GIRLS EDUCATION

Status of Girls Education in Madhya Pradesh

Despite various efforts made in M.P. in the direction of improving the educational status of girls and female
literacy rates, a major gap still exists between boys and girls in the area of enrolment, retention and academic
achievement levels. There is a high gender gap of 26.5% in literacy, which is indicative of the status of girls
and women in M.P. Though the female literacy has shown an upward growth in the last decade, 50% of the
females in Madhya Pradesh are still illiterate. The low literacy status of women and the low participation of
girls in school create a need for reinforcement of the strategies to promote girls' education. At the same time
it also calls for more specific and focused strategies to be implemented so as to increase girls' participation in
education. In this context, the National Program for Education of Girls at Elementary Level along with SSA
has been introduced to facilitate girls' education by providing more opportunities for girls to participate in
schools.
Goals on Gender Equality
1- Ensuring all girls have access to and complete free and compulsory education of good quality
2- Eliminating gender disparity in primary & upper primary education by 2010
The National Policy on education brought the fundamental issue of women's equality on centre stage.
"Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of women. In order to neutralize the
accumulated distortions of the past, there will be a well conceived age in favor of women. This will be
an act of faith and social engineering. The elimination of women illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their
access to and retention in elementary education will receive over riding priority through provision of
special support services setting time targets and effective monitoring".

Equalization of educational opportunity recognizes that "Education of girls should receive emphasis, not only
on grounds of social justice but also because it accelerates social transformation".

Literacy status
The literacy rate of the State is 64.11 per cent, which is close to the national literacy rate 65.35 per cent.
While the female literacy has considerably improved over the last decade, a great disparity persists in the
literacy rates of males and females.

Literacy Rate over the decade

90
76.8

80
70
60

64.11
58.5
50.28

50

44.7

40
29.4
30
20
10
0
Male

Female

Total

Literacy 1991 Literacy 2001

As compared to the national average the female literacy rate of Schedule Caste is higher than national
average and in case of tribal women it is lower than national average.

Female Literacy Rate

60.00%

54.20%
50.28%
43.28%41.90%

50.00%
40.00%

34.76%
28.44%

30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Over all

SC

ST

Literacy rate (2001) M.P. Literacy rate (2001) National

The major concern of the state is literacy of tribal women.

Enrolment
Over the years there has been increase in the enrollment of girls in schools at both primary and upper
primary level. However, an analysis of enrolment figures by caste and tribe indicate that there are still few
girls from these categories who have to be enrolled.

Comparative Enrolment (Figures in lakhs)

LEVEL

Primary
Upper
Primary
Elementary

ENROLMENT 2006-07

ENROLMENT 2007-08

ENROLMENT 2009-10

Boys

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

62.02

56.10

118.12

62.79

57.66

120.46

55.57

51.52

107.09

24.83

20.22

45.05

25.36

21.44

46.80

25.56

23.06

48.62

86.85

76.32

163.18

88.15

79.10

167.25

81.12

74.58

155.70

(Source: IPMS)
Comparative GER of Madhya Pradesh
Year 2006-07

GROSS
ENROLMENT

Boys

RATIO
Primary
Upper
Primary
Elementary

Girls

Year 2007-08

Year 2009-10

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Total

104.68

104.5

104.59

104.23

104.41

104.32

120.82

119.78

120.31

96.15

94.39

95.35

97.73

97.32

97.54

104.21

104.03

104.12

102.09

101.62

101.87

102.27

102.39

102.33

114.86

114.25

114.57

(Source: LSA and IPMS)

There has been a significant increase in the GER of girls. The gap in GER of boys and girls has also
narrowed, which is indicative of the fact that girls enrolment has increased in the past years.
Reduction in Gender gap (%)
2000-01
GER
Category
Primary
Upper
Primary
Elementary

of
girls

2005-06

Gender

GER
of

gap

girls

2006-07

2007-08

2009-10

Gender

GER

Gender

GER

Gender

GER

Gender

gap

of girls

gap

of girls

gap

of girls

gap

94.30

3.60

103.8

0.3

104.5

0.2

104.41

0.1

119.78

0.11

64.60

10.10

88.7

2.8

94.39

1.7

97.32

0.4

104.03

0.73

86.50

4.60

99.4

0.4

101.62

0.5

102.39

0.1

114.25

0.24

Achievement of V and VIII Board Examinations

Academic Year 2007-08

Boys

Girls

Total

PS+EGS)

535286

563408

1098694

VIII Board Examination

339846

329425

669271

V Board Examination (Govt.

Conclusion based on the data analysis

Out of every two women, one is illiterate

Out of every 10 women of ST community, 7 are illiterate

At Primary level, GER of girls is 119.78 % and NER of girls is 99.10%

At Upper Primary level. GER of girls is 104.03 % and NER of girls is 99.18%

High gender gap at Upper Primary level

As per IPMS data, girls remain out of school due to the following reasons - sibling care, economic
activities, cattle grazing, weak financial condition of parents and Reluctance to send girls to school
especially at the Upper Primary level due to the social beliefs and parental pressure

The issue of equity is central to education, both because the delivery of education should target the
disadvantaged group, traditionally deprived of the opportunities of education and because education is
understood as a process of empowerment. This involves a distributive aspect as well as a qualitative one.
The distributive aspects, in terms of the spread of resources have been measured through the indicators of
access and participation.
Girls as a group need special attention as far as enrolment and retention issues are concerned. Girls are
disadvantaged as they still do not enjoy parity with boys in society. This has a bearing on their overall
development, education not being an exception to this. Rural girls are specially disadvantaged as many of
them are engaged in household chores as well as paid and unpaid work, e.g. in work related to fuel, fodder,
water, sibling care. It is impossible to achieve Universal Elementary Education unless concerted efforts are
made to reach out to the girl child. It is felt that in order to enhance their participation and performance,
necessary support services need to be extended to this group. Besides, factors rooted in the family or the
socio-cultural milieu of girl children, distance to schools and the associated threat to security are the major
reasons for their exclusion from the education system.
One of the problem areas identified is the poor educational status of girls in the age group of 11 years and
more, who are never enrolled in schools. Specially designed and planned education program is needed for
this age group to enable their enrollment and retention in schools.
Problem Areas
Rural literacy rate of M.P. is 42.93%, which is below the national average. In respect of female literacy rate

Female literacy rate is less than national average and Gender gap is higher than national average - In
184 blocks

ST female literacy rate is below 10% in 62 predominant ST blocks(as per 1991 census)

SC female literacy rate is below 10% in 34 predominant SC blocks,(1991 census)

There are 2625 i.e. 5% villages which have just 10% female literacy and 7483 i.e. 14% villages have 20%
female literacy. These villages have been identified as backward pockets.

This shows clear gender disparity

Out of the 313 blocks, 280 blocks are identified as educationally backward blocks

Issues of concern

Girls participation in enrolment and retention at upper primary from the disadvantaged groups

Gender parity

Low GER

NER of Girls at Primary level in 9 districts is below State average

State

99.10

KHANDWA

99.05

UMARIA

99.00

PANNA

98.77

DHAR

97.92

BURHANPUR

97.52

KHARGONE

97.23

BARWANI

94.37

JHABUA

93.13

ALIRAJPUR

90.79

GENDER GAP ABOVE 10% IN PRIMARY & ABOVE 20% IN UPPER PRIMARY
As per DISE Gender Gap is above 10% at primary level in 1 district viz Jhabua,. To improve the status of
girls education a multi pronged approach is being used which includes SSA, Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalaya (KGBV), NPEGEL and other State specific initiatives.