Skip to main content

Wither Gujarat girl child enrollment fete Kanya Kelavni? ASER data show state one of the worst performers

By Rajiv Shah
In yet another evidence that the Gujarat government has miserably failed in making any impact in its massively-propagated Kanya Kelavni girl child enrollment drive, the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by the elite non-profit organization Pratham suggests suggests Gujarat does not just lag behind other states but has also failed to register an improvement. While in the age-group 7-10 Gujarat's 1.7 per cent of girls were found to be not attending school as against the all-India average of 2.2 per cent, things clearly turned to worse for higher age-group girls.
In the age-group 11-14, Gujarat's 7.6 per cent of girls were found to be “not in school” as against the all-India average of 4.4 per cent. Further, in the age group 15-16, a whopping 30.2 per cent of girls were “not in school” as against the all-India average of nearly half as much, 17.3 per cent. “Not in school”, according to ASER, includes those children who have never enrolled themselves in schools plus those who have been dropped out.
Worse, instead of improving, the girl child's schooling has actually deteriorated. Remaining one of the worst in India, as reflected in the ASER 2014 report, the ASER report for 2013 in suggested that in the age-group 11-14, 6.6 per cent girls in Gujarat were “not in school, and in the age-group 15-16 29.7 per cent girls were “not in school.” ASER 2014 was released on January 13 this year.
Notably, this has happened despite the fact the Kanya Kelavni melas or fetes are carried out every year for three days by sending thousands of babus, including IAS and other class one officers, senior and junior ministers, to different parts in the rural areas to make enrollment a big success. The campaign began in 2004, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that year.
ASER 2014 has found that Gujarat is, in fact, among worst states in enrolling the girl child. State-wise distribution of “not-in-school” girls in the age-group 11 to 14 that all states except two perform better than Gujarat. The two states are Rajasthan, which failed to send 12.1 per cent of girls and Uttar Pradesh which failed to send 9.2 per cent of girls to school.
The figures for other states are for this age group are – Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) 5.2 per cent, Assam 4.1 per cent, Bihar 5.7 per cent, Chhattisgarh 3 per cent, Haryana 3.3 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 0.5 per cent, Jammu & Kashmir 4.2 per cent, Jharkhand 6.0 per cent, Karnataka 3.5 per cent, Kerala 0.2 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 6.2 per cent, Maharashtra 2.9 per cent, Odisha 4.7 per cent, Punjab 2.8 per cent, Tamil Nadu 1.4 per cent, Uttarkhand 1.7 per cent, and West Bengal 3.6 per cent.
Coming to the age-group 15-16, only one state, Rajasthan, performs worse than Gujarat. As against Gujarat's 30.2 per cent, Rajasthan has a little higher percentage of “not in school” girls – 31.4 per cent.
ASER 2014 figures for other states are -- Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) 18.0 per cent, Assam 14.4 per cent, Bihar 15.6 per cent, Chhattisgarh 11.6 per cent, Haryana 11.3 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 3.2 per cent, Jammu & Kashmir 11.7 per cent, Jharkhand 17.6 per cent, Karnataka 12.4 per cent, Kerala 0.4 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 23.5 per cent, Maharashtra 9.3 per cent, Odisha 23.8 per cent, Punjab 9.1 per cent, Tamil Nadu 6.8 per cent, Uttarakhand 9.5 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 22.7 per cent, and West Bengal 10.8 per cent.

Comments

Unknown said…
What about others, particularly TRIPURA?
India = 29 States + 1 NCR - 5 Uts

TRENDING

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra*   It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative   The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project. 

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By  A  Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.