are on the verge of dropping out of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pandemic-induced school closures and economic hardships have significantly exacerbated many vectors that influence the problem of women in education. In the Indian context before the pandemic, there was a welcome trend in the gradual increase in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for women in higher education — from 19.8% in 2012-13 to 27.3% in 2019-20. It has been affected badly by the pandemic induced lockdowns. Over one crore girls are on the verge of dropping out of schools due to the pandemic alone.
- Why women must be educated: The global average for the private rate of return (the increase in an individual’s earnings) with just one extra year of schooling is about 9%, while the social returns of an extra year of school are even higher — above 10% at the secondary and higher education levels as per a decennial World Bank review. The private returns for women in higher education are much higher than for men — 11 to 17% as per different estimates. This has policy implications. For their own empowerment, as well as for society at large, we must bring more and more women within the ambit of higher education.
- Unprecedented times today: As an immediate step, in every locality, a mohalla school or a community learning programme should be started with appropriate Covid norms. The NITI Aayog, with the help of civil society organisations, had started a community programme led by volunteers called “Saksham Bitiya” in 28 aspirational districts where more than 1.87 lakh girl students were trained in socio-emotional and ethical learning.
- To predict likely drop-outs, a gender atlas comprising indicators that are mapped to key reasons for school drop-outs should be developed.
- There is a need to revise the National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education in areas or states with high prevalence of drop-outs and early child marriages. The scholarship amount may be increased and tied to the completion of graduation, with yearly scholarships paid to students upon successful completion of each year of their undergraduate degree.
- The National Education Policy 2020 provides for a gender inclusion fund. This fund should be utilised to support STEM education in these schools as well as in all Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
- Behavioural Insights Units (BIU) may be established across states to tackle social issues with the help of ultra-local NGOs/CSOs to reach the last mile.
- Summary: Addressing gender bias in education requires providing social, financial and emotional support to the girl child. India's demographic dividend depends on this factor the most.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain how social norms decelerate the forward movement of women's rights in India. (2) What has the pandemic done to school and college education in India, especially with girls? List three problems.
#Women #Education #Pandemic #Covid #Colleges #NITI
COMMENTS