35
TABLE 1
Girls' Access to Education : An overview
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
I. LINKING o Prepares girls in i) Locate ECCE centres
EARLY CHILD- in the 0-6 age group in proximity to the
HOOD CARE for Primary Schools. Primary School and
AND EDUCATI- adjust their timings to
ON (ECCE) incluce school hours.
o Relieves older
girls from the
responsibility ii) Teacher Training
of sibling care. programmes and
redesigning of curri-
o Positive impact cula for Classes I-
of ECCE's child- III should incorporate
centred approaches ECCE approaches.
on the learning
environment in iii) Co-ordination between
school. Anganwadi worker and
school teacher.
o Enables women
teacher also to (see chapter on ECCE
avail of day for further details)
care facilities for
their children and
attend school
regularly.
II. PROVIDING o Relieves girl Make water, fuel and
EASIER ACC- children fodder easily accessi-
ESS TO WAT- from the responsibi- ble, on a priority
ER, FUEL lity of gathering basis, to those habi-
AND FODDER fodder and fuel and tations or communities
fetching water form whose enrolment and
distant sources. retention rates for
girls in schools are
below the state
average
36
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
III. PRIMARY o The 1 km. official i) Provide each habita-
SCHOOLS norm for walking tion with a popu-
distance' is inappro- lation of 300 or more
priate form the stand- with at least one
point of girls Primary School by the
due to their year 2000 (this
involvement in implies an additional
activities of the 1.22 lakh schools as
household within per 1986 data). In the
and outside the meantime, each of
home. these unserved habita-
tion may be linked
o Primary School to the nearest
within easy access Primary School through
may enable parents a para-school' (see
to spare children the chapter on Univer-
for schooling. salisation for
details).
o Security for very
small girls
ii) A network of para-
school's linked to the
nearest Primary School
should be started such
that all unserved habi-
tations with population
of less than 300 would
be served by at least
one para-school' by
the end of the Eighth
Plan.
iii) Habitations having
enrolement and
retention rates for
girls below the State
average must be given
priority.
37
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
IV. MIDDLE o The present norm i) Provide each habita-
SCHOOLS of 3 kms. for `walking tion with a population
(especi- distance' places the of 500 or more with at
ally for Middle School beyond least one Middle
girls) the reach of rural School by the year
WITHIN girls who carry heavy 2000 (about 2.5 lakh
WASY household responsibi- additional schools as
ACCESS, lities at this age. per 1986 data). In the
i.e., Hence, proximity of meantime, each such
within the school is important habitation may be
1 km. for girls. served, by a `para-
school', linked to the
nearest Middle School.
o Very real problem ii) For unserved habita-
of security and appre- tions with a popula-
hension of parents in tion of less than 500
this regard* each, a network or
`para-school' linked
o Restrictions rela- to the nearest Middle
ting to puberty School, should be
regarding mobility, started, such that
interaction with every child has
men. access to a `para-
Middle School' within
1 km. of
residence by the end
of the Eighth Plan.
iii) Priority should be
given to habitations
where enrolment and
retention rates for
girls are below the
State average.
V. NON-FORM- o The rigidity i) Shortening and stagge-
ALISING of the formal school ring of school hours,
THE in terms of the particularly for girls
SCHOOL school hours and and working children.
o Making the school cale-
the formal nder is a dete- ii) Flexible timings of
school less rrent to the the school and
rigid enrolement and matching the school
* The CWDS document states that even 3 kms. is a distance that makes parents apprehensive of sending girls in this age group to schools.
38
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
o Involve- retention of girls calender with the local
ment of involved in acti- agricultural seasons
Village activities within and and cultural festivals
Education outside the home. would be necessary.
Committees
formalising o The rigidity of iii) Recruit `para-
the school. the curricula and teachers' (e.g., Shiksha
the formal Karmis) from within
learning environ- the habitation to
ment discourages organise `para-
children from the schools' (linked to
school. the Primary/Middle
School), thereby
o Children who shift enabling the school to
place of residence 'reach out'*
during seasonal
migration cannot
avail of formal iv) In the context of the
schooling. above, local
educational needs will
have to be identified.
The Educational
Complex and the
Village Education
Committees will be in
the best position to
decide how to
effectively `open up
the school', to
recruit `para-
teachers' and to
identify teachers who
can be persuaded to
help in this process*
v) To meet the needs of
working children, drop-
outs, children of sea-
sonal migrants, street
children etc., creative
and non-formal methods,
e.g. the ECCE approach,
should be designed.
* See the chapter on Universalisation of Elementary Education for details regarding `par teachers'.
39
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
vi) Legal measures be
adopted to make
employers send their
child workers to schools
to be especially set up
for the purpose*.
VI. OTHER o Girls engaged in i) Provide scholarships
MEASURES wage labour may to deserving girls from
TO ATTRACT require `opportunity under-privileged groups.
GIRLS TO cost' in order to
SCHOOLS be able to attend ii) Provide uniforms,
school regularly. textbooks etc. to all
girls.
o Older girls and iii) Increase the number
their parents are often of women teachers.
uncomfortable with
male teachers. iv) Complaints regarding
sexual abuse of girls
in school should be
taken seriously.
VII. SECONDARY o Poor transport i) Educational Complexes
and Higher facilities, parti- should mobilise, on
SECONDARY cularly in rural rental, public bus
SCHOOLS areas, contribute to transport facility or
inaccessibility of private transport (tempo,
o Better schools. This is mini buses, rickshaws,
transport especially true for etc.). Rental should
facilities. girls who are discour- be paid by the
aged, to use the bicycle parents. Bus timings in
o Increase or return late in the rural areas should be
in the evening. coordinated, as far as
number of possible, with school
schools hours. This will benefit
for girls. students as well as
o Parents are often teachers. Innovative
methods need to be
evolved to
40
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
o Residential hesitant to educate enable girl children
facilities older girl children to attend schools at
for girls if schools are co- greater distances. (A
near Seco- educational or suggestion of having
ndary and teachers are male. `school mothers' as
Higher escorts has been made
Secondary o Some parents may in the CWDS document)
Schools. be prepared to send
girls for schooling
if hostel facili-
ties are avail- ii) Increase the number
lable. The element of single sex schools.
of security is The possiblity of
important. having two shifts in a
school, one for girls
o Women teachers will and the other for boys
find it convenient, can be explored.
if hostel faci-
lities are iii) Increase the number
available. of women teachers in
co-educational schools
and in general.
iv) Hostel facilities must
be made available for
girls at all levels
and women teachers (with
one woman teacher as
warden). Existing
accommodation in a
village/town can be
hired for this purpose
to increase the
facility at minimum
cost. Free residen-
tial facility should be
made available for SC,
ST and other under-
privileged groups.
VIII. HIGHER o There is need to i) Increase in facilities
EDUCATION expand facilities for higher education
for higher education, for women, particu-
o Increasing especially in subject larly in the technical
opportunities streams and geographi- professions, in
for women cal regions where the streams and regions
in higher representation of women reflecting gender
and pro- is poor. disparity with respect
fessional to the representation
education. o Special incentives of women.
41
Factors which Reasons Recommendations
will facilitate
girls' education
such as scholar-
o Incentives ships, will encou- ii) Scholarships should be
for women to rage women to given to encourage
pursue further enter streams such women to enter non-
studies, as medicine, traditional', high
especially veterinary sciences, technology courses.
in areas that engineering,
are `non- law etc. iii) Special financial in-
traditional' centives in the form
o Women from of freeships, free
poorer families textbooks etc. should
will require be provided for women
freeships, free from under-privileged
textbooks, and sections.
other such
incentives to iv) Creches and hostel
pursue their facilities should be
studies. provided to facilita-
tae women to continue
o Creches, hostels and education.
such other support
services will enable
women to continue
their education. v) Relaxation of age-
limit and the poss-
ibility of continui-
ng education and
re-entry into the
mainstream, after a
break, especially for
women who have left
studies due to vario-
us reasons (see prov-
ision for multiple-
entry and exit points,
as envisaged for Sec-
ondary and Higher
Education).
42
d) Regional Disparities 4.1.16 In addition to state-level disparities in education, district and block-level disparities are also critical dimensions of planning and resource allocation in education. It is observed that districts with the lowest rural female literacy rates, also report poor participation of girls in primary schools. There are 123 districts where the enrolment ratio for girls in primary schools is less than 50% and literacy rate are below 10%. (See Table 2); 87% of these districts are concentrated in the five States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This dimension has not been taken into account in the strategies enunciated by the POA.
Recommendations@ i) The issue of regional disparities needs to be incorporated into the operational design for universalising girls' access to elementary education.
ii) Any effective strategy for raising the educational status of women in India would have to give priority to the educationally backward districts.
iii) Educational planning at the level of Educational Complexes will depend on block-level or sub-block-level profiles. These profiles should be based on micro-level information collected from habitations/villages. Teachers, Anganwadi workers, other village-level functionaries and representatives of poor women and other community level organisations should be involved in making such information available.