EDUCATION FOR
ALL: CONCERNS AND OPPORTUNITIES
S
C Tripathi*
India is going to
host an international meet on education with focus on girls’ education.
The meet is to evolve strategies to bridge the gender gap at elementary
school level by 2010. India is committed to not only impart elementary
education to all children of 14 years by that year but also to
ensure that girls do not lag behind the boys in education.
At the time of India’s
Independence, out of every 100 males, only 18 could read and write.
Worse, only 8 women out of 100 were literate. We have come a long
way since then. Today over 76 per cent men and 54 per cent women
can read and write.
But problems remain.
With a population growth rate of about two per cent a year, almost
two crore children get added to the population which needs to
be educated. Therefore, the task of bringing down the percentage
of illiterates in the population needs multi-pronged strategies
and constant attention to all groups of population. We need to
educate the existing illiterates and ensure that no child remains
without getting at least elementary education. Then, there is
the problem of reaching out to the most disadvantaged sections.
Today every adult, even when he or she is illiterate, understands
the value of education. Yet a great number of parents are unable
to educate their children. Also, there are children in difficult
circumstances for whom survival itself is a major concern. Education
is hardly a priority for them. Even if some States have a good
record of literacy, some others and a few social groups have ignored
education for various reasons. Unless this disparity is tackled,
even a hundred per cent literacy in some pockets will not make
India fully literate.
Does it all mean
that we are not in a position to achieve full literacy at all
levels in the near future? Are we at the risk of not achieving
the goals of sarva shiksha i.e. universal education?
That takes us where
we stand today in terms of preparations to achieve the goals,
especially for the elementary education. India is committed to
achieving the goal of elementary education for all children by
that year. This means we need to appoint 12 lakh teachers for
primary and secondary schools, provide for their training, build
lakhs of classrooms, arrange drinking water and toilet facilities,
check absenteeism in schools and provide dresses, mid-day meals
and books where needed. In fact, keeping these massive requirements
in view, the Centre has sanctioned about Rs. 6000 crore under
its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to the States. The States are required
to contribute Rs. 3000 crore for the programme. We hope to create
not only an environment in which every child is sent to school,
but also provide education of a reasonable standard at least upto
the elementary level to every child. We intend to achieve this
target latest by 2010.
Since Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan has become the umbrella programme to achieve universalisation
of education, the Centre is constantly monitoring its progress.
Besides official meetings, the Minister for Human Resource Development
is taking keen interest and has been impressing upon the Chief
Ministers of the laggard States about the long-term benefits of
education. It is encouraging that the level of State participation
this year is much more than the last year. Among other major initiatives
taken in the recent years, the 86th amendment to the Constitution
to ensure education to every child as a right is the most important
one. Right now a Bill has been prepared to operationalise the
‘right to education’, which is likely to be placed in Parliament
in its coming session.
Special programmes
have been chalked out to remove the gender gap, especially at
the elementary level. In 2656 blocks female literacy is below
the national average and the gender gap in literacy is above the
national average. Two new schemes are being implemented in these
blocks during the Tenth Plan.
The national programme
for education of girls at the elementary level (NPEGEL) is meant
to work through women and community groups at the village level
to build an environment for girl’s education. Community groups
regularly monitor the achievement. Based on the findings of the
community monitoring, the groups would be able to recommend specific
village-wise interventions to prevent any dropouts from the system.
The villages are
grouped into clusters for of NPEGEL. At the cluster level, one
school implementation is developed as a model gender-sensitive
school.
The second major
initiative proposed to be undertaken is the Kasturba Gandhi Swatantra
Vidhyalaya Scheme. Under it residential schools are being set
up in the educationally backward blocks. This scheme specially
targets those areas that have small, scattered habitations with
no schools. Large distances make it impossible for girls to attend
the formal primary schools. These schools also target communities
where girls are more disadvantaged, i.e. SCs/STs, OBCs and the
minorities.
Then there is the
on-going Mahila Samakhya programme under which Mahila Sanghas
have been formed. These Sanghas or women’s groups have become
focal points for women where they can ask questions fearlessly,
think, analyse and, above all, feel confident to articulate and
address their needs. As a group they have the strength to overcome
obstacles and to articulate demands for themselves and their daughters,
which individually they cannot. The Sanghas are active partners
in the diverse innovative educational initiatives of the programme.
The centres in Gujarat, the Bala Mitra Kendras, Jagjagi centres
for girls in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar and the Udan Khatolas in
Uttar Pradesh provide a creative learning opportunity. The Sanghas
assist in selecting teachers, monitoring the centres, mobilising
the community for education and in some cases make certain financial
contributions as well. An innovative initiative in the area of
girls’ education has been the Mahila Shikshan Kendra. These are
centres aimed at developing a pool of trained and literate women
at the village level. They range from a curriculum developed in
partnership with the learners imparting life skills and skill
development to enable the learners join the mainstream education
system. The Kendras have been able to draw in girls, especially
adolescent girls who, for a variety of reasons, do not benefit
from the formal schools.
Investment in education
is a long-term one - the results come to the fore only after a
few years. The steps taken in the past decades have started bearing
results now. The results are indeed promising in the case of girls.
In the 6-14 year age group, over 43 per cent of the children enrolled
in schools are girls as compared to only 28 per cent five decades
back. The gender parity index, which measures gender equality
on a 0-1 scale, has risen from 0.41 to 0.83 in the same period.
The dropout rate for girls is down from 71 per cent in 1961 to
41 per cent now, a sign that more and more girls are able to pursue
studies beyond the basic levels.
The momentum generated
by the recent initiatives for universalisation of education, together
with the interventions for adult literacy, are likely to further
accelerate the growth of literacy in the coming years. India may
well achieve the targets much before the due dates it has set
for itself. (PIB Features)
*Secretary,
Elementary Education and Literacy, Government of India
