Draft NEP advocates gender inclusion fund
In order to build the nation's capacity to provide quality and equitable education to girls, the draft National Education Policy (NEP) recommends setting up of a gender inclusion fund. Apart from ensuring 100% participation of girls in the schooling system the fund, according to the policy draft, would aim to close gender gaps in educational attainment at all levels.
The fund would also enable in "changing mindsets and halting harmful practices to foster gender equity and inclusion; inculcating girls' capacity for leadership to help develop current and future role models; and improving dialogue with civil society to exchange best practices and lessons learned", the draft policy stated.
The draft policy prepared by a panel headed by eminent space scientist K Kasturirangan, has been placed in the public domain by the ministry of Human Resource Development inviting suggestions till July 31.
The policy stated it will authorise two funding streams - formula and discretionary grants. Formula grants will be available to states to implement priorities determined by the central government and critical for assisting women and girls in gaining access to education (such as the provision of sanitation and toilets, bicycles, conditional cash transfers etc.), it explained.
Discretionary funds "will enable states to support and scale effective community based interventions that address localised and context-specific barriers to girls' access to and participation in quality education."
"Educationists while welcoming the creation of a fund to close gender specific gaps in the schooling system said that a host of interventions are needed to check the dropout rate of girls after the primary level of education.
"Though the country has been able to achieve universal enrolment at the primary level, the girls start dropping out of school after fifth grade or eighth standard due to accessibility issues. It has also been observed that a lot of girls drop out of schools when they hit puberty, since the school infrastructure is not conducive for their menstrual hygiene," said Shikha Jain, an educationist.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), over 20% of girls drop out of school completely after reaching puberty in India. Jain also asserted that the government should specify the amount available as part of the fund and lay down clear guidelines on how the corpus would be spent to address gender specific issues.
The policy recommends that schools develop credible mechanisms to ensure that they remain free of discrimination, harassment and intimidation especially for women and girls. The policy also mandates that all educational institutions and affiliated offices conduct gender sensitisation programmes to raise teachers' and educational administrators' awareness of gender-sensitive and inclusive classroom management. This would include awareness sessions to break stereotyped gender roles, importance of harassmentfree environment and equal treatment. The policy also emphasises on fostering women's participation and leadership in education so that they could become role models for rural girls to attend school regularly.