Education through the gender lens

29 May 2007

The current environment for the promotion of girl child is gradually being encouraged but basic attitudes of people toward education of girls and the culturally tempered gender bias remain unchanged.

Scholarly studies and research projects have time and again established that if you educate a boy, you educate a person; if you educate a girl, you educate a family and benefit an entire community. Yet girls lag consistently behind boys in access to education throughout India.

Take the example of Saroj, a 16 year old girl in Udaipuria Gram Panchayat in Govindgarh Panchayat Samiti, Jhunujhunu district of Rajasthan. Along with other girls, she is a wage labourer in carpet weaving for the last ten years.

Saroj has never been to school and does not regret it, as she feels that she has gained a skill that enables her to earn Rs 60 a day. �What could I have gained from going to school?� she asks. She feels that getting an education would not have made her capable of earning. And education, which cannot give employment, has no value.

Another girl, 14 year old Babli, also from the bunker community, has studied till the 3rd standard. Her elder sister Poonam never went to school. These poor girls remarked that if education cannot mitigate the burden of poor girls, it is unlikely that it can gain any priority.

These girls help their mothers in household chores apart from making carpets. Thus they contribute to their household economy.

Usha, from Raigar community of Udaipuria Panchayat is studying in the 7th standard. She also sews shoes by the side, as she feels that she may not get access to higher education and her fate would confine her to her home. Her parents note that too much of education can lead to problems in marriage fixing, in finding an eligible spouse with similar education status, and may also lead young girls to speak for themselves, a situation that can give rise to troubles in adjusting to their new homes after marriage.

These and more such stories reveal that the basic attitude of people toward education of girls is not very encouraging. Girls like Saroj feel no qualms in admitting that education holds no meaning because most girls who do manage to go to primary schools do not attain higher education. Parents moreover do not want to send their daughters to far off places as they fear any untoward incident taking place.

A Delhi based NGO, PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia), along with Rajasthan State Resource Centre, has done a study and interventions in rural areas of the state, indicating that though access to primary education has become lot easier, yet the enrolment rate in government schools is declining with every year. According to an official estimate, 37% of all Indian primary schoolchildren drop out before reaching the 5th standard. Main reason cited was the poor quality of education in govt. schools and the very dismal amenities of drinking water and toilets. However, the percentage of students in private schools is going up. Teacher-student ratio is better in private schools, which directly relates to a better quality of education, and more teachers mean greater attention is paid to children.

In Rajasthan, the poor infrastructure and lack of teachers in schools, poor quality of education and dismal rates of retention are the main constraints in the education field.

Educationist, Professor Shyam Chaturvedi and Trustee of Pratam NGO, K.B. Kothari believe the community is also responsible for education and hence it should mount pressure on the government to be accountable. Sixty percent of India�s illiterate comprise women. Female literacy (43%) was 26 points below male literacy (69%). No society can grow without a sound base of educated women.

Educationists in Rajasthan feel that although transformation is visible on the education front, much more still need to be done to bring up the level of education at par with global standards. There is also a growing demand to see �education as service� and as a human right, with special focus on deprivation of education among millions of children.

Kalyan Singh Kothari
2/633,Jawahar Nagar,
Jaipur-302004
Email: kalyan.hansak@gmail.com

User comments

"Girls Education"

Author: Abhay Mohnot

Time: 21.06.2007 05:08

Comment: I am impressed with this article,
Girls should get educated, that will definately benefit the entire community/nation