Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Women's Day

On International Women's Day:
Please visit BlankNoiseProject which organised a blog-a-thon on March 7th, on eve-teasing in India.
Also, IndiaTogether has an informative article upon Girl Child Education in India. To quote:

Although admission of girls has gone up significantly over the past few years, is it any wonder that attendance and retention rates are low? According to a recently concluded research study 'Gender Discrimination: Impact on Lives of Girls in School in four States (Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Delhi)', large numbers - over 50 per cent - drop out of schooling before or at the point of transition from Class 5 to Class 6. The reasons are the same: they have to look after siblings; they have to do household chores; or work to support the family.

It's not as if the government is unaware of the issues at stake. In fact, central and state governments have devised excellent policies to improve the conditions for girls' schooling. Schools are closer to homes, scholarships and mid-day meals have been introduced in many districts, and community mobilisation focused on girls' schooling is encouraged in many areas.

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Despite such ambitious plans, the harsh reality is that government-run schools are hardly in a position to act as agents of progressive social transformation - even as these are the only schools making any realistic attempt to reach out to large numbers of girls. Parents - even in patriarchy-ridden rural north India - want to send their girls to school. But schools purvey gender stereotypes, hardly different from the rest of society.

Girls huddle separately within the classroom in co-educational schools. In some schools, they are denied facilities to play or use the science lab - which boys have access to. Many teachers talk exclusively to boys, paying no attention to the girls, and only (some) boys answer or are active in class.

Full article over here.

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