REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON EDUCATION OF WOMEN AND OTHER DISADVANTAGED GROUPS LIFE SC-ST, MINORITIES, ETC. (ANNEXURE-XI)
The Group on Education for Women and Other Disadvantaged Groups like SC/ST/Minorities, etc. constituted by Central Advisory Board of Education to consider items of the agenda on the subject, namely, Item No. 18 met on March 8, 1991 under the Chairmanship of Shri H. S. Lyngdoh, Education Minister of Meghalaya. Shri A. K. Mishra, Secretary, Education, Government of Orissa acted as rapporteur. A list of participants is attached.
The Chairman of the Group highlighted the issues to be con- sidered. He stated that the education for weaker sections must occupy highest priority in any programme of education. He further stated that this was the right time to make concrete and practical recommendations so that they can be included in the Eighth Five Year Plan. He referred to the Acharya Ramamurti Committee Report and also other reports on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Minorities. In the light of the discussions and in the background of the available reports and data on the subject, the recommendations of the Group were finalised.
While discussing the specific problems of women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and minority communities some common recommendations emerged in order to improve their access to education. They are-
- An area intensive approach needs to be adopted in order to focus on extremely backward regions and pockets where literacy rate is very low.
- Certain sub-castes, tribes, communities need special attention because literacy rate among them is extremely low. Women in such communities are more disadvantaged. The Group, therefore, recommends special community focus.
- The Group took note of the fact that due to shortage of funds, most State Governments are not in a position to introduce special programmes for disadvan-
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taged groups. The need to continue and to expand centrally sponsored schemes for women, SC/ST, minorities was emphasized.
- Specific measures needs to be taken for the empowerment of backward communities and women. Total literacy campaigns and other campaigns for education should begin with awareness generation. The need to create a demand for education from the community was emphasized.
- Participatory planning where village education committees are actively involved in monitoring educational activities in villages and micro-level planning. especially taking the block as a unit was emphasized by the Group.
- Recommendations (1) - (102) of the Report of the Committee for Review of National Policy on Educa- tion 1986 was endorsed by the Group.
- On-going schemes for women, SC/ST and minority communities have to be evaluated and closely moni- tored. The impact of such schemes in ensuring access to education needs to be studied and on- going schemes suitably modified to reach the goal of universal/elementary education.
It was noted that any investment in education of women, SC/ST and minority communities should be seen as an investment in the development of the country. Educational opportunities should he geared as far as possible, towards employment, for this will encourage increased participation in the educational process. Positive discrimination in favour of such communities could be explored.
Women's Education At the outset, the Group discussed the reasons for low literacy among woman in the country and focussed on the problems which prevent young girls from attending schools. Among other reasons, special emphasis was laid on the social attitudes of people, responsibility shouldered by the girl-child specially in collecting water, fuel and in looking after her siblings. The regional variations especially between areas like North East on one hand where the position of women is different from regions
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like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were noted. Therefore, the first re- commendation of the Sub-Group was that special efforts should be made to understand the region's specific problems of women and girls in order to design special inputs. All recommendations should thus be seen in area and culture specific context.
2. The position of women in minority communities was an important focus of the Group. It was noted that literacy rate among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other minorities was much lower than the literacy rate among forward areas/ communities. In some areas, the literacy rate among Scheduled Castes women is lower than 1 %. The Group therefore recommended that the problems of girls education among these communities should receive special attention and area/community specific strategies may have to be devised.
3. Most young girls. especially in poor families share a very large burden of household responsibilities. In this context, the need to provide child care facilities and ECCE centres alongwith primary schools was emphasised.
4. Focussing on problem of high drop-out rates among girls and their non-participation in the formal school system, the Group was of the opinion that the formal system needs to be non-formalised. Possibility for operating different shifts for girls and working children could be explored, along with reduction of school hours, wherever necessary. In order to achieve universal elementary education a special Action Plan may have to be prepared for addressing the problem of girl's education. If necessary, special funds could be earmarked for such an initiative.
5. The Group strongly recommended the need to evaluate the impact of special provisions. schemes and projects made for women over the last 40 years. An understanding of the impact of the Scheme could help policy-makers to make specific recommendations. Area specific special programmes will have to be devised after a thorough study of those regions where female literacy is extremely low.
6. The Group was of the opinion that a Council to monitor women's education should be set up under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister with senior officers as members. This Council should have a Chief Executive who could systematically monitor progress of different schemes, ensure target is achieved and above all ensure resources are allocated for women's education.
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7. The Group recommended the need to have awareness generation programmes which could create a demand for education for women and also encourage parents to send their girls to schools. Additional facilities or infrastructure along cannot ensure increased participation. In this context, the Group took note of the pilot programme initiated by the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development-Mahila Samakhya.
8. The Group endorsed the recommendations made in agenda Item No. 18 on Women's Education. The Group noted that the specific recommendations of the NPE-1986 are still relevant. Special mention was made on the following items :-
- Increased women's access to vocational, technical and professional education.
- Preference for women in recruitment of teachers.
- Special Polytechnics for women.
- Special hostel facilities for women.
- 100% assistance for NFE centres for girls.
- Schemes of freeships and scholarships.
- Special focus on the campaign approach to encourage women's participation in adult literacy programmes.
- Mahila Samakhya Programme as an important pilot programme.
9. The Group also took note of the main recommendation of the Report of the Committee for Review of National Policy on Education, 1986. Special mention was made to the following recommendations of that Committee:-
- Need to link girls' access to elementary education with ECCE facilities.
- Decentaralised and participative mode of planning to address policy measures to region and community specific problems.
- Need to encourage vocational and technical educa- tion.
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- Increase the number of women teachers in schools to at least 50% and provide necessary facilities to them.
- Awareness generation programmes as an important input in the Adult Education.
- Earmarking funds for girls education.
10. Rounding off the discussion, the Group reiterated the need to focus on areas and region specific problems especially to encourage women's education. Culture attitudes and practices vary from region to region. Therefore, planning for education should be sensitive to the above context.
Education for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
PROFILE According to 1981 Census, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constitute 23.67% of the total population of the country. Majority of the SC/ST population is still backward not only socially, economically but also educationally. The experience of the development planning as undertaken over the successive, Five-Year Plans has been that the overall, development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes cannot be achieved only through economic development. Their educational development is of foremost importance to bring them into the main stream of national life. For them. education is an input not only for their economic development but also for promoting in them self-confi- dence and inner strength to face the new challenges. They have been the targets of economic exploitation and social oppression. They have fallen victims to the exploitation of the middlemen, merchants and moneylenders on account of their illiteracy, ignorance and superstition. The need for their educational development, therefore, assumes importance to save them from an types of exploitation and to help them in their all-round development. Although the spread of education in the country has been quite fast during the last decades, the gaps in the educational development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes still persist.
The literacy rate amongst Scheduled Castes has though gradually increased and it is now 21.38%, yet this is not a significant success. The literacy rate in STs is 16.4%. The literacy rates in the females in SCs, & STs are very low being 11% in SCs & 8% for STs. The literacy gaps between SC/ST and the rest of popu-
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lation as may be seen from the table below have rather been widening :
Year SC ST Rest of Gap Gap
Population SC ST
1 2 3 4 5 6
1961 10.27 8.53 27.86 18 19
1971 14.67 11.30 33.80 19 22
1981 21.38 16.35 41.22 20 20
The literacy rate amongst Scheduled Castes in Bihar is the lowest (10.40%) according to 1981 census. This is followed by Rajasthan (14.04%). The position is extremely unsatisfactory in the case of females, which is 10.9% as against 29.4% for others. There are 48 districts in the country where the Scheduled Castes female literacy rate is less than 1%, stooping to as low as 0.48% in Barmor district of Rajasthan (as against 4.75% amongst others). There are some communities which have hardly any literate persons amongst them. Among the recognised educationally backward States are Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal. In respect of literacy rate, enrolment ratio and drop-out rate, SCs & STs are far worse than the non-SCs/ STs.
The main cause of wastage in education among SCs/STs have been identified as their social disability persistent poverty, poor nutritional standards, poor home conditions with unhealthy en- vironments and inadequate accommodation, apprehensions of rejections on account of perpetual exploitation and failures, internalised feelings of disappointing experiences in life and as a consequence the overall apathy towards education, especially when children in their families are treated as economic assets.
The State Governments are seized of the magnitude of the problem and have launched many schemes to improve the educational standards of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Bulk of the schemes at pre- matric stage are with the respective State Governments. These schemes include pre-matric scholarships, boarding grants, hostel facilities, free supply of books, stationery and uniforms, mid-day meals and attendance scholarships. The contents of the schemes vary from State to State.
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Apart from these State sector schemes, there are some Centrally Sponsored Schemes being handled by the Ministry of Welfare. These schemes include post-matric scholarships for SCs/ STs, pre-matric scholarships to those children whose parents are engaged in unclean occupations, book banks to SC/ST students in medical & engineering colleges, construction of buildings for SC/ST boys & girls hostels, coaching and allied schemes for SC/ ST candidates and national overseas Scholarships scheme. The Department of Education have also taken up a scheme of remedial coaching for SC/ST students in subjects like Maths and Sciences in which they are generally weak for classes IX to XII to enable them to face examinations confidently and also to prepare them for entering into the professional courses like medical and engineering.
Recommendations In order to ensure speedy and overall educational development of SC/STs. following steps are suggested :
1. All out efforts should be made to build up a strong educa- tional base of SC/ST children at the primary and pre-primary level. To achieve this, adequate funds should be earmarked for the education sector under Special Component Plan/Tribal Sub-Plan of the States, UTs and also of the Department of Education.
2. Special drives Should be organised at the beginning of every academic session to enroll all school age male and female children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, For this purpose, the official agencies outside the regular Education Department and also the voluntary organisations preferably with larger representation of these communities may be associated.
3. In all the SC and ST habitations with viable population of school-age children there should invariably be a primary school. For school age children of poor and destitute scattered SC population, there should be Ashram schools. Ashram schools for STs that are already in existence should be further expanded. To supplement these efforts. `Lteracy Centres' should also be established. All such Ashram schools should fit into the environment of the habitations in linguistic/ethnic/community lines. Where ever teachers belonging to these communities are available they should be posted in these Ashram schools and also other schools situated in areas with concentration of SC and ST population.
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4. The schools in SC and ST habitations should be equipped with all infrastructural facilities.
5. There should be provision of adequate incentives in the form of scholarships, uniforms, text books, stationery and midday meals. All the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe children studying in pre- matric classes should be given scholarships.
6. The above facilities are particularly necessary for the children of the vulnerable groups among Scheduled Castes such as sweepers, scavengers, flayers, tanners, bonded-labourers, noma- dic/semi-nomadic and denotified tribes.
7. The indigent families among SCs/STs should be given some incentives as a compensation for opportunity cost to send their children (particularly girls) to schools rather than engaging them in some gainful employment to cam their subsistence income. This would also avoid drop-outs of these children at the primary and elementary levels.
8. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of pre-matric scholarships for the children of those engaged in unclean occupations should be extended to cover the students in classes I to V and the day scholars also. It should be extended to children of all vulnerable groups.
9. Under the Scheme of post-matric scholarships, the rates should be revised periodically keeping in view the increase in the cost of living index.
10. The restriction of providing scholarships only to children of SC/ST parents should be removed in view of the lower levels of education in them. Income ceiling of parents prescribed for parents in this regard should be enhanced to be Rs. 50,000/per annum as per the present cost of living index.
11. A merit scholarship scheme for students who secure 60% and above marks in the last annual examination should be introduced.
12. Arrangements for sanctioning and disbursing scholarship should be reviewed to ensure their prompt payment etc.
13. Under the scheme of book banks for SCs/STs, it would be advisable to give a set of books to each of SC/ST student.
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14. As has been done by the Mizoram Government, local educated youth should be made to participate in the literacy programmes and they should be provided adequate remuneration for doing this work.
15. The recommendations on the common school system of Education Commission reiterated by Ramamurti Committee should be given weightage.
16. As far as possible, adult literacy centres should be estab- lished in SC/ST habitations so as, to attract more and more illiterate adults to these communities. There should be adequate post literacy centres to follow up the results achieved.
17. Adequate reservation for SC/ST should be provided in the public and private convents and the expenditure involved in admitting SC/ST poor children in these schools should be met by the Government responsibility.