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Gender and Social Equity
in Primary Education:
Hierarchies of Access
This book on gender studies offers all the recent recipes in the space of social equality in the context of access to primary education. Section 1 deals with issues like the outcome of DPEP and other data sources, hierarchies of access, institutional mechanisms and strategies, alternative schools and education guarantee scheme. In section two, qualitative micro studies conducted in the Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, Surguja district of Chhattisgarh, Hisar district of Haryana, Kolar district of Karnataka, Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh and Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu have been included. The desk research reveals: "…overall decline in access, infrastructure, functionality and quality affects all children." The responsible factors for such decline could be enumerated as "prevailing social inequalities and hierarchies…" The access to education will remain as usual if the community and the school continue to work at cross-purpose. The DPEP cannot succeed in its intentions unless it attempts a comprehensive plan of reform that is aimed not only at the school and the students enrolled therein, but also at educating the community and teachers themselves. If this happens, only then this hierarchy of access, hierarchy of dissemination and hierarchy of aspirations can be removed. Sanitisation has to occur on three levels: community, teachers and the administration. The micro studies of six states reinforce the findings carried out in Section I. These studies reveal that presence of a functional upper-primary and secondary school exerts a significant influence on children to continue their education and equally motivates their parents to allow them to do so. The problem begins at the last stage of primary and post-primary level. The availability and accessibility in relation to middle and high schools could dramatically change the educational scenario in rural India. The DPEP was expected to initiate decentralised village planning to address context-specific issues and chalk out an action plan for mass awareness. This programme could not fulfil its objectives, the studies show. Enhancing the capabilities of the poor and providing them with the tools to talk this unequal world into moving away from a position of strength requires political commitment and societal support. Investment in the development and growth of the poor is urgently needed. The findings are equally relevant in the context of the Free and Compulsory Education (Draft) Bill, 2004 (for making primary education a fundamental right). There are special provisions in this draft for rural areas: resident teachers in villages, constitution of a Habitation Elementary Education Authority and Local Elementary Education Authority, making panchayats guardians of schools. However, before these changes are made, society has to prepare the ground so that children of the marginalised can access education. For that, first social mobilisation of these marginalised communities is needed. Readers will not feel burdened while going through this book, which is useful not only for researchers and policy makers but also for trainers in various fields. It would be better if the book is translated into all Indian languages for grass-root trainers who know no English. |
GENDER and equity have been budge words these days.
It acquired more prominence after the adoption of Women's Component Plan
during the Ninth Plan to ensure that benefits from developmental sectors
did not bypass women and not less than 30 per cent of the funds/benefits
trickled down to them from all the women related sectors. In spite of
the increasing literacy ratio among girl children, discrimination
persists as far as education for women is concerned.