COVID-19 has overwhelmed national health systems around the world derailing health agendas that were just as important. In India, while some significant progress was made that was similar to the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” initiative, the positive trend of the school admissions and education has been reversed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Growing divide
According to The World of India’s Girls (WINGS 2022) study released this year, it highlighted school closures have caused a major setback to learning continuity. As with many other countries at the height of the COVID-19 spread, closing learning facilities in India disrupted the lives of over 320 million children. A majority, around 86 per cent, were enrolled at the primary and secondary level. Amongst the major findings of the study, it also revealed that one in four (23 per cent) girls did not have access to any type of learning materials at home during the pandemic while one in two girls (46 per cent) did not have course books.
The wide gap also highlighted that there are social, cultural and economic norms that affected the education of millions of girls in the country.
As revealed at the Right to Education (RTE) forum, up to ten million girls are in danger of dropping out of secondary school because of the pandemic RTE Forum (2021). Female literacy rates, lower than the national average, especially in populous states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
Enrolment dropped dramatically for females from Scheduled Castes (SC), Tribes (ST) and Muslims, who were subjected to many forms of marginalisation as well. Such as, 19.34 per cent in elementary school; 18.6 per cent in secondary school; and 17.3 per cent in higher secondary school for female student enrolment in the SC category. In the ST category, it is 10.35 per cent at the elementary level; 8.6 per cent at the intermediate level; and 6.8 per cent at the higher secondary level as reported in the RTE Forum (2021).
Extenuating factors
In a report by the Harvard Political Review, it further pointed out that the gender divide in girls’ education included systemic issues. Where it was negatively affected by the recent Union budget presented by the Indian government such as, the budget for education cut by 6 per cent from previous year. National Scheme for Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education funding decreased from some $1.3 million dollars in 2020 to 2021 to just $136,000 in 2021 to 2022. At a time most needed, it was noted that the funding cuts signal an impact to education for girls in rural areas and from marginalised communities, the direct recipients of the schemes.
The report further highlighted that accessibility to technological infrastructure were also not quite addressed in the budget. In rural India, there are 14 secondary schools and six higher secondary schools for every 100 primary schools Looking at a larger scale, it was also reported that 23 per cent of Indian households have access to the internet for remote learning. Though the Indian government had reported telecasting curriculum-based lessons for free on TV in Bihar, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana, it was reported that of the 3,176 children surveyed across these regions, only 11 per cent had access. In addition, examining individual states such as, in Bihar, that has one of the highest poverty rates in India, just 28 per cent of girls reportedly have access to a phone as compared to 36 per cent of boys.
Social norms and stereotypes inherent on the ground, also made it tougher. Such as, gender assigned roles like toilet cleaning; giving seats based on caste, tribe or religion; and distribution of textbooks commonly found at rural schools. Thus, experts suggest that policymaking can include a gender-based approach that includes marginalised beneficiaries like girls with disabilities and young members of the LGBTQ community, to help narrow the divide.
Levelling the field
Taking cues from the success of earlier programmes that addressed key problems in the past, such as the mid-day meal scheme, it did provide excellent results; since its inception in Chennai that has reportedly fed nearly 118 million Indian children. However, after a two-year hiatus from the pandemic, restarting it has its set of challenges, and this is where implementation must factor in community-specific solutions closely.
Pandemic-stricken areas where labour migration from cities to villages have also led to dropouts at government schools should be considered. Since the re-enrolment in native villages further challenged by pandemic consequences such as increased poverty on top of a lack of digital access have made it almost impossible for children to go back to schools and restart their learning.
By considering the local needs of each community with a large population of female children who are at a disadvantage in education as well, the government can look at initiatives to further encourage parents to allow their daughters to resume their education via remote learning for instance. In partnering with community-based or non-profit organisations, they can also rally up support towards a greater awareness and understanding on the importance of back-to-school campaigns launched.
Addressing concerns in infrastructure by forming a national body on remote learning and online education can also uplift the lack of accessibility. And even create a broad consensus around curriculum, transition to higher education, and compliance with the National Education Policy of 2020 (NEP, 2020). (Global GLOW, 2021) A national plan that provides incentives could help raise the enrolment in secondary and higher-secondary levels which also indirectly tackles social evils such as, child marriage, child labour, social and cultural stigmas and other risks (Global Partnership for Education, 2021) while reducing the dropout rates between primary to secondary and secondary to higher-secondary.
In remote regions, more primary schools should be constructed that adopt the public-private partnership (PPP) model so that the government can partially support both capital and operating costs. Starting with first grade, the quality of instruction should be monitored and where there are successful learning outcomes, more incentives given to the schools and students to encourage and build on the back-to-school campaign momentum. The PPP Model can be instrumental in monitoring teaching quality to ensure quality and standards are upheld for students’ overall learning experiences and keeping abreast to curriculum updates.
Though the pandemic has further challenged young girls’ education, it is crucial for the Indian government to revise the budget and build effective measures that can begin to address the existing inequalities affecting girls across the country. There is also a greater need for policy innovation in the education sector especially those most affected in villages and rural areas. And boost it should as experts have noted in a study by Citi’s Global Insights team as reported by Hindustan Times, “Making sure all girls are finishing secondary education by 2030 could boost the gross domestic product of developing countries by 10 per cent on average over the next decade”.
This entry received 2nd prize in an op-ed competition by Bridging GAP (Gender and Policy), a student group at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy which aims to enhance awareness of the importance of gender among public policy students.