Breaking Barriers

BREAKING BARRIERS THE STATUS OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS’ EDUCATION IN MEWAT, HARYANA BY RACHEL PHILIP JUNE, 2017 SUPPORTED BY UNFPA Acknowledgments The author expresses her gratitude for the help, material and valuable insights shared by the following individuals in the preparation of this report- Ms. Anjali Makhija, SMS Foundation; Ms. Seema Rajput, CARE India; Dr. Suraj Reddy and Mr. Shakeb Alam, SRF Foundation and Mr. Glenn Fawcett and Suraj Kumar, White Blossom Trust; Dr. Bobby John, Æquitas Consulting, Dr. Abdul Majeed, Principal, Government Elementary Teachers’ Training Institute (GETTI), Nuh; Ms. Neeru Chowdhury, Principal, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (Nagina); the teachers of the Government Senior Secondary School (Kanwarsika) and the maulana of Qasimul Uloom Niazia, Nuh. This report owes to the vision and perspective of Ms. Sara Abdullah Pilot, Chairperson of CEQUIN and Ms. Lora Krishnamurthy Prabhu, Director of Centre for Equity and Inclusion (CEQUIN). Ms. Udiksha Batra and Ms. Naseem Khan of the CEQUIN team provided ancillary support with unfailing warmth and expertise. Special thanks are also rendered to Ms. Bency Issac and the CEQUIN Mewat Field Office members, especially Mr. Sameem Ahmed and Ms. Bilkis Bano, who were instrumental in the organization of the field visits. This report was developed as a part of the Adolesent Girls Empowerment work support by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 2 Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ 5 LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................. 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 7 1. MAPPING THE FORMAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN MEWAT ............................................................. 7 2. CHALLENGES FACED BY ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN ACCESSING FORMAL SCHOOLING .................. 8 3. TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS ................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER ONE: MEWAT AND ITS GIRLS ........................................................................................... 12 1. MEWAT- A STUDY IN UNDER-DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................... 13 1.1. DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE ........................................................................... 14 1.2. MEWAT AS A CULTURAL REGION...................................................................................... 15 1.3. TOPOGRAPHY................................................................................................................... 16 1.4. DEMOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 16 1.5. LITERACY .......................................................................................................................... 18 1.6. LIVELIHOOD, EMPLOYMENT, INCOME .............................................................................. 20 1.7. HEALTH ............................................................................................................................ 24 1.8. ADMINISTRATIVE APATHY ................................................................................................ 25 2. LARGER IMPLICATIONS OF MEWAT’S BACKWARDNESS FOR EDUCATION AND GENDER RELATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 27 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS .......................................................................................... 29 3.1. THE GENESIS OF THIS STUDY: CEQUIN IN MEWAT ............................................................. 29 3.2. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND KEY ASSUMPTIONS ........................................................... 30 3.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................... 31 3.4. SOURCES OF DATA ............................................................................................................ 32 4. STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT ................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER TWO: BEING ‘IN SCHOOL’ IN MEWAT .............................................................................. 34 1. GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.......................................................................................................... 35 1.1. BLOCK-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOLS .......................................................................... 35 1.2. GOVERNMENT SCHOOL ENROLMENT ................................................................................ 37 1.3. SPECIAL GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS...................................................................................... 40 2. PRIVATE SCHOOLS ................................................................................................................... 44 2.1. BLOCK-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS ............................................................ 44 2.2. PRIVATE SCHOOL ENROLMENT ......................................................................................... 45 3. MADRASAS .............................................................................................................................. 46 3.1. BLOCK-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF MADRASAS ....................................................................... 48 3.2. MADRASA ENROLMENT .................................................................................................... 48 3 4. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER THREE: BEING ‘OUT OF SCHOOL’ IN MEWAT ................................................................... 52 1. OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MEWAT .................................................................................... 53 2. DROP- OUT RATES IN MEWAT .................................................................................................. 54 3. CHALLENGES FACED BY MEWATI ADOLESCENT GIRLS .............................................................. 55 3.1. THE QUALITY OF THE EDUCATIONAL TEACHING AND LEARNING EXPERIENCE ................... 55 3.2. ATTITUDES TOWARDS GIRLS’ EDUCATION ......................................................................... 62 3.3. CHALLENGES OF ACCESSING SCHOOL ABOVE THE PRIMARY LEVEL .................................... 68 3.4. EARLY MARRIAGE AND PREGNANCY.................................................................................. 70 3.5. OTHER HEALTH ISSUES ...................................................................................................... 72 4. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER FOUR: TO SCHOOL AND BEYOND: MODELS OF INTERVENTION ....................................... 76 1. SRF FOUNDATION .................................................................................................................... 76 1.1. IMPROVING SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................ 76 1.2. ACADEMIC SUPPORT ......................................................................................................... 77 1.3. LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMMES ................................................................................................ 78 2. WHITE LOTUS TRUST................................................................................................................ 78 2.1. IDENTIFYING AND ENROLING OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN ................................................. 78 2.2. IMPROVING ACCESS TO SCHOOL ....................................................................................... 79 2.3. STRENGTHENING SCHOOL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES .................................................. 80 3. CARE INDIA .............................................................................................................................. 80 3.1. THE BRIDGE COURSE MODEL ............................................................................................ 81 3.2. SPECIAL CURRICULUM....................................................................................................... 81 3.3. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ............................................................................................. 82 4. CENTRE FOR EQUITY AND INCLUSION (CEQUIN) ....................................................................... 83 4.1. CREATING SPACES FOR WOMEN ....................................................................................... 83 4.2. WORK WITH ADOLESCENT BOYS ....................................................................................... 83 4.3. BREAKING GENDER STEREOTYPES AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS ........................................ 85 5. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER FIVE: INPUTS FOR INTERVENTION……………………………………………………………………………………87. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 90 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Location

Load more