International Multidisciplinary e Journal. Mrs. Manjeet Kaur.(13-29)

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GENDER DISPARITY IN SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA Author: Mrs. Manjeet Kaur Assistant Professor G.H.G. Harparkash College of Education for Women V.P.O - Sidhwan Khurd Dist.

1 GENDER DISPARITY IN SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA Author: Mrs. Manjeet Kaur Assistant Professor G.H.G. Harparkash College of Education for Women V.P.O - Sidhwan Khurd Dist. & teh-ludhiana (PUNJAB), INDIA ABSTRACT Since independence, India seems to have great strides in getting larger number of girls to school but still the country has lower participation of girls than boys in the system of education. Girl children s lacking access to school education and the gender gap remains a problem with the country. India is one of the countries in the world, which are at risk of not achieving gender equality in education even by 2015.The results revealed that gender disparity exists in all the levels of school education though the magnitude of disparity is different. Gender disparity was higher in secondary and senior secondary level of education in comparison to elementary level. Key words- Gender disparity, girl s enrolment, school education INTRODUCTION If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family Gender disparity is not only a women s issue but also a development issue. Educating girls and women is significant in economic development. It is good engine for a person s personal development, happiness, self-satisfaction and emotional wellbeing when he or she learns to read and write, due to changes in the brain. The girls and women s education can Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 13

2 create the reduction of poverty. It paves the way to increased economic productivity, higher earnings more robust labour markets, and improved societal health and well-being. There are convincing benefits associated with females education. These consist of the reduction of child mortality, lower fertility rate, good health, enhancement of women s domestic role and their political participation, improvement of the economic productivity and growth, and protection of abuses and exploitation by family and society. Girls education gives the way to some of the highest returns of all investments. Gender inequality means disparity between men and women in different social, economic and political aspects. This problem is simply known as gender bias, which in simple term means the gender stratification or making difference between a male or a female. In India, this problem is found both in rural and urban areas and vary spatially i.e. in offices, institutions, schools and in societies. According to Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen, (2001) in Many faces of gender inequality, has mentioned that there are seven types of gender inequalities at present like mortality inequality, natality inequality, basic facilities inequality, special opportunity inequality, professional inequality, ownership inequality and household inequality. Gender disparity therefore means unequal participation or the gap in the achievement of men and women in these spheres of life. Gender disparity hampers the overall wellbeing of society because blocking women from participation in social, political and economic activities can adversely affect the whole society. In many countries, women are not given equal rights as men. In some countries, women cannot vote, they are discriminated against in the work place, they are not allowed to hold office, they are not allowed to drive, and are subject to other inequalities. One of the main issues is that of women not being educated. Gender disparities in education cannot be eradicated without ensuring universal primary education, and universal primary education cannot be ensured without removing gender disparity in education. Eliminating gender disparity in education and ensuring universal primary education are two of the millennium development goals set forth by the United Nations (UN) which all countries must accomplish by the year According to the United Nation s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, education is a fundamental right of every individual, irrespective of gender, class, background, creed, religion or race. Education plays a vital role in human development and investment in education has been increased in recent years. Yet educational gap at attainment levels between male and female in India is staggering. Reduction in such gap is essential for more than one reason. Existence of gender gap in educational attainment thus becomes an important dimension of entitlement failure that threatens sustainable human development. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 14

3 Thus gender disparity leads towards economic losses in the form of less job opportunities and limited occupations. Gender disparity is found almost all over the world. According to UNDP (1998) gender disparity can be seen, through the lens of the gender-related development index (GDI) and the gender empowerment measurement (GEM), both introduced in the UNDP human development report (1995). Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory Education shall be directed to the full development of human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26). This right is also repeated in the U N Declaration of the Rights of the Child which seeks to ensure, Right to free and compulsory education at least in the elementary stages and education to promote general culture, abilities, judgment and sense of responsibility to become a useful member of society and opportunity to recreation and play to attain the same purpose as of education. The part IV of the National Policy on Education (1986) clearly promised equality in education with respect to women, scheduled caste, Scheduled tribes, minorities and handicapped. The constitution of India makes provision for free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of fourteen years. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002 made education in India a Fundamental Right for children in the age group of 6-14 years by providing that: The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 considers compulsory education as an obligation of the government. This Act provides for free elementary education and ensures compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education to every child in the 6-14 age groups in a neighbourhood school. Education helps in generating awareness among women about their legal, social, political and economic rights, provisions and privileges to fight against all sorts of social discrimination. It enables them to realize their potentialities, developing skills, seeking employment and improving their nutritional and health conditions. Therefore, educating women encourages not only their political participation and economic independence but also improves their quality of life and through them of the whole family and then of whole nation in a broader sense. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 15

4 Women s literacy and educational levels help secure social equality and human development, higher economic productivity and a tolerant democratic society. Equality and equity in education is directly related to democratic development. The gap between male and the female literacy is a sensitive indicator of social discrimination. Education is the key to gender equality. This is a fact that investing in the human capital is one of the most effective means of reducing poverty and encouraging sustainable development. Yet, women in developing countries usually receive less education than men. Throughout the world there still exist large gender disparities in basic human rights, resources and economic opportunity. So until nations are able to solve this issue of gender inequality and resolve it, the vicious cycle of poverty will continue to pervade, this is because poverty leads to and aggravates gender discrimination. Gender discrimination hinders development. It is the gender equality, which strengthens a country s ability to grow, to reduce poverty and provides its people men, women and children A better life. The issue of Gender equality is at the core of development policies both in national and international arenas. Massive educational deprivation of girl child is a reality. Education must be used as an agent of basic changes in the status of women. It should be visualized as a milestone of women s development. India is poised to become a super power, a developed country by 2020 and this aspect must be supported by ensuring universalized gender free education. The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) targets, MDGs, sustainable development of country, all these aims require universalization of education. Education of Girls is very crucial because on it depends upon the education of families and which is turn would positively affect the education of next generations. There has been shift in concept of Girl s education, from equality of opportunity in access to equality and empowerment. The National policy on Education and its Programme of action (1986 & 1992) gave stress on Education of Women s Equality & Empowerment. Issue of women development has been brought to the main stream in the five year plans since 6 th five year plan ( ) after the first comprehensive report on women issues i.e. CSWI (1974), highlighted in the National Perspective Plan for Women ( ), the Shramshakti Report (1988). The participation of women in the field of education is not very satisfactory. There is a wide gap between male-female literacy rates in India. According to Census report (2011) the literacy rate for women is 65.5 % and 82.1% for men. Gender disparity has been a major issue in India s pursuit for achieving the goal of universal elementary education. In order to address this problem and develop appropriate interventions, it is necessary to understand the nature and extent of the problem, as well as possible Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 16

5 explanations for the disparity. Moreover the research conducted on women is being reported separately in different Surveys of Educational Research (Desai 1988, Nayar 2000, Anitha 2006). The Indian govt. has launched Saakshar Bharat Mission for Female Literacy. The National Sample Survey on Status of Education in India 2005 showed that 50% in rural India and 20% in urban India do not have even one literate girl child in their families above the age of 15. The progress in literacy and education in the country is plagued by countenance of Gender Disparity especially at elementary stage of school education since the government was committed to Gender Equality in educational process by end of Eleventh Five Year plan. It is important to look in to the status of Disparities in educational development in India in terms of; 1. Primary level 2. Upper primary level 3. Secondary level 4. Senior secondary level STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM GENDER DISPARITY IN SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The following were the objectives of the study:- 1. To study school enrolment at primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level over the period in India. 2. To study gender disparity in primary, upper primary, secondary, senior secondary levels over the period in India. DATA SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY The required data on various indicators of education were taken from various published sources like Census Reports of Government of India, Economic survey reports, Selected Educational Statistics (GOI), All India Educational Surveys, MHRD Reports, Id: Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 17

6 District Statistical hand book, District census abstract and HDR report, NSSO surveys, DISE Analytical report, UNESCO Reports, UNDP Reports, World Bank Reports, NCERT reports, Books, Journals, Magazines, and supplemented with State Digest of Statistics and other published work wherever necessary. The findings were discussed in the light of published literature. The gender disparity in each level was measured from share of girls enrolment to the total enrolment, number of girls enrolled per hundred boys enrolled and Gross Enrolment Ratio. Data were analysed through the techniques of trend analysis and percentage analysis. An evaluative approach with the help of historical-cum-descriptive methods of research was followed in the conduct of the proposed study. INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS Gender disparity in Enrolment Table 1 presents the growth of school enrolment in different stages of school education in India from to The total enrolment at the Primary stage has increased by about 277%, from 19.2 million in to million in In case of Upper Primary stage, it has increased by 373 %, from 3.1 million in to million in The increase in enrolment at Secondary/Senior Secondary accounted %, from 1.5 million in to 59.2 million in The girls enrolment at the primary stage has increased by 10.62% from 5.4 million in to 62.8 million in In upper primary stage, girl s enrolment has increased by 63% from 0.5 million in to 32.0 million in However the trend depicts that transition of girls from primary level to upper primary level is low indicating higher dropout rate among girls. At secondary/senior secondary level girls enrolment increased by 137.5% from 0.2 million in to 27.7 million in Trend reveals that in each academic year at every level of education, enrolment of girls is low in comparison to enrolment of boys indicating gender disparity at each level of education. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 18

7 Table 1: Enrolment by Stages of the School Education in India- All Categories of Students from to (In millions) Year Primary(I V) Middle/Upper Sec./Sr. Sec./Inter/ Primary (VI-VIII) Pre-Degree (IX-XII) Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total (P)* (P)* Source: SES all India time series Selected Educational Statistics , , , For : Educational Statistics at Glance 2011 Time Series Data Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 19

8 For : Statistics of School Education For , , : Educational Statistics at glance -2014, * Indicates Provisional Data Figure 1: Enrolment by Stages of the School Education in India-All Categories of Students Trends in Share of Girls Enrolment to the Total Enrolment in India The participation of girls at all stages of education has been increasing steadily through the years as may be seen from table 2. Since girl s participation has increased many folds in primary, upper primary, sec. /sr. sec stages from 28.1% to 48.3%, from 16.1% to 48.3%, from 13.3% to 46.8% respectively. However, the girl s participation is still below fifty per cent at all stages of education. The ratio between girls enrolment to total enrolment decrease the higher the class. In India the percentage is highest at the primary stage during the period to whereas it is lowest at secondary and senior secondary level during the same period but from to , the percentage of girls enrolment to total enrolment is highest at upper primary stage and lowest at secondary and senior secondary stage. In , the percentage is highest at upper primary stage (48.7%), 48.3% at primary stage whereas it is 46.8% at secondary and senior secondary stage. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 20

9 Table 2: Percentage of Girls Enrolment to Total Enrolment in India by Stages to Year Primary Upper Primary Sec./Sr. Sec/Intermediate I-V VI-VIII IX-XII Id: Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 21

10 (P)* (P)* Source: SES all India time series Selected Educational Statistics , , , For : Educational Statistics at Glance 2011 Time Series Data For : Statistics of School Education For , , : Educational Statistics at glance -2014, * Indicates Provisional Data Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 22

11 Figure 2: Percentage of Girls Enrolment to Total Enrollment in India by Stages Number of Girls Enrolled per Hundred Boys Enrolled: The number of girl s enrolment per hundred boys is indicated in table 3. The girl s enrolment per hundred boys has increased from 39 to 93 in primary classes, 18 to 95 in upper primary and 16 to 92 in secondary classes for every 100 boys since to In India, in at primary level, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level 93, 95, 90 and 89 girls are enrolled per hundred boys enrolled. The number of girls per 100 boys enrolled in different levels of school education is on the rise over the years, but the gap still continues well over 7 in primary education, 5 in upper primary, 10 in secondary level and 11 in senior secondary level. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 23

12 Table 3: Number of Girls Enrolled per Hundred Boys Enrolled in India ( to ) Year Primary (I-V) Middle (VI-VIII) Secondary (IX-X) Sr. Sec (XI-XII) (P)* (P)* Source: SES all India time series Selected Educational Statistics , , , Id: Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 24

For 2008-09: Educational Statistics at Glance 2011 Time Series Data For 2010-11: Statistics of School Education 2010-11 For 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14: Educational Statistics at glance -2014, *

13 For : Educational Statistics at Glance 2011 Time Series Data For : Statistics of School Education For , , : Educational Statistics at glance -2014, * Indicates Provisional Data Figure 3: Number of Girls Enrolled per Hundred Boys Enrolled in India Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) The Gross Enrolment Ratios for the Primary (class I-V), upper primary (class VI-VIII) and elementary (I-VIII) stage in respect of all categories of students are presented below in table 4. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of all categories of students has been increasing through the years i.e. from to as at primary level GER increased from 42.6 to 99.3, at upper primary stage from 12.7 to At senior secondary level GER increased from to 62.0 from to In case of girls Gross Enrolment Ratio, increased from 24.8 to at primary level, 4.6 to 90.3 at upper primary level and 17.7 to 96.9 at elementary level. At senior secondary level, GER (girls) increased from in to 62.1 in While comparing the GER of boys and girls, data depicts that at all the stages of education over the years boy s GER is more than girl s GER. The relatively lower years GER compared to 6-10 years GER indicates that the transition of students from primary to upper primary classes is relatively lower than the entry to primary classes. Enrolment ratios at the secondary and senior secondary level are considerably low than the enrolment ratio at primary and upper primary level in India. The enrolment ratios of girls at upper primary stage, secondary and senior secondary stage are low than boys indicating girls remain outside the system of formal learning. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 25

14 Table 4: Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of All Categories of Students to Year Primary (I-V) Upper Primary Elementary (IX-XII) (VI-VIII) (I-VIII) Boys Girl s Tota l Boys Girl s Tota l Boys Girl s Tota l Boys Girl s Tota l Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 26

2008-09 114.3 114. 114. 77.9 74.4 76.2 100. 99.1 99.8 50.6 43.1 47.0 4 9 5 2009-10 115.5 115. 115. 84.5 78.3 81.5 103. 101. 102. 52.4 45.9 49.3 4 4 7 1 5 2010-11 115.4 116. 116. 87.7 83.1 85.5 104.

15 (P) (P) Source: SES all India time series Selected Educational Statistics , , , For : Educational Statistics at Glance 2011 Time Series Data For : Statistics of School Education For , , : Educational Statistics at glance -2014, Figure 4: Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of All Categories of Students Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 27

16 DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS In general, at the national level the number of girls, enrolled in all levels i.e. primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary education is less than their counterparts. However, the female-male ratio in education has been steadily improving over the years. Inter connectivity is a significant aspect of the process of educational development as it is concerned with linkages between different stages of education. All levels of education are interlinked in such a way that the output of one stage becomes an input for the development of the other stage. All those children who enter class-i will continue to move upwards without any interruption up to a certain stage. In India these linkages are very weak. The high dropout is pointer of this phenomenon. High dropout rate is a serious problem that comes in the way of universalization of elementary education. UEE has three components Universal provision, universal enrolment and universal retention. While considerable progress has been made in respect of provision and enrolment, retention is a vexed problem. In India in case of girls about one-fifth of the dropouts are at the primary stage. If we take the primary and the middle stages together (elementary), it is noted that about two-fifths of the girls dropout at this stage. Evidently, it is only a small proportion of students who proceed to secondary education. Universal primary education / UEE assume that all children irrespective of the caste, creed and location would complete primary education. Security of girls, congenial environment, absence of adequate female teachers in the school and absence of nearby schools (in the villages, itself) are some of the reasons which discourage the poor parents to continue the study of their daughters. Therefore more focused attention would be required to provide access and facilitate the retention of girls and children belonging to the deprived. REFERENCES Abu-Ghaida, D., & Klasen, S. (2002). The costs of Missing the Millennium Development Goal on Gender Equity. Discussion paper in Education and Economics, University of Munich, Department of Economics. Akthar, S. (1996). Do girls have a higher school dropout rate than boys? A hazard rate analysis of evidence from a third world city, Urban Studies, 33(1), Bandopadhyay, M., & Subrahmanian, R. (2010). Gender equity in education: A study of trends and factors. New Delhi: National University of Education and Planning. Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 28

17 Banerjee, R. (2007). Tackling gender disparity in primary and secondary education and the empowerment of women. Indian Federation of University Women s Associations. Retrieved on 30/11/2014 from seminars/2007/banerjee.pdf Chakrapani, R. (2015). Girls in school, a report card. Frontline, Das, D., & Pathak, M. (2012). Tackling the Millennium Development Goals: Reducing the Gender Disparity in Primary and Secondary Education in India. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(10), Department of Educational Survey and Data. (2006). Seventh All India School Education Survey (7th AISES). New Delhi: NCERT Department of Educational Survey and Data. (2009). Eighth All India School Education Survey (8th AISES). New Delhi: NCERT Department of School Education and Literacy. (2014). Annual Report New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development. District Information System for Education. (2014). District Report Cards India: National University of Educational Planning and Administration. District Information System for Education. (2014). Elementary Flash Statistics India: National University of Educational Planning and Administration. District Information System for Education. (2014). Elementary State Report Cards India: National University of Educational Planning and Administration. Government of India. (2015). Economic Survey New Delhi: Ministry of Human Resource Development. Klasen, S. (1994). Missing Women; Reconsidered. World Development, 22(7), Sen, A. (1992). Inequality re-examined. New York: Oxford University Press. Sen, A. (2001). Many faces of gender inequality. Frontline, 18(22). Sen, A. (2005). Human rights and capabilities. Journal of Human Development, 6(2), Sen, G., & Grown, C. (1987). Development, crises, and alternative visions: Third world women s perspectives. New York: Monthly Review Process. Sinha, S. (2013). How the other half lives. Frontline, Id: imej2011@gmail.com, Vol-IV, Issue X, Oct, Page 29

Dakar Framework for Action. Education for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments. World Education Forum Dakar, Senegal, April 2000

Dakar Framework for Action. Education for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments. World Education Forum Dakar, Senegal, April 2000 Dakar Framework for Action Education for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments Text adopted by the World Education Forum Dakar, Senegal, 26-28 April 2000 Dakar Framework for Action Education for All: