“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate an entire family.” Mahatma Gandhi
A recent study by Malala Fund shows that increased rates of poverty, household responsibilities, child labor, teenage pregnancy may prevent as many as 20 million secondary school-aged girls around the world from ever returning to the classroom. According to UNESCO, worldwide school closures have sent about 90% of all students out of school, among them more than 800 million are girls. As per Policy Brief report published on Girls Education by RTE Forum (2020) “Prior to COVID 19 at least 1.6 million girls in India were already out of school”. NCPCRreport (2018) suggests that 39.4% girls between 15-18 years of age are out ofschool.57% girls drop-out upon reaching the 11th grade[1]. It is estimated that nearly 10 million secondary school girls in India could drop out of school due to the pandemic.In case of Bihar the situation is equally grim as more than 1.08 crore girls at the elementary level, have remained out of school beyond 10 months from now[2].As per UNICEF in Bihar nearly 75 lakh children are expected to experience learning loss due to the COVID 19 crisis and the subsequent lockdowns. Only 22.5 per cent girls transition from the secondary to the higher secondary level in Bihar, dipping to 18.3 per cent in the case of girls belonging to Scheduled Castes.The states sex ratio is 916 per 1,000 males, which is lower than the national average of 940. A comparison of the urban female literacy rate to other states places it at the sixth position from the bottom at 77.5% and ninth from the bottom in female (rural) literacy at 62.8 percent.
Further to this the prolonged discontinuation of school education is foreseen to accelerate the drop out of 5.49% girls and 0.26% boys in the age group of 14-18 years from schools in Bihar (UNICEF). The world has moved to online mode to provide education but it does not guarantee continuity of learning for all the learners. In fact, affordability, availability, accessibility and social perception has widened the gender gap in accessing the digital mode to continue the learning especially by girls.
As per the NSS report on Household Consumption on Education (2017-18) report in rural India only 4.4% girls in the age group of 5-14 years are able to operate computer, 4.1% could use internet and only 6.6% could access the internet. In Bihar only 28% girls have access to smart phone as compared to 36% of boys (CBGA report).Another study report reveals that only 31% of the total students have access to the digital mode in the state to continue learning.Gender gap is further persistent when it comes to access of online education, families having one mobile phone chances are that male child will be first to use doesn’t matter if the girl child is losing her classes. It is a complex situation for the family to deal with demand and ensure supply of multiple devices if the house has more than one child. Social and cultural factors also play key determinant in individual access to phones and the internet.
Bihar is one of the state reporting the highest cases of child marriageswith 40.8 per cent as per NFHS 2019-20 data, another deterrent that forces girls to remain away from education. Due to poverty, migration, lack of employment opportunities it is highly possible that there will be further rise in the cases ofunder -age marriageand gender based violence against girls arising out of the Pandemic situation.Girls also remained excluded from education as now they are spending all their time at home and get primarily engaged in household chores and sibling or child care work.A study conducted by India Champions for Girls’ Education in nine districts of Bihar reveals that 76% girls spend their time on chores and care work as compared to boys who are spending only 29% of their time in doing chores. This disproportionate division of work takes away the opportunity from the girls to learn, grow, interact and socialize with their peers.
All these issues indicate that if measures are not taken adequately then the achievements and the progress made in achieving the gender equality in education can get reversed. There are high chances that these marginalized girls may never return back to school. To reduce these deepening inequalities in education during COVID-19 crisisit will be important to add the gender lens exclusively in developing the policies concerning education and the related areas effecting a girl and women’s life. Adequate financing in the promotion of girl’s education and in implementing the gender-sensitive policy will again be imperative. The State Governments policy initiative focusing on empowerment and education of girls like the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojna, has been a key instrument in increasing enrolment and stopping drop out of adolescent girls. The need is to drive similar initiative’s and ensure its right implementation so that the benefits reach the unreached girls taking the COVID scenario in cognizance.
No-tech and low cost solutions need to be implemented to ensure learning of those girls who face gender and other barriers in accessing the technology to learn. Educating girls has far reaching benefits to the society in large then just empowering the women force. Achieving the gender equality in education will contribute in enriching the social and economic status of the state as well.Special drives, robust tracking mechanism of the girls enrolled and drop out, employing more female teachers, teachers equipped and well capacitated on gender sensitive teaching processes and provision of more residential schoolson the models of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas would remain the key to achieve this success in the post COVID era. Changing social and parental perceptionswhich are deeply rooted among the rural population of Bihar would be of paramount importance. Parents and care giverswill remain the deciding factor that will help the girls to join back school after it re-opens during the post COVID time and also to keep the later engaged in learning through whichever way at home. Joint and concerted efforts are required from Government and the Civil Society towards awareness generation and educating parents and caregivers on the effects of gender based violence, the importance of female literacy and mitigating abuse against girl child and the implementation of policies directed towards improving girls education.
Resources, skill and planning to provide the marginalized girls their right to education will have to be re-designed based on the lessons learnt from the COVID 19 emergency and the gaps identified in the pre era, otherwise the commitment to the SDGs on gender equality in education will remain a distant dream.
[1]https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/57-of-girl-students-drop-out-of-schools-by-class-xi-report/articleshow/66900622.cms
[2]https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/economy/girls-education-after-covid-19-expectations-from-bihar-budget-2021-22-75604
( The writer is Manager- Education, Save the Children, India)
