current status of women, policy framework, role of all society agency in development of status of women, gender discrimination

1. Rights of the Girl Child
-Vivek shukla
FYBMM
Roll no. : 71

2. The Current Status-Gender
Discrimination
 World-wide of the more than 110 million children
not enrolled in school, nearly 60% are girls
 By age 18, girls have received an average of 4.4
years less education than boys
 In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
adolescent girls have HIV rates up to five times
higher than adolescent boys
 Pregnancies and child-birth related health
problems cause the death of nearly 146,000
teenage girls each year

3. The Current Status-Gender
Discrimination-contd..
 In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman faces a 1 in 13
chance of dying in child birth
 At least one in three girls and women worldwide
have been beaten or sexually abused in their life
time
 An estimated 150 million girls under 18 have
experienced forced sexual intercourse or other
forms of sexual violence involving physical
contact.
 Three million girls and women are subjected to
female genital mutilation every year

4. The Current Status-Gender
Discrimination-contd..
 Over 100 million women are now missing
in Asia which will result in a 12 to 15%
excess of young men in the next 20 years
 China and India alone are responsible for
80 million missing females.
 Women and children account for 80% of
civilian casualties during armed conflict

5. Girls’ Education in India
 At the time of independence, the national
female literacy rate was as low as 8.9%
 Gross enrollment ratio for girls was 24.8%
at primary level and 4.6% at the upper
primary level in the 11-14 years age group

6. Access to Schooling Improved
 In 1950-51, 2,09,671 primary and 13,596
upper primary schools were functional
 In 2004-05, 7,67,522 schools are
functional at the primary level and
2,74,731 schools at the upper primary
level.
 Today 98% of India’s rural population has
access to primary schools within a
Kilometer of their habitation

7. Access to Schooling Improved
 In 1950-51, enrollment of boys was 13.8
million and 5.4 million girls in primary
school.
 In 2004-05, this has increased to 69.7
million boys and 61.1 million girls in
primary school
 At upper primary level, enrollment
increased from 2.6 million boys and 0.5
million girls to 28.5 million boys and 22.7,
million girls

8. Policy Framework
 Constitution of India Article 15(1): Prohibition of
discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth.—(1) The State
shall not discriminate against any citizen on
grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place
of birth or any of them.
 Education for All, 1986
 Modified in 1992
 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, EFA 2001

9. Policy Framework –Contd..
 Earlier education was a State subject in
the federal structure
 42nd
Constitutional Amendment in 1976
brought education into the concurrent list
 Education now responsibility of Central
government, State Government, Local
Government
 Education cess levied to raise resources

10. Policy Framework –Contd..
 86th
Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002
has made elementary education a
fundamental right for children in the age
group of 6-14 years by providing that “the
state shall provide free and compulsory
education to all children of the age of six
to fourteen years in such manner as the
State may, by law, determine”

11. Role of International Agencies
 UNICEF- Research, Reports and public debate
 ILO- Campaign to prevent child labor, NCLP,
financial support
 SIDA
 The Government of Netherlands
 DFID- Quality of education, Support in AP
 World Bank- DPEP Support
 Civil Society Organizations – International
campaigns

12. Stop Child Labor Campaign
 Campaign carried out by Alliance 2015, Network of
European Development Organizations
 Action plan for companies to combat child labor
 Focus on all forms of child labor (not only worst forms)
 Engagement with companies in the global supply chain
 Combating child labor within broader goals of realizing
labor rights
 Focus on engagement with multi stake holders including
unions, NGOs and governments

13. To Promote Inclusive Education,
Indian Experience
 Required change in attitude of the elite
 Early understanding that poverty had to be
overcome to ensure universal education
 Child labor was a necessary evil for
survival
 Cannot interfere in family life and bring
girls into public life
 Fear for safety of girls
 Lack of resource allocation

14. Some Significant Barriers- to
Ensure Inclusive Education
 Extreme poverty
 18 official languages
 29 languages spoken by more than one million
people
 More than 2000 dialects
 High levels of child labor
 Girl children invisible due to bondage at home
 Remote location of villages/hamlets

15. Role of Civil Society in India
 Making a shift from focus on access to creating
demand
 Anti child labor campaigns
 Identifying “missing” girls
 Community mobilization
 Mobilization of SHGs
 Mobilization of local leaders
 Mobilization of religious leaders
 Mobilization of Children/girls
 Mobilizing through street plays, public meetings,
workshop seminars

16. Role of Civil Society in India-
Contd..
 Local state and national networks formed
 Public debate and lobbying with parliamentarians
 Women’s movement demand for 6% of the
budget for education, 1995 Beijing conference
outcome
 Vertical mobilization from the grassroots to
international organizations
 Millennium Development Goals, Wada Na Todo
Campaign
 Mid day meal programme in schools (Right to
Food)

17. Strategy
 Adult Literacy programmes (failed but created
demand for primary school’s for disadvantaged
children)
 Night schools for children
 Part time day schools
 Summer camps (30 to 45 days) to enroll children
in hostels
 Back to school programme with residential
bridge schools
 Demand for government hostels, target SC/ST
boys and girls

18. Creating Access
 Demand for minimum infrastructure
 School building
 Close location of early childhood education centers in
primary schools (brought girls into school)
 Toilets
 Drinking water
 Residential schools for vulnerable children
 Demand for Teachers
 Teacher Training
 Quality learning material
 Constant monitoring

19. Vulnerability of Dalit Children/Girls
 Practice of untouchability
 Girls made to clean playground
 Made to sit at the back of the class
 Discrimination by teachers
 Poor quality of food served
 Poor infrastructure facilities
 Sexual harassment of girls
 Alcoholic teachers
 Response-campaigns to prevent discrimination
 School committee set up with responsibility to
community leaders

20. Who remains out of school?
 Girls from extremely poor families/suffering ill
health
 Orphan girls
 From shepherd community
 Migrating parents
 Girls from large families where household help is
required
 Older girls who missed primary school
 Girls from tribal community (others) living in
remote hamlets

21. Who remains out of school?
 Girls from violent homes
 Girls with disabilities
 Children of sex workers
 Agriculture child labor (picking cotton,
helping the families etc)
 Girls from Muslim Community (some may
be enrolled in religious schools)

22. Quality of Education Issues
 Relevance
 Achieving minimum levels of Learning
 Assessment through standardized achievements
tests
 Need to improve achievement, testing
methodology
 Need for curriculum reforms
 Restructuring teacher training contents and
methodology

23. Quality of Education Issues Contd..
 Poor infrastructure
 Overcrowded class rooms
 Lack of competency based teaching
learning materials
 Poor science teaching
 Poor mathematics teaching
 Poor language teaching

24. Quality of Education Issues Contd..
 Poor supervision in educational
administration
 Unqualified teachers
 Limited/nil in service training
 Achievement levels tend to decline as the
children move up in the educational
hierarchy

25. Thank you