M A I N   N E W S

Education bonanza for girl child

New Delhi, September 22
India’s often neglected girl child is set to get a huge boost with the government today unveiling a scheme that would virtually give free education to her.

If she is the only offspring of her parents, the girl gets fee exemption as well as scholarship. But if the parents have two girls, then they don’t get scholarships and their fee exemption is only up to 50 per cent.

In a country where social prejudices and traditions have gone against the girl child and has resulted in rampant female infanticide and skewed male-female sex ratio (933 females per 1,000 males), the scheme is seen as a revolutionary step with the potential to correct the social and cultural imbalance against women.

The new plan has predictably generated much enthusiasm from literacy activists and campaigners for social justice.

The scheme, effective from the next academic session in all non-professional courses, will include families with a single girl child, regardless of income groups, and would start from the senior school level.

Besides an exemption of the fees, the girl gets Rs.800 per month as scholarship which would be increased to Rs 1,000 a month for an undergraduate course and Rs 2,000 a month during post-graduation. The fee exemption would continue until post-graduation level, said a press note issued by the Human Resource Development Ministry.

The scheme requires the girl child to submit an affidavit, attested by a first class magistrate or a gazetted officer, if she is the only child of her parents.

Parents with two girl children will get fee exemption up to 50 per cent but cannot avail the scholarships.

All schools and colleges, private or government run, across the country that are funded or affiliated to the government are required to implement the new scheme.

“It’s a good step aimed at promoting education of girls together with family planning,” Zoya Hasan, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University here and a member of the committee on girls education appointed by the Central Advisory Board of Education, said.

Mr Hasan is confident that the move will help reduce the deficit in the girls’ education, especially in rural areas.

Over 60 per cent of the female population is illiterate, and over two thirds of this live in rural areas.

Girls form more than half the illiterate children in the age group of 5-9 years in India.

Although girls’ enrolment at various levels of school education has improved appreciably, girls account for only 43.2 percent of enrolment at primary stage and 39 per cent at the upper primary stage.

Narayan Banerjee, Director of the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, welcomed the scheme but was cautious.

He said the scheme will not achieve much if it’s not backed by an increase in the number of secondary schools in the country, specially in rural areas.

“There are not enough secondary schools for girls in rural areas. Besides, they are located at far-off places. The government needs to focus on expanding infrastructure to make the scheme work,” he pointed out.

He also stressed the need to enhance awareness in rural areas among parents of girl child where literacy rate among women continue to be appallingly low. — IANS

AICTE sanctions 211 institutions
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 22
Reiterating the need to maintain quality in education, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has sanctioned approval to 211 out of 767 institutions for the year 2005-06, creating 23,651 additional seats in various disciplines in the country.

The AICTE recently withdrew its approval to Amity Business School.