Empowerment by Women’s Education

Abstract

Education is one of the most important 'Fundamental Right' of the citizens of a nation. It is a dialogue between the past, present and the future. It is an important investment in human capital essential to economic growth The Elementary Education system serves as the base over which the Super-structure of the whole education system is built up.

It is observed that complete Literacy has not been achieved even 63 years after independence, and this has far reaching socio-economic impacts. The fact that almost half of our women are illiterates speaks of serious gender discrimination within the system Women's education plays a very important role in the overall development of the country. It not only helps in the development of half of the human resources, but in improving the quality of life at home and outside. There is considerable evidence for the claim that access to education helps to empower women.

Education appears to improve women’s ability to process and utilise new information, although more rapidly for certain issues than others. It increases the likelihood that women will look after their own, as well as family, well-being. It may lead to a greater role for women in decision-making and a greater willingness on their part to question male dominance in the home and community. Further it may lead to a greater role for women in decision-making and a greater willingness on their part to question male dominance in the home and community. Educated women also appear less likely to suffer from domestic violence

Enrolments in schools have improved substantially in recent years but the retention rates continue to be poor, and only a fraction of enrolled students completes even the Primary classes. Completions of Middle and Secondary levels are still lower.

Wide regional variation exists even within this sub-standard performance of the Basic Education system. While few states have performed moderately, others have done abysmally, and continue to do so. As with India as a whole, many states have large rural-urban differences in female literacy.

There are several reasons for the low levels of literacy in India, Factors like poverty, presence of a wide child-labour market, absence of assured employment after schooling, and infrastructural problems are identified as responsible for the ills plaguing the elementary education system in India. Providing incentives for attending schools, making the schooling process attractive to the children, streamlining the middle and high school curriculum to make it more vocational and job-oriented, and providing better infrastructure for the schools are some of the policies likely to improve the scenario.

This paper tries to analyse the current trends, patterns and interacting factors affecting the quantitative and qualitative aspects of School Education System in India with a special focus on Women's education that can lead to their empowerment.