The expansion of education among girls/women has been an integral part of educational policies and programmes. The National Policy on Education 1986 (as modified in 1992) lays emphasis on education of girls/women through empowerment programmes. Accordingly, Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken a number of initiatives for expansion of girls� education, details of which are as under:
1) In the newly announced Scheme �Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao�, Rs.5.00 crore has been made available for strengthening girls� education in 100 specified districts on the basis of Child Sex Ratio which works out to Rs.5.00 lakh per district, for instituting district level awards to be given to 5 schools in each district every year on the following parameters:
(i) Rs.1.00 lakh award may be given to the School Management Committee (SMC) which enrols 100% girls in the neighbourhood of the primary school and also retains them in the first year.
(ii) Rs.1.00 lakh can be given as an award to the SMC of primary school which causes the transition of 100% girls studying in class V into class VI of same/other neighbourhood upper primary schools
(iii) Two awards each of Rs.1.00 lakh may be given to SMCs of upper primary schools which effect a 100% transition of girls studying in class VIII to class IX in same/other neighbourhood secondary schools.
(iv) Rs.1.00 lakh award can be given to the SMC of the school which affect 100% transition of girls studying in class X to class I in same/neighbourhood higher secondary schools.
2) Ministry of Human Resource Development has prepared a �Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls� Education in India which was launched on the occasion of International Women�s Day in 2015.
3) National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE) provides Rs.3000.00 which is deposited in the name of eligible unmarried girls below 16 years as fixed deposit, who are entitled to withdraw it along with interest thereon on reaching 18 years of age and after passing class X. The objective of the scheme is to establish an enabling environment to reduce the drop outs and to promote the enrolment of girls children in secondary schools. The scheme covers (i) all girls belonging to SC/ST communities, who pass class 8 and (ii) all girls who pass class 8 from KGBVs and enrol in class IX in Government, Government-aided and Local Body Schools. The funds under the scheme are not allocated State-wise. Funds are sanctioned to States/UTs based on the proposals received from the State Government and availability of funds under the scheme during the financial year.
4) (a) In order to ensure greater participation of girls in elementary education, �Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)� has targeted interventions for girls which include opening of schools in the neighbourhood to make access easier for girls, appointment of additional teachers including women teachers, free textbooks, free uniforms, separate toilets for girls, teachers� sensitisation programmes to promote girls participation, gender-sensitive teaching materials including textbooks. In addition, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) has been opened in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) where the female rural literacy is below the national average to provide for residential upper primary schools for girls.
(b) �Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)� envisages enhancing the quality of education by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation, improving quality of education imparted at secondary level, removal of gender, socio-economic and disability barriers.
Under the integrated scheme of RMSA, interventions including construction of new secondary schools, provision of toilets blocks in existing schools with separate toilets for girls, construction of teachers quarters, construction of Girls Hostels in EBBs, special teaching for learning enhancement, self defence training, guidance and counselling facilities, conduct of adolescent education programmes, organization of empowerment/awareness camps are taken up to improve the education of girls at the secondary stage.
5) In Higher Education sector, University Grants Commission (UGC) has allocated special grants for construction of Women hostels in the Universities. UGC has provided financial assistance for construction of 535 (39 in universities + 496 in colleges) Women hostels in the last five years, UGC has undertaken a number of measures for the improvement of education of Women. Some of the important major are given below.
(i) Single Girl Child Scheme; Statement of funds released during XIIth Plan under the scheme is enclosed at Annexure-V.
(ii) Post-Doctoral Fellowship for Women Statement of funds released during XIIth Plan under the scheme is enclosed at Annexure-VI.
(iii) UGC funding to Women�s University; UGC funds 7 Universities in India which are set up exclusively for women. Statement of funds released during XIIth Plan under the scheme is enclosed at Annexure-VII.
6) CBSE has launched a scheme �Udaan� to provide free online resources to girl students of Class XI and Class XII for preparation of admission test for the premier engineering colleges in the country. The special focus of scheme is to address the low enrolment ratio of girl students in these prestigious institutions and to enable girl students to receive special incentives and support so that they can join these institutions and go on to take leadership roles in the future. The objective of this project is to enable girl students to soar to higher education from schools, and to eventually take various leadership roles in future. The aim is also to enrich and enhance teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics at Senior Secondary level by providing free and online resources to everyone, with a focus on special incentives and support to 1000 selected disadvantaged girls per year.
7) All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched a scheme to provide assistance for Advancement of Girls participation in Technical Education. This is an attempt to give every young woman the opportunity to further her education and prepare for a successful future by empowering women through technical education. The scheme envisages to grant 4000 scholarships per annum. This includes tuition fee of Rs. 30000/- or at actual, whichever is less and Rs. 2000/- per month for 10 months as incidentals each year.
This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.
