A little less than 60 per cent of girls are enrolled in higher secondary education, according to the Union Education Ministry
Non-governmental organisation Child Rights and You (CRY) has launched a nation-wide awareness campaign, with an aim to increase the faltering participation of the girl child in Indian schools.
The awareness campaign has been titled as Poori Padhai Desh Ki Bhalai which translates to English as ‘Complete education is beneficial to the nation’.
The seven-week-long campaign commenced June 24 in five cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, and aims to engage all its stakeholders to address gender disparities in education.
The campaign will conclude on August 15.
“Evidence suggests that there has been significant improvement in school enrolment, infrastructure, and access to education. However, much awaits to be done when it comes to the completion of school education for girls,” a statement issued on June 24 mentioned.
As per CRY, field experiences suggest that socio-economic challenges, cultural norms, gender discrimination, early marriages, inadequate school facilities, long travel distances and safety concerns on the way to schools hinder girls’ educational journey and continue to pose significant barriers for girls in completing their higher secondary education.
“This increases the number of school dropouts and makes them more vulnerable to child labour, underage marriage, teenage pregnancy, abuse and exploitation, and even child trafficking,” it added.
Puja Marwaha, CEO, Child Rights and You (CRY) said, “Ensuring higher secondary education for girls is a non-negotiable for their empowerment and the nation’s development. Targeted interventions with specific goals and action points are needed to support girls beyond elementary education.”
“This includes adequate public provisioning for girls’ education, financial incentives, improved infrastructure, community engagement, and robust enforcement of laws against child marriage. But none of these are possible without generating a mass awareness and a social resonance around girls’ education,” she added.
A little less than 60 per cent of girls are enrolled in higher secondary education, according to the Union Education Ministry’s UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education) datasets.
In other words, only three of every five girls in India make it to 11th and 12th standard.
CRY’s analysis of the same database further shows that one of every three girls (35 per cent) of the corresponding age group is out of school at the secondary level, while one of every eight girls (12.25 per cent) of the corresponding age group drops out and hence does not complete secondary education.
Marwaha added, “Providing higher secondary education for girls has a strong correlation with delayed marriage for girls, improved health outcomes for the mother and the child, and offers high economic returns in the long term. Furthermore, each additional year of schooling leads to higher productivity and better job opportunities in the formal sector for girls, thus breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty.”
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