GIRL CHILD EDUCATION

By
Madhu Rai
 Introduction
• “When you educate a man, you educate an individual and
when you educate a woman, you educate an entire family.”
• This declaration is multi faceted—an educated woman has the
self confidence, skills as well as intelligence to understand the
need to be a better daughter, sister, wife and mother and make
a progressive family.
• Education is the only tool with which a girl or a woman can
empower herself and eventually her family.
• Education is an important foundation to improve the status of
women and has also been recognized as a fundamental strategy
for development.
• No sustainable development is possible if women remain
uneducated, discriminated and disenfranchised.
Cont……………
• India holds a strong determination in educating all children,
especially the girl child. By declaring education as a
fundamental right, India ensures constitutional provisions for
providing free and compulsory education to all the children
between 6 to 14 years of age. This provision is widely known
as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
• The SSA is an effort to recognize the need for improving the
performance of the school system and to provide community
owned quality elementary education in the mission mode.
• Elementary education is a foundation of higher education.
Quality of higher education depends on quality of elementary
education.
• The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan is a flagship programme of the
Government of India pioneered by Atal Bihari Vajpayee for
an achievement of Universalisation of Elementary
Education in a time bound manner, as mandated by the 86th
amendment to the constitution of India making free and
compulsory education.
• Education of girl is considered to be the most sensitive index
of social or national development.
 Objectives of the study:
• To study the enrolment and retention at elementary level after
implementing SSA.
• To understand the aims and objectives of SSA.
• To study the programme interventions under SSA.

Statement of the problem:

“An assessment of Girls’ education under SSA”

 Girl Child Education:
• Education of girls, especially those belonging to the
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, is the primary focus
in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
• Efforts will be made to mainstream gender concerns in all
the activities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme.
• The SSA recognizes the need for special efforts to bring
the out-of-school girls, especially from disadvantaged
sections, to school.
• The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will develop context specific
interventions, over and above the mainstreamed
interventions, to tackle the problems in girls' education.
 Programme interventions
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan recognizes the need for special efforts to
bring the out-of-school girls, especially from disadvantaged sections,
to school.
Special interventions need to be designed to address learning needs of
girls and relating education to their life.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is committed to making these
interventions possible.
1. Reaching out to the girl child is central to the efforts to
universalize elementary education.
2. The targeted provision for girls under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
include:
a. Free textbooks to all girls up to class VIII
b. Separate toilets for girls
c. Back to school camps for out-of-school girls
d. Bridge courses for older girls
e. Recruitment of 50% women teachers
Cont……………..
f. Early Childhood Care and Education centers in/near
schools/convergence with ICDS programme etc.
g. Teachers’ sensitation programmes to promote equitable
learning opportunities
h. Gender-sensitive teaching-learning materials including
textbooks.
i. ‘Innovation fund’ per district for need based
interventions for ensuring girls’ attendance and retention.
k. Girls only schools at upper primary level within the
State policy.
3. Efforts are being made to generate a community
demand for girls’ education and enabling conditions for
people’s and women’s participation,
conclusion
Education also leads to girl child empowerment. It helps
their self-confidence, self-esteem; it transforms them
from a docile person to an educated person who can
handle the challenges of life and question inequalities.
Thus we can say that SSA is successful in bringing drop
out girls back to school. We could see the progressive
changes in the enrolment and retention.
When we educate a girl we empower her to have a
say over the choices she has. Once educated, they can
speak up for themselves, their rights, argue if wronged
and demand justice. This would lead to making of a just
society.