Education to Girls

In India the Gender Gap has been decreasing in elementary education. According to the District Information System for Education (DISE) 2010-11, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) at both primary and upper primary level stands at 0.94 as compared to Bangladesh 1.02, South Africa 0.93, China 1.03, Afghanistan 0.69, Pakistan 0.86 and Sri Lanka 1.01. (Source: UNESCO Global Education Digest 2010). Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) provide for targeted provisions to promote education of girls. These include encouraging States to recruit 50% women teachers from among teachers sanctioned under SSA, providing for an ‘Innovation fund’ per district, which can inter alia be utilized for need based interventions to ensure better attendance and retention of girls, free textbooks and uniforms up to class VIII, separate toilets for girls, development of model schools in clusters, bridge courses for older girls, early childhood care and education centers in/near schools in convergence with ICDS, teachers’ sensitization programmes to promote gender equality, gender sensitive teaching learning materials including textbooks , and intensive community mobilization efforts. In addition, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) are set up as residential upper primary schools for girls from SC, ST, OBC & Muslim communities.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.