Part One : The Feminine Power
A focus on girls’ education in India was put in place since the 1986
National Policy on Education and the 1992 Program of Action, followed by the
SSA program launched in 2001, National Curriculum Framework in 2005 and the
National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education in 2010. These policies
were complemented by other schemes such as National Program for the Education
of Girls at the Elementary Level, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme, both
ensuring inclusion and quality education for girls. The Mahila Samakhya program
was launched in 10 states targeting marginalized sections of rural women.
Access to education was also facilitated by separate schools for girls,
availability of open learning resources, residential schooling, coaching
facilities; scholarships, textbooks, uniforms and transport including bicycles.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (known as RTE) Act,
2010, charted a new road map for gender equality in education in India.
Despite all these efforts, surprisingly, a large number of
girls still remain outside the education system. According to UNICEF India, out
of 81% girls joining school at the primary level, around 50% drop out at the
secondary level. A 2010 report by the National Council for Teacher Education
estimated that an additional 1.2 million teachers were needed to fulfill the
RTE Act requirements, and last year the RTE Forum, a civil society collective
of around 10,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), found that only 5% of
government schools complied with all the basic standards for infrastructure set
by the act. Some 40% of primaries had more than 30 students per classroom, and
60% didn't have electricity. The RTE Forum also reported official figures
showing that 21% of teachers weren't professionally trained.
But these are all infrastructural and administrative
problems. If we try to find out, there are plenty of socioeconomic problems as
well and sometimes these are the biggest problems to send a girl to school and
stand her in life. Main reason is poverty. Many talented children have been
forcefully left school because their parents are unable to provide the money
for their education. Girls are most common soft target in this regard. Still in
India girls are considered as marriage materials and they must be married after
a certain age. Even in some regions girls are unwanted during birth. It leads
female foeticide. After sixty years of independence this perception has been
changed very little. Sometimes parents force them to dropout from school and
put them in jobs to increase the number of earning members of the family. Girls
are very common target of human trafficking. It hampers their education as
well.
But some of them fight against these odds valiantly and keep
faith on their will to reach their ultimate goal. From morning to night
sometime they fight against the society, sometime against their parents and
even sometime against their own motivation.
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12 years old priya at her home. Priya's father does not have any permanent job.But still her parents are confident to support her education at any cost. |
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Priya is ready for school |
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Girls are playing during annual sports day |
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Mid-Day-Meal is being distributed |
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Madhumita is having her lunch with her friends |
We need a mass movement to change this scenario. First of
all we need to provide enough financial support to the family. Some NGOs are
doing this tirelessly. But these are not enough. In past Government started an
initiative to provide lunch at break as “Mid-Day-Meal” to attract students to
the school. Parents are sending their kids to school after this initiative, but
not in large numbers. Education department has also directed to draw different
diagrams in pictorial forms inside the classrooms to increase the interest
about education. Different activities are often organized at school level like
painting, sports, and cultural programs to increase the engagement with the
students and their parents. We need to implement strong legislation outlawing
child labor, gender based violence, and harassment of girls as well. But above
all we need to change our perceptions and educate people around us about the
importance of girls’ education that all the girls can go to sleep every night
with their dreams intact with a hope for a better and joyful tomorrow.
© Balarka Brahma All Rights Reserved
Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited
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