Bring Her Back To School

Context: Pandemic’s challenge calls for a concerted push to stop girls from dropping out and to include them in professionally and monetarily rewarding fields of higher education.

Significance of women education

• High rate of returns:
  • The global average for the private rate of return (the increase in an individual’s earnings) with just one extra year of schooling is about 9 %,.
  • While the social returns of an extra year of school are even higher — above 10 % at the secondary and higher education levels as per a decennial World Bank review.
  • The private returns for women in higher education are much higher than for men — 11 to 17 %.

Impact of the pandemic on women’s education - -> Rise in school dropouts: It is estimated that over 2.4 crore girls globally are on the verge of dropping out of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• According to Graph 1 - As girls progress from primary to secondary to tertiary school levels, their numbers decrease.
• The graph shows this gradual descent and the resulting paucity of women who are even eligible to go to college.

Reasons for school dropouts: The reasons for girls dropping out in rural India are varied. The problem is not only rooted in poverty and poor quality of school education but also gender biases and outdated social norms. See Graph 2

1. Girls drop out of school because, one, they are engaged in domestic activities (31.9 %).
2. They have financial constraints (18.4 %).
3. They are not interested in education (15.3 %).
4. They get married (12.4 %).
5. It is estimated that over one crore of girls is on the verge of dropping out of school due to the pandemic alone.
6. Deep-rooted gender bias – 
   • As per the NSS 2017-18, 75th round, on ‘Household Social Consumption: Education’, at the higher secondary level, 28 % of boys attend private schools as opposed to 24 % of girls.
   • The average annual household expenditure on girls at this level is Rs 2,860 less than that on boys. 
   • Of the girls who do manage to enrol in a tertiary degree, a smaller proportion goes on to pursue professional courses such as engineering (28.5 %), while many more take courses such as pharmacy (58.7percent) or opt for “normal graduation” (52 %) as per AISHE 2019-20. Their representation is lowest in institutions of national importance, followed by deemed and private universities.

Way Forward: Reduce dropouts & bring more girls in professionally and monetarily rewarding fields of higher education.

1. Community learning: As an immediate step, in every locality, a mohalla school or a community learning programme should be started with appropriate Covid norms. 
   • Evidence from the Ebola pandemic shows that continued engagement with educational activities reduces dropouts in a statistically significant way. 
   • NITI Aayog, with the help of civil society organisations, had started a community programme led by volunteers called “Saksham Bitiya” in 28 aspirational districts where more than 1.87 lakh girl students were trained in socio-emotional and ethical learning. 
2. Bring out a gender atlas: To predict likely dropouts, a gender atlas comprising indicators that are mapped to key reasons for school dropouts should be developed. 
   • Teachers should also be trained in all the scholarships and schemes available that provide economic support to girls and their families for continuing their education.
3. Revise the National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education: In areas or states with a high prevalence of dropouts and early child marriages. 
   • The scholarship amount may be increased and tied to the completion of graduation, with yearly scholarships paid to students upon successful completion of each year of their undergraduate degree.
4. Build Special Education Zones (SEZ): Special education zones need to be set up in areas that have been traditionally backward in education. 
   • Every panchayat showing a consistent trend in girl child dropouts should have composite schools till higher secondary (classes I-XII). 
   • The National Education Policy 2020 provides for a gender inclusion fund. This fund should be utilised to support STEM education in these schools as well as in all Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
   • States should leverage the viability gap funding - For greenfield projects in higher education, 60 % of the funding can be accessed; for pilot projects in education, close to 80 % of the funding is available and an additional 50 % as operational cost in initial years.
5. Behavioural nudges: These are going to be key in tackling social prejudices and orthodox cultural norms that prevent girls from achieving their innate potential. 
   • Behavioural Insights Units (BIU) may be established across states to tackle social issues with the help of ultra-local NGOs/CSOs to reach the last mile. 
   • NITI Aayog has established a BIU to tackle nutrition and health challenges in aspirational districts.

Conclusion: The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for educators and students, especially for those on the margins, including girls. However, with recent experiments and learning experience, informed targeting of ample re-sources and an agile policy environment, this challenge could well prove to be an opportunity.