Girls' Education in India:
Situation could have been much better

The bad news is that India ranks a lowly 105 out of 127 nations in Unesco’s Education For All Development Index (EDI) for 2004, despite its much-touted Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education For All) initiative. Worse, the UN body says it’s doubtful that India will achieve the Education For All (EFA) goal of 100% enrolment in primary schools by 2015 -- one of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

In its 2005 Education For All Global Monitoring Report, released in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, on November 8, Unesco ranks India, with 35 other countries, in the lowest category. Its sub-continental neighbours also fare abysmally -- Bangladesh comes in 107th, Nepal 110th and Pakistan 123rd. China, with a larger population than India, ranks a respectable 54th.

As the title indicates, this year’s report ‘The Quality Imperative’ stresses on quality of education services rather than on numbers. Unesco points out that one of the key factors promoting quality is early pre-school care. In India, infants and children younger than six, who have access to early childhood care and education, total a very low 29.7%. One of the reasons why India guarantees free and compulsory education from the age of six is because it is sure it will not have enough money to provide the more expensive pre-school education.

The Unesco data also paints a grim picture of adult education in India, pointing out that India is home to more than a third of illiterate people in nine of the world’s most populous countries. Of the 560 million adult illiterates in these countries, India accounts for more than 180 million, or 34%. Compare this with China’s 11%. Similarly, as far as the adult literacy rate goes, the country lags way behind not just the developed world but even other populous countries with similar multi-dimensional problems, like China. Unesco points out that adult literacy is important because if adults educate themselves they will be better able to motivate their children.

One could argue that most of this data is 2001-based and that the situation has improved since then. After all the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was really implemented only from 2002-3 onwards. However, a similar argument was used when Unesco released its 2004 Global Education Report by the then human resource minister Murli Manohar Joshi who disputed India’s low ranking, pointing out that the report used figures from the 1991 census and that things would be dramatically different if current data was used.

Unesco’s EDI is based on the four goals of universal primary education, adult literacy, education quality and gender parity. Net enrolment ratio at the primary level, adult literacy rate, proportion of students in school till Class 5 and the gender-specific index are taken into account for the ranking.

India does best in the enrolment ratio -- at 82.3% it’s close to the world average -- ranking 94th. But it does badly in the rest. There has been a jump in India’s adult literacy ranking, from 121 last year to 105 this year thanks to the change from 1991 figures to 2001 figures. Yet, the adult literacy rate, at 61.3%, is still way below the 76% average for developing countries and 81.7% global average. The percentage of students who stay in school till Class 5 has actually declined marginally to 61.2% from 62% last year. It is way below the global average of 83.3%.

It’s the gender-parity index that is causing the most concern. The average years spent in school for boys, at 10 years, is close to the global norm (10.7 years) and the average for developing countries (10.1 years). But for girls the figure drops to 7.9 years, way below the global average of 9.8 years.

According to the report, 41 countries are now quite close to achieving these goals, including industrialised or transitional countries such as Argentina, Cuba and Chile.

Others not far behind include Romania, Bulgaria, Costa Rica and many of the Arab states, although this group is often held back by the ‘quality’ issue. Countries that are far from achieving the goals include 22 of the 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as the high-population countries of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

A number of developed countries, where education for all was achieved a long time ago, are not included in the study. Some developing countries have been omitted because of lack of data or faulty statistics.

Source: The Indian Express, November 9, 2004
www.unesco.org, November 8, 2004

As the 2005 deadline approaches for the Millennium Development Goal seeking gender equality in education worldwide (MDG 2), a Global Campaign for Education (GCE) report ‘A Fair Chance’ says only half the countries worldwide will be able to meet the target. At the current rate, equal access to schooling in every country in the world will not occur until 2025 at the earliest.

However, measuring the dynamics of education and gender is highly complex and there are problems in assessing progress towards the MDG, as inter-governmental agencies use a variety of methods to measure the number of girls in school.

South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are unlikely to reach the MDG.

Only 55% of girls across sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in primary schools. Both regions have countries with very low rates of female enrolment. However, there are great disparities within the regions, with certain countries achieving far higher rates.

In some African countries, retention rates at school also tend to be poor: for instance in Angola only 4% of primary school girls make it to Class 5 (ages 10-11).

In its Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO uses the net enrolment ratio (NER) to measure the proportion of all children within the appropriate age range at primary school (generally between 6-11 years). It also uses the gender parity index (GPI) in the NER (the ratio of females to males), where 1 would indicate parity between boys and girls, a variation between 0 and 1 a disparity in favour of boys, and a GPI greater than 1 a disparity in favour of girls.

However, these measures are limited in scope and reliability. The NER will never be accurate because, in many countries, births are not registered. In addition, neither NER nor GPI offer any insight into the qualitative dimensions of schooling for girls and boys, or how often and for how long girls and boys actually attend school. A country can have a GPI of 1, indicating complete equality between boys and girls, but still have low rates of access, retention and achievement. Data used for international reports is frequently out of date; while measuring progress in 2005, often figures from 2000-2001 or even earlier are used.

There is urgent need for a publicly accountable measure of what has been achieved and what still needs to be done. One suggested new mode of measurement is the ‘score card’ method developed by the UK’s Beyond Access project. This aims to offer a broader concept of gender equality in education by addressing not only attendance and retention at the primary level, but also by tracking the progress of girls.

So far, this method has only been applied to countries in Africa, from where it can be seen that countries with histories of war and repressive governments (for example, Nigeria and Malawi), vast regional inequalities (Kenya and Ghana) or economies that have been squeezed by structural adjustment (Zambia and Zimbabwe) face the greatest challenge.

Alternative ways to assess gender empowerment through education are being developed. One is the gender empowerment measure (GEM) currently being considered in South Africa. This may be easier to carry out in some countries than in others, but essentially aims to focus on the extent to which women can participate and have access to society and its resources. It’s measured by calculating women’s and men’s share of parliamentary seats, positions as legislators, senior officials and managers and estimated earned incomes.

Unicef is also attempting to use more accurate forms of measurement, such as attendance figures from district household surveys, instead of relying on school registers.

Source: id21.org, September 2004

Eighteen per cent of girls in India drop out of school by the age of 14, and an average of 25% of all school children cannot write a dictated sentence by that age, according to a nationwide survey conducted in June and August 2004 by Pratham, an organisation working with elementary education. The rapid assessment survey was conducted on children from two age-groups, 7-10 and 11-14, in 27 districts, in response to a request by the Planning Commission on the status of school education in India.

Villages and children were picked randomly in districts selected for the survey. The survey tested children for their reading, writing and mathematics abilities. The reading test included reading out stories, paragraphs, words and letters of the alphabet.

The study threw up disturbing trends in the various states. In Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad and Lucknow districts, about 79% of government school children, aged between 7 and 10 years, were unable to read, while in Bihar, 61% of children in the same age-group could not read.

In Uttar Pradesh it was the same dismal scenario. Ninety-five per cent of children between 7-10 years could not do basic mathematics; 65% were clueless even at 14. A similar trend was observed in Madhya Pradesh’s Baitul and Vidisha districts, where 31% of children in government schools could not read, and 41% could not write at 14.

Among the southern states, 42% of school children between 7-10 years in Andhra Pradesh could not read, while 32% in Tamil Nadu, 30% in Karnataka and 4% in Kerala could not read simple words. The survey also revealed that about 29% of boys and 33% of girls in Andhra Pradesh were out of school in the age-group 11-14.

Not only government schools, private schools too put up a poor showing. Private schools in Assam’s Kamrup district were the worst -- 48% of children aged between 7-10 years could not read. “About 80% of children who go to zilla parishad schools do not have home support. A trained teacher cannot do much without parental support. Therefore, adult education must supplement elementary education,” says Pratham’s Madhav Chavan.

Source: The Indian Express, September 12, 2004

Following the implementation of the midday meals scheme in 10,618 government-run primary schools in Himachal Pradesh, several district headquarters have begun receiving complaints of dalit students being ostracised. Dalits constitute 1,93,689 of the roughly 7 lakh school children in the state.

Dalit students in many schools in Bainchi panchayat in Kullu district are allegedly being asked to sit two to three metres away from upper caste students, and are not allowed to touch school utensils. They have been asked to bring their own plates to school. In Gohar block in Mandi district too, food for dalit students is being cooked in separate utensils.

In other areas, upper caste students are refusing to eat meals cooked by dalit anganwadi workers. At a government primary school in Khudla, 50 km from Mandi, 13 upper caste students stopped eating their midday meals, on September 6, when cooking duties were entrusted to dalit anganwadi workers.

“The Brahmin students were told by their parents not to eat meals cooked by dalit workers. The matter has been reported to the higher authorities,” says Sunita Devi, a teacher at one of the schools.

“The district administration should intervene and stop the victimisation of students by upper caste people. We’ll inform the education minister by way of a memorandum shortly,” says Nirat Ram Rakha, district president of the Dalit Sahitya Academy in Kullu.

Meanwhile, district deputy commissioner R D Nazeem confirms that he is aware of a caste divide in the district but denies the victimisation of dalit students. “Revenue and development officers clandestinely visited the (concerned) schools and did not notice any treatment which amounted to victimisation of dalit students. We’ll leave no stone unturned to implement the scheme. Complaints in future will be examined minutely and the guilty will be punished,” he says.

Source: www.tehelka.com, October 2, 2004

Primary education in India has received a financial windfall, with the United Kingdom announcing a $340 million grant to ensure free schooling for poor children in the 6-14 age-group. Announcing the grant on October 4, the British minister for international development, Gareth Thomas, said the new four-year grant is in addition to last year’s $36 million initial grant by the UK’s department for international development (DFID).

“India has made remarkable progress in education, as the number of out-of-school children aged 6-14 years has dropped from 39 million in 1999 to 23 million currently,” the minister said in New Delhi, whilst on a two-day visit to India. “Under a new arrangement for the four-year programme, till 2007-08, the international community will be pooling funds into the national programme, with the Indian government providing 70% of the funds along with the state governments,” Thomas said.

The objective is to ensure that around 3 million children enter the ‘school stream’ for a minimum of eight years every year.

“The development partners and the Government of India will review the programme jointly twice a year and transfer funds to the government annually based on financial statements and audit reports,” the minister said. The performance of the programme, which will see decentralised control of schools to the community, will be judged on feedback from the community as well as through an audit of funding, Thomas added.

Despite its universal elementary education programme, known as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), India still accounts for around one-fourth of the world’s 104 million out-of-school children.

With India having made the right to education a fundamental right, the DFID, together with the World Bank and the European Commission, has committed an overall grant package of Rs 47.1 billion ($1.02 billion) to help extend the programme’s reach.

Thomas said India’s success in universal education for a minimum of eight years would send a strong signal to the world community helping it in its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

During his visit Thomas is scheduled to visit Madhya Pradesh, one of the DFID’s four partner states, and also examine the literacy programme in Uttar Pradesh -- one of India’s most backward states.

Source: IANS, October 4, 2004

The Supreme Court, on September 17, issued notices to the Centre and all states and union territories, on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the formulation of a comprehensive time-bound plan to ensure the safety of children in schools. And to prevent a recurrence of tragedies like the one that took place in a school in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, and Dabwali in Haryana. Also, fires in school buses and vans.

A bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde and Justice S B Sinha, responding to the PIL filed by Avinash Mehrotra, sought a response from the authorities concerned on the enforcement of safety standards in schools.

The petition urged the court to constitute a committee of jurists, legal experts and lawyers to formulate a comprehensive time-bound report for reforms in the safety standards prescribed for schools. Since the existing safety norms in schools are inadequate, the petition suggested that the authorities insist on additional safety measures before new schools were given the go-ahead.

Counsel called for greater transparency and openness in measures introduced to ensure effective safety in school buildings across the country. Contingency measures were also asked to be put in place to rescue children in emergency situations.

The PIL highlighted the fact that there had been a proliferation of ill-equipped schools as the government had cut spending on education to curtail the budget deficit. Public spending on education was sliding to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).

The petition drew attention to the Kumbakonam tragedy that occurred in July this year, which led to the call for better safety standards in schools. More than 200 schools in Tamil Nadu alone were ordered to close for safety reasons. Counsel also referred to the devastating fire that took place at a prize-giving ceremony at a school in Dabwali in Haryana in 1995 that killed around 400 people.

Source: The Hindu, September 18, 2004

India’s national literacy mission (NLM) has brought about higher literacy growth rates in rural areas compared to urban areas. It also seems to have succeeded in decreasing the gap between male and female literacy rates, according to the human resources development (HRD) ministry’s recently released annual report for 2003-04.

The report claims that India’s sustained literacy drive made 108.02 million persons literate by March 2003.

The country’s literacy rate in 2001 stood at 65.38%, as against 52.21% a decade earlier. “The 13.17 percentage point increase in literacy during the period (1991-2001) is the highest increase in any decade,” says the report. “The rate of growth in literacy is more in rural areas than in urban areas,” it adds. This has led to a decrease in the differential between urban and rural literacy levels.

What’s encouraging is that the gap between male and female literacy rates decreased from 24.84% in 1991 to 21.70% in 2001. During the past decade, the female literacy rate has witnessed much higher growth (14.87 percentage points), as against 11.72 for males.

Overall, male literacy in the country now stands at over 60%; for females it is around 50%.

Among the states and union territories Kerala continues to have the highest literacy rate (90.92%), while Bihar has the lowest (47.53%).

The report acknowledges, however, that the basic literacy skills acquired by millions of neo-literates are fragile, with the possibility of them regressing into partial or total illiteracy unless special efforts are made to consolidate, sustain and possibly enhance their literacy levels.

Under the total literacy campaign, with its focus on propagating the small family norm and equal opportunities for women, there has been a rapidly rising enrolment ratio in schools. “Consequently, the number of non-literates entering the 15-35 age-group has been declining. At this stage, it is necessary to ensure that neo-literates do not relapse into illiteracy and also acquire vocational skills,” says the report.

The goal of the national literacy mission is to attain a sustainable threshold level of 75% by 2007, by imparting functional literacy to non-literates within the age-group 15-35 years -- the most productive years of a human being.

The report cites natural calamities and lack of political will as among the reasons for continuing pockets of low literacy, particularly among women, in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service, September 4, 2004

An innovative scheme launched in two districts of West Bengal on July 19, 2004, by Unicef and FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations), encourages girls to play soccer in school to spur attendance in a region that boasts one of the highest rates of elementary school dropouts.

The project aims to cover around 600 primary schools in Murshidabad and Jalpaiguri districts. As part of the scheme, Unicef received a total of 65 kits from FIFA including footballs, jerseys, nets, goalposts and other equipment. So far, the kits have been distributed to around 32 schools with proper playgrounds.

Each kit can be shared between eight to 10 primary schools. West Bengal -- which is one of the worst performing states as regards female education -- is the first Indian state to benefit from the worldwide scheme kick-started during FIFA’s 2003 Women’s World Cup with the slogan: ‘Go Girls! Education For Every Child’.

“The idea is to imbue a sense of competition and participation among girls and encourage them to attend school. Girls who attend school more regularly have a better chance of making it to the school team. Then again, schools with better attendance records have greater chances of taking part in inter-school matches, which earlier did not involve girls in football,” says Rajiv Sinha, education officer, Unicef, Kolkata.

A 2001 survey by the International Institute for Population Science ranked West Bengal 19th among India’s 26 states in terms of female literacy. In a state where half the 2.6 million children enrolled in class I leave school by the end of the session, and whose dropout figure for girls between classes I and X is as high as 86.14%, the project did not find easy acceptance.

“Initially, there were some problems with parents in these areas where conservatism holds sway. So we had to run a sensitisation programme and campaign in the area for about a month before beginning the project. But once they accepted the idea they were enthusiastic about it,” says Sinha.

According to Indian government figures, in 2001, over 59 million children were out of school, 35 million of them girls. Though the growth in female literacy during this decade has been higher, at 14.87%, than that of males (11.72%), it still trails male literacy by more than 21 percentage points.

While the reasons for dropping out of school vary in West Bengal, most dropouts are from rural areas and belong to the Muslim community. Parents remain hesitant to send their girls to schools that have only male teachers.

Early marriage is also common in rural areas, though the official age for marriage is 18 years. In Murshidabad, a Muslim-majority district, both Hindu and Muslim young girls are sent to work in bidi (local cigarette) factories. The faster a girl rolls bidis, the higher her ‘value’ is in the marriage market. With a high value, her parents have to pay less dowry to the groom.

With the launch of the unique football scheme in the two districts of West Bengal, Unicef hopes that girls will be encouraged to attend school and that the rate of dropouts decline. The project has already overcome its first hurdle of getting parents to send their girl-children to school.

Source: The Statesman, August 17, 2004
              www.oneworldsouthasia.net, August 3, 2004

The number of literate children in the age-group 6-14 increased in 2001-2002, according to India’s latest economic survey. But, more children dropped out of school at the upper-primary level within the same period.

“Between 2001-2002, nearly 82.2% of an estimated 193 million in the 6-14 age-group was enrolled in schools as compared with 81.6% in 2000-2001,” says the Economic Survey of India for 2003-2004.

At the upper-primary level, however, the dropout percentage increased from 53.7% in 2000-2001 to 54.6% in 2001-2002.

The survey points out that “the dropout rate is still relatively high, especially among girls, though it has declined over the years at the elementary education stage”.

At one teacher for every 43 pupils in 2001-2002, the poor pupil-teacher ratio continues to be a drawback in the country’s education system. Worryingly, this ratio has remained more or less constant, despite an increase in the number of teachers in the last 10 years.

A major reason why the pupil-teacher ratio is not improving is that several state governments, like Bihar and Bengal, have chosen not to recruit teachers despite reminders from the central government.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme for the universalisation of elementary education, launched four years ago, appears to have paid some dividends. According to the survey, the number of primary schools has increased from 6.39 lakh in 2000-2001 to 6.64 lakh in 2001-2002. The number of upper-primary schools has also risen from 2.06 lakh to 2.19 lakh.

Although India is still far behind other Asian countries like China and Sri Lanka in terms of achieving full literacy, it has made “dramatic” progress says the economic survey. The overall adult literacy rate in 2001 stood at 64.8%.

While the male literacy rate stood at 75.3%, the female literacy rate was 53.7%, according to 2001 Census of India data. Male literacy went up by 11% and female literacy by 14.4%, compared to figures in the 1991 census.

The economic survey also advocates user charges in higher education to reduce government subsidies in this sector.

Source: The Telegraph, July 12, 2004
              Deccan Herald, July 11, 2004

In some positive news on the education front, the three Indian states of Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram have told the government that they don’t need any more primary school buildings and that all their children now have schools within walking distance from their homes.

The fact came to light when officials from the union ministry of human resource development, doing their budgetary allocations, met representatives from various states, on June 17, to assess their needs. For the first time in India’s history, three states declared that they did not require money for new school buildings, though they still wanted money to upgrade facilities and to introduce computers.

Kerala, which prides itself on its literacy levels, is no surprise. But Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram have officially informed the HRD ministry that their primary school infrastructure is adequate. Another state that’s expected to join the list later this year is Goa.

Of the three, the tiny hill state of Himachal Pradesh boasted the best numbers. In all, it has just 4,000 children not attending school. Most of them are children from the nomadic Van Gujjar tribe. Even here, the state government has gone to the extent of ‘embedding’ teachers, who travel and live with the nomads in the hills in order to teach their children.

According to Kerala, the total number of children below 14 not attending school is 8,077. The state has a long history of total literacy; for several years now, the ministry has been expecting to reach this milestone.

Kerala also says that the current shortfall in enrolment is mostly among groups of tribals residing in the districts of Wayanad, Kasargod and Malappuram. The state says it does not require any more school buildings, but might need to create a few makeshift schools in existing buildings, under the Education Guarantee Scheme.

Meanwhile Mizoram launched a significant student enrolment drive, with the help of the church, several years ago. Education became a key indicator of the local people’s aspirations once the separatist movement in the state petered out in the late 1980s.

Again, Mizoram’s out-of-school children mostly belong to remote tribals living in forested hilly areas. The student drop-out rate, after Class V, is higher among boys than it is among girls.

Although Goa was expected to be on this list, state officials still have to meet HRD policy planners and put forward their monetary demands for the year.

Ministry officials anticipate that over the next year or two Gujarat and Assam may also stop seeking funds to build new schools.

While HRD officials agree that these states have achieved a commendable level in primary education, one paradox leaves planners stumped -- none of these states excel in the national economic indicators.

Kerala has boosted its economy through tourism only recently. Mizoram has been pleading for a ‘peace bonus’ ever since its insurgents laid down arms in 1987. And Himachal Pradesh faces rising unemployment.

Source: The Indian Express, June 20, 2004

In what some would say is a long overdue step, 50 textbooks for students upto Class 8, brought out by the State Council for Educational Research (SCERT) for the new academic year, have been written keeping gender-sensitivities in mind. Civics textbooks for classes 6 to 8, in particular, will focus on the subject.

Janaki Rajan, director of the SCERT, says the aim of the experiment is to make textbooks more gender-friendly in order to alter mindsets that perpetuate gender disparities. The problem can best be tackled by introducing quality education that promotes gender equality, rather than merely raising a fuss about the rights of the girl-child.

The newly-commissioned civics textbooks have a gender orientation. Explaining the choice of civics as the main focus, Rajan says: “Special emphasis has been laid on civics as this is a subject that talks of society and the role of a good citizen.” The textbooks have been developed with guidance from Nirantar, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation working with gender issues.

Examples of how gender equality is worked into the syllabus include mention of a single-parent family, with the woman as the breadwinner, in the chapter on families. An illustration in the chapter on government and democracy depicts a woman politician speaking from a podium.

The textbooks also incorporate facts and figures relevant to the role of Indian women in the economy, and those that affect their status in society. The textbooks attempt to portray women in their diverse roles -- as homemakers, students, agriculturists and professionals.

Source: The Asian Age, May 16,2004

India’s much-touted universal elementary education programme has received a fresh injection of funds with the World Bank announcing $500 million credit for the programme. The money for the nationally-run Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)(Education For All Campaign) will be pooled with funds provided by the Government of India, the various states, the European Commission and the United Kingdom.

The SSA aims to reduce the number of children out of school by at least nine million, narrow gender and social gaps and improve the quality of education. The total project cost is $3.5 billion for three-and-a-half years.

“When it comes to children not having access to basic education, even in a country as large as India, one child is one too many,” says Michael Carter, the World Bank’s country director for India.

The $500 million credit will specifically fund the construction and extension of primary and upper primary schools, provision of training in social mobilisation and educational management, and payment of teachers’ salaries.

According to a World Bank press release India has made remarkable progress in education, as evidenced by the decline in the number of out-of-school children between the ages of 6 and 14, from 39 million in 1999 to 25 million in 2003. This has also been acknowledged in Unicef’s ‘State of the World’s Children 2003’. However, India still accounts for one-quarter of the world’s 104 million out-of-school children.

The SSA is a coordinated effort by the central government, the Indian states, districts and civil society to ensure that all children between the ages of 6 and 14 eventually receive eight years of education.

“Girls, poor, rural and disabled children have benefited the most from the SSA,” says Kin Bing Wu, co-task team leader for the WB project. “This track record gives us confidence that the new project will be a major contributor both to meeting the government’s own goals for 2010 and to meeting the global MDG for education,” he adds.

Surprisingly, however, funds have never been a problem with the SSA. In fact, data released by the union human resource development ministry in October 2003 shows that many state governments have not made optimum use of the funds allocated to them by the Centre for the project’s implementation.

According to the ministry, five states -- including West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh -- have not used even half of their SSA outlay for 2002-2003.

Given this, the size of the World Bank’s most recent financial donation begs the question: are more funds or better implementation and stricter norms what is needed to ensure that every child gets an elementary education.

Source: www.ptinews.com, April 21, 2004
              www.hindustantimes, April 21, 2004
              www.indolink.com, April 21, 2004