School’s
out for Indian girl child - SHAME, SHAME
UNESCO’s Global Monitor Report 2003-4 says:
·
Almost
half of the world’s illiterates live in India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh
·
Iran,
Sri Lanka, Maldives have more adult literates than India
·
Bangladesh and Maldives have achieved
gender parity (girls: boys going to school) at primary
level; India unlikely to do it even by 2015
New
Delhi: You may think of it as a poor neighbour that
sends hordes of illegal migrants into India. But Bangladesh
has done what India is unlikely to do in the next 12
years.
Unesco’s
latest Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report
says Bangladesh has achieved gender parity – equal enrolment
of boys and girls at school – at the primary level.
India scrapes the bottom of the list, just a little
above Pakistan. In fact, it may not be able to meet
the gender parity target even by 2015.
The
EFA report is based on data collected in 2000. In Bangladesh,
“gender disparities have been reversed”. However, as
the girls’ dropout rate after Class V is high in both
India and Bangladesh, they may not be able to meet the
gender parity targets at the secondary school level
by 2015. China, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and
New Zealand are also likely to miss the target. But
these countries have very high student enrolment.
The
report says India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, along
with 18 Sub-Saharan countries, are the worst performers
in providing universal primary education, adult literacy
and gender parity.
These
goals were set at the Dakar Forum in April 2000 to achieve
EFA.
According
to Christopher Col-clough, director of the EFA Global
Monitoring Report team, India and other countries were
lagging behind because of domestic problems rather than
a cut in foreign aid.
Source: The Times of India
Date: 7th November 2003
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