The Pioneer
Gujarat shows an astounding growth rate in female literacy
Sometime back, the economic resurgence in Gujarat set a ‘model for development’. Now the State is receiving accolades for bringing out impressive growth in the area of education, especially primary education. There is much applause for Chief Minister Narendra Modi who as a good statesman foresaw that the economic and industrial growth can only be sustained by a proper academic and professional education. Therefore, with a concrete thought in mind and constructive strategy in place, he launched a mass movement for education aiming at bringing down school drop-out rate and increasing enrollment: Two major concerns in the primary education.
While bringing out tremendous changes in primary education the Chief Minister has put extra emphasis on education for the girl child. He introduced a special scheme called Kanya Kelavani with a commitment to educate every girl child in the State. It is heartening to note that a special fund called Chief Minister’s Kanya Kelavani Nidhi has been created wherein the amount raised through the auction of all gifts received by Mr Modi is deposited. Thus the State Government has devised a unique strategy to aid social schemes and to add to the State exchequer.
That apart, to ensure greater connectivity and participation of the masses, the Government has taken up an initiative to get in touch with masses through Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra (girl child enrollment drive). The Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra is a three day State-wide drive where the Chief Minister and his team travel to all the villages and urban areas and seek people’s participation for the cause of education. The effort has contributed to a significant fall in the drop-out rate.
This year, Mr Modi along with his Council of Ministers has visited 32,772 primary schools in all the 18,000 villages, 151 municipalities and eight municipal corporations to celebrate the ninth annual State-wide Kanya Kelavani Yatra (Girls’ Education) and Shala Praveshotsav Abhiyan (School Enrollment Movement). The twin movements, which have entered the seventh year, are paying rich dividends in the form of higher enrollment, greater spread of education among the girl child and qualitative improvement in educational standards.
Also, if we compare the figures of Census 2001 and 2011 reports, Gujarat flaunts an astounding growth rate in female literacy. The State has shown more than 13 per cent increase in female literacy in the last decade, one of the highest among Indian States, and decreased school drop-out ratio by 29.77 per cent.
Furthermore, to make sure that the vulnerable class is not left out in this mass movement, the Government has introduced the Vidyalaxmi Yojana in villages where female literacy rate is lower than 35 per cent and in urban areas for girls belonging to BPL families. Under the scheme, a bond of Rs 1,000 is provided to every girl child who enrolls in Std I and Std VIII in villages with a low female literacy rate. The girl receives the amount of the bond along with interest on completion of Std VII and X respectively. This has resulted in ensuring higher retention rate. Moreover, the Government provides Rs 1,000 as incentive to the families with only girl child if their daughters are enrolled in school.
Yet it’s not so that while encouraging higher enrollment, the quality of education imparted by the Government-run primary schools has been overlooked, which is often the problem with Government-run schemes. The Government, therefore, has designed a quality check campaign — Gunotsav — where bureaucrats and officials visit all 33,376 schools of the State and collect data regarding the education quality imparted by them. It is worth mentioning here that the results of Gunotsav-2009 were assessed by the UNESCO which has recognised the gradation method adapted by the State Education Department as unique and innovative.
In the meantime, measures have also been undertaken to keep a proper check on infrastructure and health of the students. This is evident from the fact, that apart from hiring 1.2 lakh Teaching Assistants, the Government has provided facilities like drinking water, electricity; it has also constructed 75,748 classrooms and 50,914 washrooms in the entire State. Addition of nutrients to the mid-day meal and regular health checkup of students have also complemented to the efforts of the Government.
Moreover, last week the State Government launched a first of its kind ‘School Dropout Tracking System’ at Ranpur village in Satlasana taluka of Mehsana. The software-based tracking system is aimed at minimising rate of school dropouts.
Undoubtedly, all these initiatives taken by the Gujarat Government will not only set a record in the area of education but also herald a new path towards better development of human capital.
July 07, 2011 10:57:51 PM
Ashiya Parveen
Ashiya Parveen
 |
| A Girl for Gujarat (A Google Image) |
Gujarat shows an astounding growth rate in female literacy
Sometime back, the economic resurgence in Gujarat set a ‘model for development’. Now the State is receiving accolades for bringing out impressive growth in the area of education, especially primary education. There is much applause for Chief Minister Narendra Modi who as a good statesman foresaw that the economic and industrial growth can only be sustained by a proper academic and professional education. Therefore, with a concrete thought in mind and constructive strategy in place, he launched a mass movement for education aiming at bringing down school drop-out rate and increasing enrollment: Two major concerns in the primary education.
While bringing out tremendous changes in primary education the Chief Minister has put extra emphasis on education for the girl child. He introduced a special scheme called Kanya Kelavani with a commitment to educate every girl child in the State. It is heartening to note that a special fund called Chief Minister’s Kanya Kelavani Nidhi has been created wherein the amount raised through the auction of all gifts received by Mr Modi is deposited. Thus the State Government has devised a unique strategy to aid social schemes and to add to the State exchequer.
That apart, to ensure greater connectivity and participation of the masses, the Government has taken up an initiative to get in touch with masses through Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra (girl child enrollment drive). The Kanya Kelavani Rath Yatra is a three day State-wide drive where the Chief Minister and his team travel to all the villages and urban areas and seek people’s participation for the cause of education. The effort has contributed to a significant fall in the drop-out rate.
This year, Mr Modi along with his Council of Ministers has visited 32,772 primary schools in all the 18,000 villages, 151 municipalities and eight municipal corporations to celebrate the ninth annual State-wide Kanya Kelavani Yatra (Girls’ Education) and Shala Praveshotsav Abhiyan (School Enrollment Movement). The twin movements, which have entered the seventh year, are paying rich dividends in the form of higher enrollment, greater spread of education among the girl child and qualitative improvement in educational standards.
Also, if we compare the figures of Census 2001 and 2011 reports, Gujarat flaunts an astounding growth rate in female literacy. The State has shown more than 13 per cent increase in female literacy in the last decade, one of the highest among Indian States, and decreased school drop-out ratio by 29.77 per cent.
Furthermore, to make sure that the vulnerable class is not left out in this mass movement, the Government has introduced the Vidyalaxmi Yojana in villages where female literacy rate is lower than 35 per cent and in urban areas for girls belonging to BPL families. Under the scheme, a bond of Rs 1,000 is provided to every girl child who enrolls in Std I and Std VIII in villages with a low female literacy rate. The girl receives the amount of the bond along with interest on completion of Std VII and X respectively. This has resulted in ensuring higher retention rate. Moreover, the Government provides Rs 1,000 as incentive to the families with only girl child if their daughters are enrolled in school.
Yet it’s not so that while encouraging higher enrollment, the quality of education imparted by the Government-run primary schools has been overlooked, which is often the problem with Government-run schemes. The Government, therefore, has designed a quality check campaign — Gunotsav — where bureaucrats and officials visit all 33,376 schools of the State and collect data regarding the education quality imparted by them. It is worth mentioning here that the results of Gunotsav-2009 were assessed by the UNESCO which has recognised the gradation method adapted by the State Education Department as unique and innovative.
In the meantime, measures have also been undertaken to keep a proper check on infrastructure and health of the students. This is evident from the fact, that apart from hiring 1.2 lakh Teaching Assistants, the Government has provided facilities like drinking water, electricity; it has also constructed 75,748 classrooms and 50,914 washrooms in the entire State. Addition of nutrients to the mid-day meal and regular health checkup of students have also complemented to the efforts of the Government.
Moreover, last week the State Government launched a first of its kind ‘School Dropout Tracking System’ at Ranpur village in Satlasana taluka of Mehsana. The software-based tracking system is aimed at minimising rate of school dropouts.
Undoubtedly, all these initiatives taken by the Gujarat Government will not only set a record in the area of education but also herald a new path towards better development of human capital.
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