iv) Decentralised and participative mode of planning and management offers an effective basis for responding to the challenge of regional disparities in education, including girls' education. Diverse strategies and disaggregated time-frames, worked out locally, constitute the twin instrumentalities to achieve the goal of universalisation.
@ These terms have also been dealt with in general terms in the chapter on Decentralisation and Participative Management'.
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TABLE 2
Distribution of Districts Having Combined for all levels) Gross
Enrolment Ratios for Girls Less Than 50 Per cent and Rural Female
Literacy Rates Less Than 10 Per Cent
States Number of Districts
Andhra Pradesh 8
Arunachal Pradesh 4
Bihar 14
Haryana 1
Jammu & Kashmir 8
Karnataka 1
Madhya Pradesh 29
Orissa 2
Rajasthan 25
Uttar Pradesh 31
TOTAL 123
Note: Computed from figures provided in GOI/MHRD, 1989, Report of the Working Group on Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education Set Up for Formulation of Eighth Five Year Plan and Census of India, 1981.
Source: Kurrien, J., October, 1990.
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Content of Education and the Gender Bias
a) The Curriculum 4.1.17 Serious thought needs to be given to the restructuring of the curriculum so that the objective of women's equality in education is facilitated. While there can be a women's component in the curriculum to begin with, the larger goal should be to bring a gender perspective into the entire curriculum, whatever ,be the latter's components. The POA however does not reflect such an approach. There is no reference to women or gender in the entire chapter on 'Content and Process of School Education', except for a mention that 'Equality of Sexes' is to be one among the ten core curriculum areas (Para 6). While the chapter on Education for Women's Equality', mentions the 'incorporation of values commensurate with the new status of women' in the core curriculum it does not present any framework reflecting a gender perspective.
4.1.18 The POA however, recommends that the NCERT Women's Cell will be 'given the responsibility for preparing the component of the core curriculum relating to women's equality' (Para 5g). The POA also mentions that this Cell should 'accelerate its work of eliminating sexist bias and sex stereo-types from school textbooks'. In the view of the Committee, a gender perspective in the content of education means more than the elimination of sexist bias and sex stereo-types' from text-books. A study of NCERT text-books commissioned by the Review Committee showed a distinct gender bias, a greater visibility of male as compared to female characters, portrayal of women as passive and mainly in domestic roles and men in positions of power and authority. The study also observes that Such textbook examples cannot be viewed in isolation of the larger context of social reality which gives rise to such stereotypes. Indeed, the mere creation of a Women's Cell in NCERT does not necessarily imply that gender bias will be removed.
4.1.19 The task of bringing a gender perspective into the curriculum is a complex one and requires research input, discussion and debate. Some suggestions made by CWDS in 1985, need to be deliberated upon. These recommendations are modified and given below:
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Recommendation The curriculum in schools should include :
- Increase in the visibility of women and projection of a positive image of the role of women in history, their contribution to society in general and the Indian context in particular. For instance, social history should project the contribution that women have made in the national movement. All such issues should be carefully incorporated in the training and orientation of teachers, educators and administrators.
- Special efforts should be made to strengthen mathematics and science education among girls. Girls' schools should give greater importance to mathematics and science than at present.
- Undifferentiated curriculum for boys and girls.
- Elimination of negative stereotypes and biological and social concepts which have a sexist bias. This has been dealt with in greater detail in the Section that follows.
- Outmoded traditions and myths that hinder positive development of women and their role in national life should be objectively discussed in the classroom in a gender perspective. Similarly, the portrayal of women in our epics and mythology needs to be critically examined in the classroom.
- Basic legal information including protective laws regarding women and children and extracts from the Constitution to make the children aware of the fundamental rights and other basic concepts therein.
- Specific measures to improve the participation of girls in physical training and sports should be undertaken.
b) Stereotypes in Textbooks and the 'Hidden Curriculum' 4.1.20 Given the everyday social reality in which children continuously imbibe gender-biased messages, the school further reinforces these in terms of both the 'hidden curriculum, (teachers' attitudes, daily activities, peer influence, etc.) and the 'official curriculum'. Examples of the 'hidden curriculum' in a primary school
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(a) "Boys, you must study, the girls will get, married anyway."
(b) "Chattan (a boy), if you continue to trouble, you will be made to sit with the girls".
The above examples reflect a gender-bias rooted within the attitudes and behaviour of teachers (this will be dealt within the Section on the training of teachers).
4.1.21 Several examples of sex stereo-types' even in :recent NCERT textbooks have been reported. Reflecting on the image of women that the education system is projecting through textbooks, the Shramshakti Report observes that girls and women are rarely portrayed in roles associated with economic activity. By and large, even mere references to women are minimal, and poor women projected even less. Although the POA affirmatively states that the NCERT Women's Cell should 'take active help of all persons', the role of Women's Studies Centres and women activist groups in eliminating sexist bias in school textbooks is left vague and undefined. Many educational institutes are not even aware of their possible role.
4.1.22 It is important to introduce a note of caution regarding recommendations that give institutions a blanket 'responsibility for preparing the component of the core curriculum relating to women's equality (POA, Para 5 g). It would be useful to review the work done by such institutions in the area of elimination of gender bias in text-books. In 1982, for instance, NCERT designed Teacher's Handbooks entitled Status of Women Through Curriculum'. An example from one handbook given in Table III suggests that mere mechanical changes infact reinforce existing gender roles in 'sophiscated' ways.
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TABLE 3
MIDDLE SCHOOL : CLASS VI-VII
STATUS OF WOMEN THROUGH CURRICULUM ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' HANDBOOK NCERT
1982 p.66(10)
Value Topic Ideas to be How to Project it
Projected
Basic Motion, The laws of motion, Some examples@ of
know- Force & force & pressure are motion, force and
ledge Pressure equally applicable pressure in the
& skill to all. the basic household are listed
is knowledge & skills below :
equally pertaining to these
required principles are o Motion : Churning of
and required by both milk by churner is an
applied men and women example in which the
by men in their daily hands move in linear
and life...... motion whereas the
women wheel moves in
rotational motion. In
sewing machine the
rotational motion of
wheel is converted to
translatory motion of
sewing-needle.
Grinding-wheel & the
swing (jhoola) are
examples of vibratio-
nal motion.
o Force : For frictio-
nal force the examples
of scrubbing, striking
match, sharpening
knife and cleaning
vessels should be
cited.
o Pressure : Cooking by
pressure, use of knife
& cutters, syringe,
handpump, cycle pump
& grinding stone, etc.,
should be used as
illustrations.
@ These examples are from household work traditionally associated with women. The guide book could as well as have given alternative examples concerning work common to man and women.
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Recommendations i) It is recommended that all school text-books, both by NCERT/SCERTs and other publishers, be reviewed to eliminate the invisibility of women and gender stereotypes, and also for the proper incorporation of a women's perspective in the teaching of all subjects. This review should also cover all the supplementary reading material and library books being recommended for schools, particularly those supplied by operation Blackboard.
ii) As an immediate step such an exercise should seek the active participation of different groups and individuals, such as Women's Studies experts, Women's Studies Centres of the universities and Research Institutes, and women's organisations working at grass- root level, rather than exclusive dependence on NCERT/SCERTs.
iii) A similar exercise should be undertaken for the university curriculum and text-books in all disciplines. This should be initiated by University-based Women's Studies Centres and individuals already working on these issues.
c) The Role of the Media 4.1.23 The powerful role that the media plays in reflecting and perpetuating dominant societal values, such as gender inequality, is well known. Hence efforts by the education system to incorporate a gender perspective and promote women's equality need to be accompanied by intervention in the domain of media as well. To the extent that the media continues to project women in subordinate and exploited roles, and ignores their very. presence as well as contribution towards economic activity, . it 'will be difficult to achieve values of gender equality through the educational system alone. While the POA states that " ... clear policy guidelines should be developed by radio and TV in 1986-87 and measures taken to persuade films and other media on these lines" (Para 5e), it fails to establish media's crucial link with the larger objective of creating gender equality. Although it is not known that such guidelines were ever prepared in accordance with the suggestions of the POA, no impact is visible in the projected images of women through the media.
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Recommendations i) All media channels, both in the public and private sectors should take serious note of the crucial role that the media can play in promoting gender equality and empowerment of women as enunciated in NPE.
ii) In the specific context of gender, advertisements displaying women as sex symbols and using them for sales promotion should be seriously dealt with.
iii) Media should project positive images of women. Women should also be shown in professional roles, for instance as doctors, engineers and scientists, so that they can serve as role models.
iv) An awareness of the need for women's education, especially elementary and vocational education, should also be spread.
v) The Information and Broadcasting Ministry should evolve a network to monitor the projection of women, and evolve a code of ethics with regard to the presentation of women in all types of media (similar recommendations are also made in the Shramshakti Report, 1988)
vi) An Inter-Ministerial Committee, comprising of representatives of the Departments of Education, Women and Child Development, Culture, and Information & Broadcasting, should be constituted to monitor and ensure that the policy guidelines emerging from NPE and POA are being supported, rather than being violated, by the media, particularly Radio and TV. Representatives of women's organisations and Women's Study Centres may also be included in this Committee.
vii) A National Policy on Communication, giving a gender perspective to all forms and processes of mass communication, should be formulated urgently. The National commission on women should play an active role in this exercise.
Vocational Education 4.1.24 Even though the policy makes a positive statement on the elimination of 'sex stereotyping in vocational and professional courses and to promote women's participation in non-traditional occupations ... ', the POA in fact makes a negative statement in this regard. It states that....... while girls will continue to receive preferential treatment in trades/occupations, for which they are particularly well-suited (e.g. teaching and nursing),
50
this will not become a barrier for their participation in technical and professional courses of higher level .... POA, para 18(i)].
4.1.25 In practice it has been observed that options for scientific and technical professions are rarely available to women. Existing polytechnics for women offer only traditional women-oriented' courses, such as fashion designing, cookery, nursery teachers' training, beautician, interior decoration, steno-typing etc., thus reinforcing the sex-sterotypes.
4.1.26 Given the present low educational status of women, and high drop-out rates, it is desirable to develop a wide range of vocational courses at the 'Plus Class VIII' (i.e. secondary stage) level so that such opportunities would be available to a larger segment of girls than would be the case if such courses were available only at +2 level. Such courses should be linked with placement opportunities and entrepreneurship.
4.1.27 In this context, POA's emphasis on exposing girls to a variety of vocational training activities' at each stage in school education itself, is particularly welcome. POA also suggested that skill development amongst girls and women would be a continuous process starting from the NFE and AE centres and carried further by the Continuing Education Centres. There is no evidence that these positive aspects of NPE for promoting gender equality have been implemented during the post policy period.
Recommendations i) Vocational Training for women should be planned and implemented at the State level, partly through the proposed Educational Complexes.
ii) Vocational Training for women should be encouraged in non- traditional occupations, following an undifferentiated curriculum.
iii) Concerted efforts should be made towards discouraging the existing biases in vocational courses for women.
iv) Vocational training courses for girls at Plus Class VIII' level (i.e.secondary stage) in order to expand the* social base of vocational education. Opportunities should be especially given to dropouts after middle school.
v) Diversification of courses and trades to match with the job potential at local level is important. For encouraging access to technical or craft-and-skill- training institutions, increased stipends, fellowships, and a system of placement is recommended. There should be at least one women's polytechnic in each District.
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Training of Teachers and Other Educational Personnel 4.1.28 Teachers, themselves being products of society, bring with them gender-biased stereo-types and images which they communicate (often unconsciously) to students within and outside the classroom. An awareness of gender discrimination, stereotypes and biases, both in the 'official' and 'hidden' curriculum, can help the teacher to consciously attempt to practise gender equality within the constraints of the class-room situation. In this context the Committee has in. mind the concrete teaching context where teachers (especially in elementary rural schools), working under trying conditions, are extremely vulnerable, have little autonomy and are bound by a rigid curriculum. However, since the pedagogical relationship does give the teacher a position of authority vis-a-vis the student in the class- room, and the fact that teachers can and do wield influence over children and their parents, gives rise to possibilities for intervention in education. Although this interventionist potential of teacher, as also of decision-makers and educational administrators, is implied in NPE/POA, it needs to be explicitly stated and incorporated in strategies. It is here that the training of teachers becomes crucial. In the context of gender, training implies a re-orientation of the content and practice of teaching towards a perspective of women's equality. This pertains not only to the 'official' curriculum but also includes an understanding of how gender bias is communicated and reinforced within the school through the 'hidden' curriculum, an aspect not mentioned by the POA.
4.1.29 The implementation of measures suggested by POA (Paras 5b, c & h) regarding training and sensitisation of educational personnel at all levels has hardly received attention so far. While there is no evidence that NIEPA has taken any step in organising programmes for administrators and planners on women's issues, the work reportedly being undertaken by NCERT/SCERTs/DIETs has yet to become visible. This lack of priority may itself reflect a gender bias.
4.1.30 Training and sensitisation has been viewed by the POA as a highly centralised activity, with too much expectation from NCERT's Women's Cell, NIEPA and UGC. No concrete participatory role has been envisaged for the Women's Study Centres or women's organisations in decentralising training, sensitisation and curriculum evaluation programmes.