Forget 33 per cent quota, 33 per cent women in Bengaluru haven't cleared Class 10
Bengaluru: Though the city is considered an IT hub and is home to many premier educational institutes, the levels of education among women continue to be dismal. As per a national survey nearly 33 per cent women in the city have not studied beyond 10th standard.
According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) released in December 2017, only about 67% of women have had education for 10 or more years in the year 2015-16.
“Girl’s education is always an issue in the country as well as the state because of the patriarchal society. It is very important to emphasize more on education of girl child,” said Dr Niranjanaradhya, Education expert.
Despite having several state and central schemes dedicated towards encouraging education of girls, the results have been below expectation.
In 2008, the UPA government launched Dhan Lakshmi scheme, offering Rs 1 lakh to a girl child who has been immunised as a child and completed schooling at least till Class 8. Similarly, among other schemes launched; through Bhagyalakshmi scheme the state government announced to pay for the education of two girls born in BPL families.
Dr Niranjanaradhya said that general sensitization for any programme or scheme is equally important in order to ensure its success. Without that the people may not be aware of the schemes and the benefits they are entitled to, he added.
The Karnataka government is now planning a scheme to make education free for all girls from underprivileged families, from Class 1 to graduation level in all the public and private aided schools and colleges from the academic year 2018-19. The initiative, the government stressed, was to encourage families to a allow girls to pursue college education.
“The project is still in progress and it aims to cover more than 18 lakh students whose parents’ income is less than Rs 10 lakh per annum. The student will, however, have to pay the admission fee, which will later be reimbursed by the government,” said sources from the Department of Higher Education.
“Providing free education is one aspect to encourage girl’s education but it is equally important for the schools and colleges to provide an adequate environment for them. Even today, most of the schools do not have proper toilets and girl friendly environment,” Dr Niranjanaradhya observed.
He also said the government should also look at the transition, safety and security issues at the schools, which is the main reason for the increase in dropout rate of the girl children today.?
