Gender Development In Education

India is the largest democracy in the world with a population of 1.21 billion (census of India, 2011). The country comprises of 29 states and 7 UTs with diverse social and cultural contexts. Various national development programs are being planned and implemented under a federal structure whereby both the Centre and the State share the responsibility and the resources. One amongst them is the Education, which was not always a shared responsibility rather was a State subject where the Centre played only the role of advisor. When India got independence in 1947, the literacy rates at that time were very low, with only 27% male and 9% female population as literates (Census of India, 1951). The reason for this was the education system followed by

In 1994 a milestone program DPEP was launched in 600 regions with a view to universalize primary education by expanding the accessibility of schools. Mid-day Meal program was also launched in 1995 with an objective to bring all children under the roof of schools. A decade later to Jometian, Dakar Framework (2000) re-affirmed the vision of Jometian and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, put forth the goals of education and said that the governments have to ensure that by 2015, all children particularly girls, children in different circumstances, belonging to minorities to have access to free education and further to achieve gender equality in education by 2015. India launched SSA in 2001 with a motive to bridge the gender and social category gap in elementary education and to improve the quality of education thereof. The program included the opening of new schools, additional classrooms, toilets, provision of more teachers and their training, free textbooks and uniform etc. to increase student participation and improving quality. Further 86th Amendment of the Constitution inserted an Article 21 A to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group 6-14 years and made education a fundamental right and finally with the enactment of RTE Act 2009 to come into force from April 1, 2010, India moved to the rights based framework towards

But in spite of six EFA goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the targets were unable to be reached and a continued action was needed to finish the agenda. In India only over 81.5 lakh children were out of school and out of the different social groups, the estimated out of school children (OoSC) was 7.67% for Muslims, 5.60% for ST, 5.96% for SC and 2.67% for OBC & others (MHRD, 2010). It is also seen that the girls, low caste children, and other underprivileged children were still over-presented in government schools (Mehta, 2005; Aggarwal, 2000; PROBE, 1999). World Education forum (2015) by continuing the agenda emphasized that the central role of the education should be sustainable development and further paved way for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2015) with one of its goals (under 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development)) as ‘to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. This sets a more ambitious agenda for the period from 2015 to 2030 and the process finally culminated in the Incheon Declaration. But in spite of great efforts, educational levels increased very slowly and large differences were seen among different social