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Gender Gap in Education
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Context:
India ranked 129 out of 146 economies in the Global Gender Gap Index, with a significant decline in the education sector.
Gender Gap in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education:
- Girls make up 48% of the school population in India, this varies at different stages of school education.
- Primary School: Girls constitute 47.8% of enrolled children.
- Upper Primary School: Girls make up 48.3% of enrolled children.
- Secondary School: The proportion of girls drops to 47.9%.
- Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for women in higher education is 28.5%, slightly higher than male GER of 28.3%.
- Increase of 32% in Female Enrolment has been seen since 2014-15, as per All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2021-2022 report.
- However, female enrolment lags behind males in certain disciplines like engineering, IT, commerce and management.
Challenges and Solutions
- Regional Disparities: States with fewer government secondary schools, like Gujarat, have lower female enrolment than poorer states with better infrastructure.
- Intergenerational Impact: Children of uneducated mothers have lower school enrollment and attainment, as they struggle to provide academic support and set high expectations.
- Dropout Among Boys: In some states, the focus on girls’ education has led to higher dropout rates among boys, especially in higher secondary classes.
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- The Right to Education Act, which prevents failing students until Class 8, has contributed to this trend.
- In some states like West Bengal, girls make up over 55% of higher secondary students, raising concerns about boys dropping out.
- Maintenance of Sanitation Facilities: Need for consistent maintenance and cleaning of washrooms to prevent dropouts.
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Participation: Women only make up 42.5% of STEM students, highlighting need for more encouragement and support.
- Total number of students enrolled in STEM in UG, PG, M.Phil. & Ph.D. levels in 2021-22 is 98.5 lakhs compared to 94.7 lakhs in 2020-21. AISHE report.
- Adult Literacy: As of the 2011 Census, only 64.63% of women are literate compared to 80.88% of men.
- Improving foundational literacy and extending education to rural women is crucial.
Impact of Girls Education on Society:
- Education increases women’s agency and decision making.
- Educating women increases economic growth. Africa can boost its GDP by 10% by 2025 if it works on women’s equality.
- Educated women are more likely to find decent work, one additional year of school can increase a woman’s earnings by up to 20%.
- Educating girls can save millions of lives. If all women had a primary education, there would be 15% fewer child deaths.
- Educating girls is a key factor in hastening the demographic transition to lower birth rates.
- Educating girls reduces early marriages, primary education for all girls could cut child marriages by 14%.
Government initiatives:
- The 86th Amendment of Indian Constitution added Article 21-A making free & compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen a Fundamental Right.
- Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 ensures every child receives full-time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality.
- Article 51A provides that every citizen is duty-bound to foster scientific temper, humanism, and a spirit of inquiry and reform, contributing to the nation’s robust growth in STEM fields.
- Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme (BBBP): Aims to improve the enrolment and retention of girls in schools and address gender-biased sex selection.
- National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE) : Provide Financial incentives to encourage girls to continue education beyond primary school.
- Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme (KGBV): Provides residential schools for girls in areas with low female literacy rates, up to 8th standard.
- CBSE Udaan Scheme: Aim to increase enrollment of girls in prestigious engineering and technical colleges.
Global Gender Gap Report
- The World Economic Forum publishes the Global Gender Gap Report annually, assessing global progress toward gender equality.
- Since its inception in 2006, the report provides an in-depth analysis of gender disparities across four critical domains:
- Economic Participation and Opportunity
- Educational Attainment
- Health and Survival
- Political Empowerment
