Why Modi government needs to bring schools closer to India's daughters
States such as Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have "bicycle schemes" for girls. Rajasthan provides girls with travel vouchers if the distance between their school and villages are too long.
These are very innovative schemes to ensure that girls don't drop out of schools. By improving means of access to schools and cutting down on commuting time, the states have substantially impacted girl students' enrolment and continuation in schools.
This is not a critique of these schemes by any stretch of imagination. These are very laudable ventures and must be taken up by parts of the country hit by high school dropout rates among girls. The issue is that this measure, despite being positive, tends to project itself as a very simplistic solution to the lack in number of schools, particularly middle and high schools across large parts of the country.
The fact remains that by past estimates, India needs at least 3 lakh more schools.
Once enrolment is taken care of, the school and the roads leading to it must be made secure for the girl child to remain motivated to attend schools. That girls going to school or college are the focus of eve-teasing is also a fact of everyday life and that needs to be tackled.
Living in big cities and gated communities often make us oblivious of the struggle that people face in lesser-privileged environs. For example, the naysayers roundly criticised the idea of setting up of anti-Romeo squads in UP. But anybody who is in touch with ground situations would know that girls commuting to and from schools and colleges are regular victims of eve-teasing and molestation, in some instances, even worse.
It is a nightmare for the parents. So, when a government steps in with administrative measures, they will support it whole-heartedly. That it was still an issue of concern and a state government had to intervene speaks volumes about the law and order situation we have grown accustomed to.
Coming back to the issue at hand, we are seeing a relatively new phenomenon in Haryana. The state with a notoriously low sex ratio till recently, has seen girls excelling in sporting events across the globe, bringing laurels, despite a very strict patriarchial system.
In at least a couple of instances, girl students have successfully agitated to have their school upgraded to a senior secondary school. The reason being the same — families do not feel safe about their girls travelling long distances out of their village to attend schools. The government relented in the case of the Gothra Tappa Dahina village school, triggering off similar agitations in Sonepat, Palwal, Jind, Gurugram and Kaithal districts.
The state government, on its part, is actively considering a proposal to upgrade over 120 schools across Haryana.
Also read: Quota for girls in IITs is a great move and desperately neededtheir education.