EQUITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EDUCATION
 

Section A: Education and Women's Equality

4.1.1 The evaluation of policy in relation to 'women's education needs necessarily to be made in the larger context of the socio- cultural reality in which women live; and the educational situation that is sought to be addressed and subsequently redressed.

4.1.2 At the time of the formulation of NPE 1986, the existing data on the state of education (Government Reports and the Census of India 1981) clearly indicated the following trends in the educational situation of women. The NPE/POA also make reference to some of these.

- The rate of illiteracy among women is 75% as compared to 53 % for men. Illiterate women predominate in villages and particularly among the under-privileged sections of society. The illiteracy rate is as high as 90.1% among SC women and 92% among ST women (Census, 1981).

- Regional disparities in the state of women's literacy are also pronounced. While illiteracy among women in Kerala is 34%, it is as high as 89% in Rajasthan and 86% in Bihar.

- While about 42% of boys in the age-group of 6-14 years at an all-India level are not attending schools, almost 62% of the girls in the same age group do not go to schools. This gender disparity is further accentuated if one views the rural population separately. About 47% of the rural boys in this age group do not attend school. In contrast, the proportion of rural girls outside the ambit of formal education is as high as 70%. Even in the urban areas, more than one-third of the girls are outside the school system.

- While 70% of non-enrolled children are girls, the majority come from rural areas. Enrolment rates are poorest among girl children who belong to communities which suffer from social and economic discrimination i.e., the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other educationally backward communities.

- Although precise data are not available, it is widely acknowledged that the percentage of girls belonging to certain minority communities going to schools may be as low, as in the case of SC/ST girls, if not lower.

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- While the drop out rate of both male and female, school, children increases with the stage of education, it is more acute among girls at each stage. Here again, dimensions such as the urban- rural, socioeconomic status and ethnic background are important.

- The representation of women in higher education is as low as 31%. Data show that, of all the women enrolled in higher education, 55% are in arts courses and only 20% in science courses. Women also tend to join lower professional courses as compared to higher professional, courses. For example only 6% of students enrolled for engineering courses are women.

- The proportion of women amongst teachers engaged at Primary, Middle and High/Higher Secondary levels in 1987-88 was as low as 26.3%, 32.2% and 31.2% respectively.

- It is recognised that women are poorly represented at higher levels of the decision-making process in the education system, though information on this issue is yet to be compiled.

The Status of Women in Indian Society - Implications for Education

4.1.3 Research available on the education of women in India points to a number of socio-cultural and economic factors that influence the participation of women in the system of education and have a bearing on the above-mentioned trends.

4.1.4 The prevailing cultural norms of gender behaviour and the perceived 'domestic' and reproductive roles of women tend to adversely affect the education of girls. Negative attitudes towards sending girls to school, prejudices against retaining them in school, restrictions on mobility especially after puberty, early marriage, pressures to enter womanly' courses etc. are known to affect the nature of participation of women in education. These are reflections of the patriarchal values and attitudes which are dominant in society. The effect of gender bias varies in different social and economic groups and is particularly harsh on communities which suffer discrimination and those in certain minority groups. Among poor families, the economic role of the girl child and her responsibilities in the household are obstacles to schooling. The gender bias existing in society has a direct bearing on many aspects of the education system. These include inadequate facilities for girls' education at different stages, unequal access to non-traditional' courses, gender stereo-types in both the official' and 'hidden' curriculum, negative attitudes of teachers and administrators, and poor representation of women in positions of authority and

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decision-making. Education policy must, therefore, address itself to the larger socioeconomic and cultural context that affects education of girls.

4.1.5 At the same time, it must be recognised that poor enrolments and large drop-out rates among girl children are not a result of social, economic and cultural factors alone, but are also the product of the policy and its priorities. For example, it is policy which determines the nature of the available ,educational facilities, their coverage and quality. This, in the above context can either accentuate existing problems of girls' education or facilitate their participation.

NPE/POA Stipulations

4.1.6 Referring to women's education, the NPE clearly states that education will 'play a positive, interventionist role in the empowerment of women.... foster the development of new values through redesigned curricula, textbooks, the training and orientation of teachers, decision-makers and administrators ... '. The thrust of the policy lies in intervening within the education system, as is also evident from the policy parameters listed in the POA. The socioeconomic and cultural constraints that lie outside the school system and have a direct bearing on girls, education are not adequately addressed. The larger context of the nature of development and the scant economic opportunities available to poorer and socially discriminated sections of society among whom girls enrolment is the lowest, do not seem to have informed strategy enunciation. The NPE seemingly construes education alone as 'an agent of basic change in the status of women'. The concern for 'support services', such as water, fuel, fodder, child-care and hostel facilities, has not been adequately operationalised in the POA. This is also reflected in the POA's acceptance (without question) of the official norms regarding the distance at which schooling should be available in rural areas. For instance, the official norms of 1 km. and 3 km. as 'walking distance', at which primary and middle schools respectively are to be made available may still not be suitable for girls.

4.1.7 Further, even if education is to play an interventionist role, it is crucial that a gender perspective is reflected throughout the policy*. This implies that all dimensions of the education policy should reflect a 'well-conceived edge in favour of women' in order to neutralise the accumulated distortions of the past'. There is, however, a gap between the policy statement

* By this we mean that education ".. . must address the structures & attitudes that have prevented women's equality till now, and have perpetuated and strengthened patriarchal values and institutions that subordinate women". Education must also play " ... an active role in promoting the new values of equality in the division of roles, rights and responsibilities between men and women in every sphere".

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and the POA. Other than the part where the focus is on 'Education for Women's Equality', the education of the, 'female half' of the population receives only scattered references in the POA. The POA as a whole does not reflect a holistic treatment of women's education in all its aspects.

4.1.8 In the discussion that follows, the Committee reviews the NPE and POA in the context of women's education and makes recommendations with regards to the following dimensions* :

- Access to education and quality of learning,

- Content of education and gender bias,

- Vocational education,

- Training of teachers and other educational personnel

- Research and development of Women's Studies,

- Representation of women in the educational hierarchy,

- Empowerment of women,

- Adult education,

- Resources, and

- Management.

Access to Education and Quality of Learning

4.1.9 The education of children in general and the girl child in particular, has to be viewed within the larger context of development. In addition to the socioeconomic and cultural factors referred to earlier, the education of girls is in a very real sense linked to the availability of water, fuel, fodder and child-care facilities to individual families. As much as 29 per cent of the entire time of a girl-child in rural areas is spent in the collection of fuel and 20% in fetching water. Care of siblings also accounts for a significant proportion of a girl's time. This is particularly so in poor rural families. For instance, it was observed that in eastern UP, 30% of the household burden and 20% of the agricultural work is shared by girl children.

* Many of these concerns are relevant for school children in general. However, this chapter focuses specifically on the education of girls.

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a) Water, Fuel, and Fodder

4.1.10 The release of the girl-child for schooling thus requires an improvement in the access of house-holds to water, fuel and fodder, and this should invariably inform the Policy. Further, it should also stress that efforts in the direction of social forestry, drinking water supply and greening of village common lands should be viewed not merely as I eliminating drudgery from women's lives' (POA, Para 12) but as necessary inputs to improve girls' access to and retention in schools. In the POA, the mention of support services appears to have no operational link with the Primary School.

Recommendations

i) There is a crucial link between the easy access to water, fuel and fodder and schooling of girls. This understanding needs to be explicitly reflected in the policy of Government and be concretised in operational designs.

ii) 'Local Area Planning', as envisaged in the 'Approach to the Eighth Five Year Plan' document, must take into account the above linkage while planning for programmes relating to forestry, drinking water and greening of common lands.

iii) The Department of Education should coordinate with the other concerned departments and secure adequate resource allocation for the above mentioned programmes based on parameters which indicate the status of girls' education in a given habitation/village. For instance, priority needs to be given to the habitations/villages having enrolment and retention rates for girls in schools below the average rates of the States.

iv) To achieve the above purpose, planning for educational development of any given region would have to be necessarily conducted at the Block or sub-Block level. This task would be facilitated if it is undertaken through the proposed Educational Complexes in which there will be Block-level representatives of the various agencies/departments concerned with social welfare and development, along with teachers, Anganwadi workers, and representatives of poor women's groups and Panchayati Raj institutions.

v) Teachers, Anganwadi workers, village-level functionaries of other departments, and representatives of women's groups and community-level organisations should play an important role in making micro-level information available to the Educational Complex for prioritisation of action in this regard.

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b) Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

4.1.11 As already emphasised in the chapter on ECCE, easy access to organised and holistic early child care is crucial if families, especially among the under-privileged, are expected to relieve girl children of this responsibility and spare them for schooling. Without providing full-fledged day care services, particularly for the 0-3 age group, no school programme can hope to become accessible to older girls in the 6-14 age group. Although both the NPE and POA' do mention the need for early child-care facilities, the crititicality of the link between this support service and the access and retention of girls 'in schools is not adequately stressed. The POA chapter on 'Education for Women's Equality' makes no specific reference to its link with the need for child care for the 0-3 age group. While a passing reference is made to early childhood education as a support service, no attempt is made at strategy enunciation in this regard. In the POA on ECCE, this matter receives a hesitant reference, "Girls in these groups (under-privileged) may require support services like child care, sometimes in very small units" (Para 7).

4.1.12 Apart from older siblings, women teachers may also require child-care facilities to enable them to attend schools regularly. The POA doesn't refer to this aspect.

4.1.13 Detailed recommendations for providing ECCE services, especially to the under-privileged sections of society, have already been discussed (see the chapter on ECCE). In the context of women's education, the Committee re-emphasises the following aspects:

Recommendations

i) The policy framework on women's education must bring out the criticality of the link between ECCE and girls' accessibility to elementary education.

ii) Comprehensive and effective ECCE services should be provided in proximity to every primary and middle school and be programmatically linked with elementary education.

iii) Priority should be given to child-care programmes catering to the 0-3 age group, particularly among the underprivileged sections of society.

iv) The timings of the ECCE centres should include the school hours so that the girls in the 6-14 age group are relieved from the responsibility of sibling care.

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v) While the Anganwadis (ICDS) should continue to be given importance, other models which are sensitive to local needs should also be encouraged.

vi) The management of Anganwadis and other ECCE programmes should be decentralised and be made participative, as recommended in the chapter on ECCE.

vii) In order that child-care facilities and pre- school and primary education of girls are prioritised in the village and the community, the Anganwadi workers and poor women's groups should be represented on the Village Education, Committees.

c) The Availability of Schooling

4.1.14 The POA states that there will. be a shift in emphasis from enrolment to retention in elementary education (Chapter II, Para 13) While retention in schools needs to be emphasised, concerted drives aimed at increasing enrolment of girls, especially those from under- privileged social groups, must continue.

4.1.15 The availability of facilities for schooling within easy reach is crucial for access to and retention of girls in schools. At present, 48.6% of the habitations representing about one-fifth of the country's rural population do not have Primary Schools. These include habitations which have population of more than 300 persons and hence according to the official norms should have already been provided with primary schooling. Although almost 95% of the rural population according to official figures are served by a primary school either within or up to a walking distance' of 1 km., this should not give rise to grounds for complacency as far as girls' education is concerned. It is necessary to recognise that the involvement of girls in sibling care and domestic chores and other socio-cultural constraints may make even 1 km. beyond 'walking distance' for them. These factors become more important when it comes to middle schooling where access to education is poorer than at the primary stage. Only 13.3% of habitations have middle schools. The poor availability of middle schooling may be a major constraint in the retention of girls in schools. Parental fears at sending girls outside the village particularly with the approach of puberty cannot be dismissed. Girls belonging to SC, ST and other discriminated social groups are particularly vulnerable. In other words the 'sociocultural threshold' beyond which girls have to venture to receive education makes easy availability of schooling of critical importance. The official target of providing a middle school within 3 kms of the habitation, hence, will not ensure accessibility of upper primary education to all girl children. (see Table 1).