Tag: Girl Education

girl students on the occasion of International Women's Day

 Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ today interacted virtually with girl students on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Select Girl students from classes 6th to 12th from various schools across the country participated and shared their views on women empowerment and their role in nation building. Smt. Anita Karwal Secretary School Education and Literacy and Senior officials of the Ministry were present on the occasion.

Gargi from KV dehradun, Aradhana Baruah, from Gurukul Grammar School, Guwahati,  Dhruva Patel from JNV Mehsana, Nakia Malak from Holy Hearts Educational Academy, Raipur,  Arya Manoj, from KV 2 Naval Base Kochi and Padma Angmo from JNV Leh,  shared their aim in life, their vision for the country and the way in which they would contribute to the development of our country.

Addressing the girl students, Shri Pokhriyal said that, “If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. Education is an integral part of every individual’s life & when girls are educated, countries get empowered. He further asserted that students should be the Brand ambassadors of the National Education Policy 2020. NEP will empower the women and enable them to lead from the front, he added.

On the occasion, Shri Pokhriyal also declared Padma Angmo from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Leh as the ‘Khushiyon ki Brand Ambassador’. Appreciating the girl students for expressing their dreams and aspiration of serving the country, the Minister said India’s young minds are ready to take on the world & make it a better place through their hardwork & dedication. He further asserted that the youth of today is the future of tomorrow.

Union Minister acknowledged and appreciated all the young girls for aspiring to become Atmanirbhar. He expressed confidence in them that these young girls will take country to new heights. 

On the occasion today, 3 Graphic Novels developed by schools affiliated to CBSE were also released by the Union Minister of Education. These novels are based on the NCERT curriculum from classes 3 to 12 and have been prepared to promote 21st century skills among students.

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Girls and women across the country

 As per All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), the overall enrolment of female students in higher education has been consistently increasing over the years. Table below gives female, male and total enrolment in higher education between 2015-16 and 2019-20. The enrolment of females has increased by about 18% from 1.60 crore in 2015-16 to 1.89 crore in 2019-20.

Enrolment in Higher Education from 2015-16 to 2019-20

Year

 

Enrolment

Growth (%) in enrolment over the previous year

% Female enrolment 

Female

Male

Total

Female

Male

Total

2015-16

15990058

18594723

34584781

      

46.2

2016-17

16725310

18980595

35705905

4.6

2.1

3.3

46.8

2017-18

17437703

19204675

36642378

4.3

1.2

2.5

47.6

2018-19

18189500

19209888

37399388

4.3

0.0

2.2

48.6

2019-20

18892612

19643747

38536359

3.9

2.3

3.0

49.0

Growth (%) in enrolment during 2015-16 to 2019-20

18.2

5.6

11.3

 

(source: Compiled from  AISHE reports of different years)

 

The steps taken/being taken by the Government to promote education among girls and women are as follows:

      1. Issuing of new UGC regulation for Open and Distance Learning that allows entry of reputed institutions to offer education on the distance mode.
      2. Use of ICT technology- SWAYAM portal to take the best teaching resources to all, including the most disadvantaged.
      3. Opening of more centrally funded institutions.
      4. Encouraging opening of institutions by State Governments through the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) which aims to achieve equity, access and excellence in higher education. The scheme supports components such as upgrading autonomous colleges to universities, clustering colleges to establish a university, setting up of new professional colleges in un-served and underserved areas as well as providing infrastructure grants to universities and colleges to scale up capacity.
      5.  More scholarship programmes to supplement the cost of education.
      6. Additionally, as per the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the following steps are being initiated by the Government to ensure equitable access to the highest quality of education for all learners, especially women, regardless of social or economic background:
        1. A Gender Inclusion Fund will be constituted by Government of India to provide quality and equitable education to all girls. The fund will focus on ensuring 100% enrolment of girls in Schooling and a record participation rate in higher education. 
        2. Free hostel facilities will be made available for all women.
        3. New multi-disciplinary HEIs (including those specially for women) will be opened in or near every district.
        4. Special scholarships for women/transgender/ divyang will be introduced.
        5. Guidelines and advisories will be issued and monitoring mechanism will be put in place to ensure basic facilities amenities and safe, secure environment in all HEIs for women.