Turning the tables on illiteracy

Updated on: Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The government and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) are in the process of finalising a national vision document for girl's education in India to chart a roadmap for achieving gender equality in education by 2015.

Within the vision documents, the immediate plan of action for the next one year is the Shiksha ka Haq Abhiyan, launched by the Human Resource Development Ministry in November last year, which will be the cornerstone for the implementation of the Right of the Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. This will provide the opportunity to engage with the community, media and other stakeholders at various tiers in the system, and to create the groundswell for ensuring that all girls are provided their right to education. The campaign will provide the basis on which schools and communities can work towards building a long term strategy for achieving gender equality in education by the year 2015.

To achieve this, the HRD Ministry with the technical support of UNICEF will develop a template to be adapted by States to create their respective vision 2015. This template will feature the expected activities, outcomes and indicators for monitoring and evaluation.

India has the largest number of illiterates in the world and almost twice as many women are illiterate. The national average female illiteracy rate stands at 45.5 per cent as compared to 23.1 per cent for men. Almost one in two women across the country cannot read or write. The disparity is regional with more women able to read and write in southern and western States, and only 33-50 per cent in the northern States. Eight States in particular account for 70 per cent of the illiterate population: Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Despite the progress made in reducing the level of gender gap at elementary level from 4.8 per cent in 2003-04 to 3.23 per cent in 2008-09 at the primary level and from 8.8 per cent to 4.85 per cent at the upper primary level, there are pockets where the gender gap is evident. There are 29 districts (down from 85 in 2006) where the gender gap is high (nine in Rajasthan and 5 in Punjab alone).

Significant gender gaps in literacy rates also exist across States and socio-economic groups. Muslims still have the lowest literacy levels. The sharp drop in secondary school attendance particularly among girls also presents a major challenge which requires urgent attention.

Increased and improved targeting of investments to support girls' education particularly at school and community level needs to be ensured. Better understanding of the gender-specific barriers to participation in elementary education needs to be formulated and used in the financial allocation and planning process with RTE, to make provisions for specific activities at the community and school level, the vision document recommends.

Building on the gender budgeting ideas of the government, the Twelfth Plan could introduce systematic tracking of funds allocated for girls' education or special focus groups like Muslim, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes and remote areas, the vision documents suggests while advocating the need for programme tracking and impact monitoring.

Recognising that teaching practices often discriminate against girls, there is a need to promote instruction in gender equitable methods, the elimination of gender bias in instructional materials, strategies to encourage girls to move on to higher studies, and activities to encourage more girls to join teaching and school administration, the vision document further says.

Focused convergence with existing programme and intervention is essential to strengthen the education initiative for girls and also avoid duplication, the vision documents notes.

Turning the tables on illiteracy

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