gender equality in education in india: a state level analysis ijsrm.pdf · gender equality in...

International Journal of scientific research and management (IJSRM) ||Volume||4||Issue||08||Pages||4610-4620||2016|| Website: www.ijsrm.in ISSN (e): 2321-3418

Rupinder Kaur, IJSRM volume 4 issue 08 August 2016 [www.ijsrm.in] Page 4610

Gender Equality in Education in India: A State Level Analysis Rupinder Kaur, Dr. Meenakshi

Research Scholar

Department of Education and Community Service,

Punjabi University,

Patiala

E-mail: [email protected]

Professor

Department of Education and Community Service,

Punjabi University,

Patiala

E-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Education level of the country is considered as an important indicator in developing countries as it

influences the quality of life, awareness among the individual and also plays a critical role in social

transformation of the society (Stanley and Nelson, 1986; Coates, 1994). Further, education generates human

capital for the nation which facilitates country to grow at a rapid pace by making a proper use of available

limited resources. Given the vital importance of education, almost all the countries in the world have been

striving since long to develop strong education system in order to achieve higher literacy rate. But the focus

of education in developing countries and developed countries varied considerably because of their level of

development. In developing countries, the major focus of the government remains to expand the education

system and increase enrolment because large number of school going children is still out of the schools

(Mehrotra, 2006; Jha, Das, Mohanty and Jha, 2008) . On the other hand, the focus of education system in

developed world is to improve the quality of education in order to maintain the higher standard.

India is not an exception, the education system and literacy rate in the country was very poor at the time of

independence. According to the 1951 census, the literacy rate in India was 18.32. It implies that more than

80 percent of India population was illiterate in the early years of Independence. Further, in rural India more

than 87 percent individual were illiterate and only 12.1 percent literate were staying in the rural India. In

case of females, the literacy rate was just 8 percent in 1951 and in rural India female literacy was 4.87

percent. This suggests that more than 95 percent of rural women were illiterate in the country at the time of

India‟s independence. All these suggest that large population of the country was illiterate. Thus, it was the

major challenge for the government to promote education which assumed to be critical for the development

of the country.

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mailto:[email protected]

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With an objective to reduce illiteracy in the country government of India announced number of policy

measures and divided education in different level such as elementary, secondary, senior secondary and

higher education. The focus of policy measures after independence was to promote elementary education as

it is termed as necessary for all the children in the country. Correspondingly, government has also increased

the spending on education in India. For instance, government spending on education was 1.48 percent of

gross domestic product (GDP) in 1960-61 and it increased to 3.56 percent of GDP in 1995-96 and then

increased to 4.29 percent of GDP in 2012-13 (Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2014). On

account of state intervention, India has marked a considerable advancement in improving access to

education since the early years of Independence. According to 2011 census, more than 74 percent

individuals in India are literate and literacy among females also increased to 64.46 percent.

2. POLICY INTERVENTION TOWARDS EDUCATION IN INDIA

The importance of education in India has been recognized since the early years of independence. Hence, the

government of India has been continuously establishing the public funded institutes. The Constitution

emphasizes upon the responsibility of the state to provide elementary education and educate children below

fourteen years of age free of cost. Other than school education, government had also set up several

educational institutions of excellence, like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of

Management (IIM), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) immediately after

independence. Targeted focus on education was further provided under five year planning strategy followed

by the government in India.

From the first five year plan onwards, India gave special attention towards increasing enrolment in primary

schools and secondary schools (Pradhan, and Singh, 2000, Govinda, 2002). Not only first plan, but every

five year plan has ushered in various reforms, measures and efforts towards improvement in education. In

order to achieve the goal of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE), the Tenth Plan Document

emphasized on four parameters. First was to ensure Universal Access of elementary education. Second was

to increase Universal Enrolment of school going age children. Third, it was emphasize to control the drop-

out both at the primary and upper primary level. Alternatively, ensure Universal Retention of enrolled

children till they complete elementary education. Fourth was to encourage enrolment of girls in order to

ensure gender equity. In this plan period, government announced a series of programmes which

encompassed Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Kasturba Gandhi

Balika Vidyalaya Scheme (KGBVS) etc.

Further, Eleventh five year plan has placed the highest priority on education. It viewed education as the

critical input for achieving fast growth which also results in inclusive growth. In this direction, under

Eleventh five year plan the government of India passed Right of Children to Free and Compulsory

Education Act in 2009. As a result, free education to all children is now a fundamental right provided by the

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constitution. The Eleventh Plan also presented an integrated and comprehensive strategy covering all aspects

of different educational levels.

Besides these recent policy interventions, specific dedicated policies were also framed since the early years

of India‟s independence. For instance, government set-up the Kothari Commission in 1966, the commission

recommended that the state expenditure on education in the country should increase to the level of 6 percent

of the Gross National Product till 1986. Under the constitutional amendment, 1976, education was

transferred from the state list and was made a subject of concurrent list in the Constitution. Afterwards, the

New Education Policy (NEP) was introduced in 1986 which emphasized upon universalisation of

elementary education (NPE 1986- MHRD, 1992). NEP and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF)

(also launched in 1980s) brought in education reforms and new institutions as the critical role of education

in further growth and development of society and economy was realized.

In 1990s, policy makers put special emphasis on increasing school enrolment and reducing dropout rates. In

1990s, policy makers were also concerned with reducing inequalities in the education in India. Education

inequality refers to the disparities in opportunity and access to education. India as a country is largely

socially stratified and consists of contrasting societies which are result of historical social norms and

believes and economic divisions. The extent of social divide in India can be judged from the fact that it is

home to many richest individuals in the world and simultaneously it is home to one of the largest sections of

poor in the world. Such a vast magnitude of income inequalities reflects themselves in every sphere of life

including education. Education inequalities in India are cause as well as effect of income inequalities.

3. Objectives and Significance of the study

Objectives of the paper

1. To analyze state-wise literacy rate in the country.

2. To examine the literacy gap among the male and female.

3. To analyze the gender gap in literacy at elementary, secondary, higher secondary and higher

education level.

Significance of the study

This study is important in order to analyze the success of various policy measures which the government of

India has announced since independence in order to improve the access to education in the country. Further,

the government of India has been trying to reduce the gender gap in literacy by focusing on girls education.

It is evident as government started announcing „Gender Budget Statement‟ in the annual budget since 2005-

06. Under gender budget, government allocates special funds to promote girls education.

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Rupinder Kaur, IJSRM volume 4 issue 08 August 2016 [www.ijsrm.in] 613

4. Literature Review

Pandey (1987) examined the policy debates on women‟s education and highlighted the basic issues

hindering the women‟s education during the post-independence era. Author has analysed policy initiatives

since independence taken in the direction of promoting women‟s education. The success or failure of policy

initiatives have been discussed by analyzing literacy rates, drop-out rates at various levels of education,

enrollment distribution of women to sex ratio, expansion of elementary education and state-wise female

illiteracy. Author suggests that although progress has been seen on various fronts, there still remains a lot of

path to be covered to achieve progress in women‟s education.

National Report on the Development of Education (2004) highlights that Indian education system has

witnessed significant changes during the post-independence era in response the policy initiatives of the

government. As a result, enrolment rates have risen, dropout rates have declined, gender parity has improved

and number of teachers and educational institutions has also increased substantially.

Ramachandran (2009) discusses gender equality in education and suggests that gender equality as well as

access of girls to basic education are influenced by three sets of issues namely systemic issues which

includes problem of access and quality of schools etc.; content and process of education which includes

gender stereotyping and relevance of curriculum etc.; and economy, society and culture which includes

poverty, status of women, child labour etc. Author acknowledges that gender gap in education is more than

just a combined effect of both supply and demand factors. The study analyses improvements in physical

access as well as continuing problems of dropout, retention, access at post primary level. After briefly the

national strategies to bridge gender and social gaps and various existing barriers to education, author has

suggested that elimination of gender gaps in education should be accompanied by elimination of social gaps

to universalize education. Besides, strategies should be devised with a long-term view to bring about

systemic changes.

Komow, Khanna and Sharma (2012) assessed the growth of higher education in India through growth of

universities and colleges, number of students enrolled and number of teachers. Findings of the study suggest

that although there had been significant growth of higher education in India during the last six decades but

the access to it remained limited and lop sided. The last six decades also observed enormous growth of

private institutions of higher education in the country. Institutional growth included growth of all type of

institutions of higher education including universities and colleges. Similarly, GER had also observed

significant growth during the reference period but teacher strength remained inadequate both at the national

and state level and both in the state owned and private institutions of higher education.

Deobhanj (2014) states that gender equality is missing in India in various sectors like education, health and

economy. In 2011, male literacy rate was 82.14 per cent while female literacy rate lags behind at 65.46 per

cent. Sex ration in India has declined from 946 in 1951 to 940 in 2011. Equality is an important pillar for

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social and economic development of a nation. United Nations‟ Millennium Declaration has also recognized

equality as an important value. Author suggests that concrete policies for promoting gender equality should

be devised and progress should be assessed in a proper manner. Besides, minimum wages of women

workers in all sectors should be increased and universal access to education, information and sanitation etc.

should be provided to women.

5. Data Sources and Methodology

To analyze the above stated objectives, the data has been mainly collected from various secondary sources.

First, we have used census data to analyze the literacy rate across Indian states. Census data is available with

the gap of ten years because the government of India has been doing census once in ten years. Census data is

published by the Office of Registrar General, government of India. Second, we have used District

Information System for Education data. It is published by the Ministry of Human Resource Development,

Government of India and the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.

We have calculated gender gap. It is defined as the gap in literacy rate of male and female. We subtracted

female literacy rate from male literacy rate, if gap is positive and greater than zero it means female literacy

rate is less than male literacy and vise-versa.

Gender parity Index is nothing but the ratio of girls‟ gross enrollment ratio to boys‟ gross enrollment ratio in

a give level of education.

6. RESULTS OF ANALYSIS

In this section we have analyzed the literature rates across Indian states and the gender parity index. First

part of this section analyzed the literacy rates in Indian states during 1991 to 2011. Second part presents the

literacy gap among males and females across states during 1991 to 2011. Third part of this section presented

the analysis related to gender parity index across states at elementary, higher secondary, senior secondary

and higher education level..

6.1. Literacy Rates across states

Figure 1: State-wise literacy rate during 1991 to 2011

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Source: Census of India, Office of Registrar General, government of India.

Figure 1 presents the literacy rates across seventeen major states of India during 1991 to 2011. It is clear

from the figure that literacy rate in all the selected states have increased significantly during the reference

period. In Andhra Pradesh, only 44.1 percent individuals were literate in 1991 and it increased 60.5 percent

in 2000 and literacy rate in the state increased to 67 percent in 2011. In a poor state of India namely Bihar,

literacy rate has increased from 37.5 in 1991 to 61.8 in 2011. In case of Punjab, literacy rate improved from

58.5 in 1991 to 69.7 in 2001 and further increased to 75.8 in 2011. It is interesting to note that the literacy

rate in Punjab has always remained higher than the literacy rate in India.

Though all the states have improved literacy rate during the last three decades, but some states have

observed remarkable improvement whereas other have improved marginally. Thus, there is considerable

variation across states in term literacy. For instance, the literacy rate in Kerala has reached to 94 percent in

2011 whereas in Bihar literacy rate reached to 61.8 in the same year. It implies that only 6 percent

individuals in Kerala remain illiterate whereas in Bihar more than 38 percent individuals are illiterate. This

suggests that states varied considerably in terms of literacy rate.

6.2. Literacy Gap across states

Table 1: State-wise literacy gap among males and females

States 1991 2001 2011

Andhra Pradesh 22.4 19.9 15.7

Bihar 29.4 26.6 19.7

Delhi 15 12.6 10.2

Gujarat 24.5 21.9 16.1

Haryana 28.6 32.8 18.1

Himachal Pradesh 23.2 17.9 13.6

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Karnataka 22.9 19.2 14.4

Kerala 7.5 6.3 4.0

Madhya Pradesh 29.2 25.8 19.5

Maharashtra 24.2 18.9 12.5

Odisha 28.4 24.8 17.6

Punjab 15.3 11.9 9.7

Rajasthan 34.6 31.9 27.1

Tamil Nadu 22.4 18 13.3

Uttar Pradesh 30.5 26.6 20.1

Uttarakhand 31.2 23.7 17.4

West Bengal 21.3 17.4 11.2

India 24.8 21.6 16.3

Source: Census of India, Office of Registrar General, government of India.

Table 1 presents the literacy gap among Indian states during 1991 to 2011. It is interesting to note that all the

states have observed decline literacy gap among males and females. In Andhra Pradesh, literacy gap among

males and females declined from 22.4 in 1991 to 19.9 in 2001 and further declined to 15.7 in 2011 (Table,

1). In case of Punjab, the literacy gap among males and females reduced from 15.3 in 1991 to 11.9 in 2001

and then to 9.7 in 2011. Rajasthan was and remains the state which has maintained the highest gap in

literacy during 1991 to 2011. In 1991, the literacy gap in Rajasthan was 34.6 which reduced to 27.1 in 2011.

It implies that literacy among females is still low in Rajasthan as compared to the states. Contrary to this,

Kerala is the state which has maintained lowest gap in literacy among males and females throughout the last

three decades. For instance, the literacy gap in Kerala was 7.5 in 1991 and it declined to 4 in 2011.

Uttrakhand provides another interesting case, this is the state have witnessed large decline in literacy gap. In

1991, literacy gap in the state was 31.2 which declined to 17.4 in 2011.

At all India level, the literacy was 24.8 among males and females in 1991 which declined to among males

and females in 1991 which declined to 1.6 in 2001 and further reduced to 16.3 in 2011. The downfall in

literacy gaps suggests that education opportunities have increased from women during the reference period

which has positive implication from women empowerment.

Figure 2: Coefficient of Variation across states in literacy gap

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Source: Calculated based on Census data.

Figure 2 presents the coefficient of variation among selected states in literacy gap. It is worth noting that the

variation among states have increased during 1991 to 2011. The value of coefficient of variation across

selected states was 28.28 in 1991 and it raised to 34.07 in 2011. It has happened because some states have

improved drastically on females literacy and subsequently they succeeded in reducing the literacy gap

among males and females. On the other hand, some poor states could not do well in improving the females

litracy. Due to this, the literacy gap is still high among those states.

6.3. Level-wise Gender Parity Index

Figure 3: Gender Parity Index at Elementary Level, 2014

Source: Government of India (2014).

Figure 3 presents the trends in gender parity index across states at different level of education. It is

interesting to note that gender parity index for almost all the states at the elementary level are either close to

one (above 0.96) or greater than one . It implies that neither males nor females are deprived off in attaining

the elementary education. Alternatively, gender parity index equal to one suggests that both the gender is

enrolled in equal proportion at the elementary level. Another feather is worth to highlight that value of

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gender parity index for some states (Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, West Bengal,

Andhra Pradesh and Delhi) are greater than one. It suggests that the enrollment of girls in these states is

higher than the boys at the elementary. The interesting feature is that value of gender parity index for all

India level is equal to one.

Figure 4: Gender Parity Index at Higher Secondary Level, 2014

Source: Government of India (2014).

Figure 4 presents the trends in gender parity index at the higher secondary level across selected states. It is

worth noting that the variation is quite high across states in gender parity index. It is so because some states

have achived equality in males and females ratio whereas some state could not do well in achieving the

gender parity. It is visisble as some states are much below than the national average whereas other are much

above than the national average. Not only this, in case of some states the value of gender parity index either

very close to one or greater than one whereas in case of other states it is much below than one. For instance,

in case of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal the value of gender parity

index is greater than one. It suggests that proportion of enrolled girls in these states are higher than the boys

at the higher secondary level. On the other hand, states which have gender parity index value below one

includes Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh. The value of

gender parity inde below one implies that these states failed to encourage girls for attaining higher

education.

7. Conclusions

It is well known fact that education plays a significant role in influencing the quality of life, awareness

among the individual as well as in social transformation of the society. Given the vital importance of

education at all spheres of human life, almost all the countries in the world have been trying hand promote

education on the one hand and also trying to bring gender parity at all levels of education on the other hand.

It is visible as states are providing special benefits in terms of fellowships, fee concession to girls in order to

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encourage girls for education. In India, union government has stated bring separate gender budget since

2005-06. In this budget, special funds are allocated for females‟ education. In this context, followings are the

broader objectives of this paper. (i) To analyze state-wise literacy rate in the country. (ii) To examine the

literacy gap among the male and female. (iii) To analyze the gender gap in literacy at elementary, secondary,

higher secondary and higher education level.

- It is observed that the literacy rate in all the selected states have increased significantly during 1991

to 2011. But the improvement in literacy rate across states varied significantly as some states have

observed remarkable improvement whereas other have improved marginally during the last three

decades.

- The literacy gap among males and females has also declined in all the states. The downfall in literacy

gaps suggests that education opportunities have increased from women during the reference period

which has positive implication from women empowerment.

- At the elementary level, the gender parity index for almost all the states are either close to one or

greater than one. The value of gender parity index equal to one advocate that both males and

females are enrolled in equal proportion at the elementary level.

- At the higher secondary level, the variation is quite high across states in gender parity index. It has

happened because some states have achived equality in males and females ratio. Whereas large

number of states failed to encourage girls for education which led to high gender gap in those states.

The large gap at higher secondary and senior secondary level is so because all the efforts of the

centre government remained focued to ensure access at elementary level to all the students.

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India, Sage Publication House, New Delhi.

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