Chapter-I - Naarm · Web viewThis needs a deeper understanding of the historical and socio-cultural dimensions of agricultural education and internal dynamics of organizations involved

Strategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education

APCESS Project No 0182076

Investigators D. Rama Rao

N. Sandhya ShenoyV. Rasheed Sulaiman

National Academy of Agricultural Research ManagementHyderabad-500030& National Research Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi-110012

2005

She She who ever had remained in the depth of my being,

in the twilight of gleams and of glimpses;she who never opened her veils in the morning light,

will be my last gift to thee, my God, folded in my final song. Words have wooed yet failed to win her;

persuasion has stretched to her its eager arms in vain. I have roamed from country to country keeping her in the core of my heart,

and around her have risen and fallen the growth and decay of my life. Over my thoughts and actions, my slumbers and dreams,

she reigned yet dwelled alone and apart. Many a man knocked at my door and asked for her

and turned away in despair. There was none in the world who ever saw her face to face,

and she remained in her loneliness waiting for thy recognition.

Rabindranath Tagore

Strategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education ii

Project team

D. Rama Rao Project leaderN. Sandhya Shenoy Co-investigatorV. Rasheed Sulaiman Co-investigatorN. Sunanda Research associateBadruddin Khan Research associateMrunal Uday Lahankar Senior Research Assistant

CONTENTS

SNo Topic Page no.

Contents ii

Preface iii

Executive summary iv

1. Introduction 1

2. Agricultural manpower development 6

3. Research design 14

4. Issues of women in agricultural education 19

5. Survey results and discussion 26

6. Perceptions and opinions 53

7. Issues, strategies and recommendations 60

8. References 67

9. Annexures 74

10. Abbreviations 139

Strategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education iii

Preface

Agriculture plays an important role in Indian economy. Human resource planning is an essential element for achieving sustained growth. It attempts to maintain the equilibrium between the demand emanating from various sectors of employment. The supply constitutes the graduating personnel from the universities. The employment sectors seek agricultural graduates with diverse goals and demand specific skills.

In the present study a survey was conducted to identify the issues relating to enrolment of rural girls into agricultural education and to develop appropriate educational strategies for state agricultural universities. The survey includes seeking responses through a structured questionnaire and formal and informal discussions with students in schools, students in agricultural colleges, professionals, farmers and officials from various sectors associated with agriculture and rural development. Results from both these quantitative and qualitative aspects are analysed and integrated. The outputs provided insight into the systems changes required to encourage more girls from villages into agri-education. The likely impact of various issues and policies are also explored. We hope the results will provoke discussion and further research into the complex area of educational planning. The study identifies educational strategies to improve proportion of rural girls in SAUs in the future.

We are thankful to many individuals who have assisted us directly or indirectly in completion of this study. We are grateful to Dr J C Katyal, Deputy Director General (Education), ICAR; Dr S.P.Tiwari, Director, NAARM for the support extended throughout the study. We owe special thanks to faculty colleagues for their valuable comments and suggestions. We sincerely thank the senior executives of various government, private agencies and agricultural universities for providing the information and sparing their time for discussions.

We record our appreciation to the support extended by Dr (Mrs) N. Sunanda, Mr Badruddin and Ms. Mrunal, research staff of the project, in data collection, analysis and preparation of the report and Mr K V Kumar in the statistical analysis of the data. We thank Ms G. Aneeja for the editorial corrections, Mr Ramadas and Ms. Mercy for the secretarial assistance in typing the manuscript and data entry, Mr P. Namdev for the cover design and the press team for printing the report.

D Rama Rao, N. Sandhya Shenoy and V. Rasheed Sulaiman Investigators

Strategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education iv

Executive Summary

Women’s participation in science is increasing world over. The proportion of girls in SAUs varied from 49.3 per cent in Kerala to 5 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. Though the number of girl students joining agricultural courses is on rise, there is concern as bulk of these students are coming from urban areas. Women agriculture professionals had greater access to both farm women and farm communities as compared to their male counterparts and thus aid in better technology transfer. Considering the socio-cultural aspects, there is a need to encourage and increase girl students from rural areas as they are more tuned to serve in rural areas. Keeping this felt need, the project was initiated with an objective to assess growth of girl students in agricultural education and develop strategies to enhance participation of girl students from rural areas. The project was carried out jointly by NAARM and NCAP, New Delhi.

The study was carried out in ten agricultural universities in India, viz. AAU in Gujarat, NDUAT in Uttar Pradesh, HAU in Haryana, MPUAT in Rajasthan, MAU in Maharashtra, RAU in Bihar, IGKVV in Raipur, UAS-D in Karnataka, ANGRAU in AP and OUAT in Orissa. Resource persons nominated by agricultural universities provided the data and also assisted in the survey work. Three questionnaires were designed to get the requisite information from agricultural students, agricultural professionals and school students to capture information on issues such as education, family, social, and economic backgrounds, employment concerns and on some specific issues pertaining to girls’ participation in agricultural education. The sample of 712 respondents comprised of school students (185), agricultural students (262) and professionals (265) from ten state agricultural universities and their adjacent areas.

Brainstorming sessions were conducted at seven SAUs to solicit opinions of professionals from the university, state departments and NGOs. The senior executives of selected SAUs, state departments, NGOs, girl students in rural schools and farmers have been approached for their opinions on factors affecting women in higher education.

Issues emerged from the project are:

Agriculture education as a subject may be introduced at school level as it has relevance to nearly two-thirds population dependent on agriculture.

Special incentives are to be provided for rural students. Due consideration in transportation, accommodation and security would encourage

girls into agricultural education. Motivation by trained personnel would impart confidence to rural students and

parents on agri-education. Girls by virtue of their patience, hardworking nature, credibility of work,

understanding nature, communication skills and decision making ability are better agents for effective transfer of technology.

Social constraints for girls’ education include family pressures, lack of transportation facilities and inhibitions arising due to societal sanctions to harness their potential.

Strategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education v

Agricultural education was considered to be relatively cheap; have less employment opportunities; earn less; doesn’t have equal status in society; and jobs need working in rural areas.

Lack of openings for women graduates in the private sector. Existing syllabus to be modified to suit the needs of employment requirements with

inclusion of entrepreneur and management skills.

Recommended strategies

NARS institutions need to undertake career counseling at the secondary level to motivate students from rural schools to take up higher agricultural education.

ICAR to come forward with an action plan for implementation of the government policy of promoting science education for women in the form of fellowships, scholarships and other types of financial support.

ICAR need to take proactive step in identifying and strengthening quality of vocational agricultural education. It can offer incentives in the lines or even better than UGC for colleges offering such identified courses.

Establishment of agricultural colleges and polytechnics near rural areas and relaxation in qualifying marks or reservation for rural students. Re-orienting the agricultural course according to the present employment needs is a priority and Diploma course needs to be introduced to enhance skills and market their services after attaining training in need based, location specific areas. Accommodation facilities to be specifically provided for girl students, also at polytechnics.

Campaign for creating awareness regarding the scope of agricultural education through various communication media. ICAR can initiate and organise this campaign on the lines of national literacy campaign on Television and Radio.

The country needs National Council for Agricultural Education to prepare agricultural education for the new millennium. Develop national action plans and enhance investment in basic education and higher education significantly to make them more accessible to rural students. Implement integrated strategies for gender concern in education. Such a national body will be able to initiate policy action and many strategies mentioned above.

The implementation of the above recommendations should also lead towards a larger number of women graduates in the work force with sizeable number of policy makers and implementers in agriculture.

Strategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education vi

Chapter-I

Introduction

1.1 Background

Women’s participation in science in general and agriculture in particular, is increasing world over. Increasing participation of women can be seen in developing countries as evidenced by significant increase in number of graduate women in agriculture in Malaysia (Jaraiah-Masud, 1994), Iran (Ali Reza, 1996), India (Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998), Philippines (Brush et al, 1995) and Indonesia (Hubeis,1994).

During 1981, the country has about 73,133 agricultural graduates, out of which 0.4 per cent were women (DST, 1990). However, in the recent past, the number of girl students joining agricultural courses is on rise and their number in employment too rose to about 6.3 per cent of the agricultural graduates in 1995 (Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). This increase in number has brought new dimension in employment and development. There is a concern on increasing number of students from urban areas in agricultural courses. Some recent studies indicated that women of urban background had advantage for formal education in agriculture (Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). However, the rural students who are aware of practical know-how of agricultural situation, if equipped with the latest technologies would help in effective implementation of the research findings. It is opined that that women are good communicators and educators for farmwomen. Women agriculture professionals had greater access to both farmwomen and farm communities as compared to their male counterparts and thus aid in better technology transfer (Prasad, 1993). Therefore, it is necessary to find the magnitude and the ways to bring greater influx from the rural sector, as the students from rural backgrounds are more tuned to serve in rural areas.

1.2 Issues in school education

There is large body of research on girls’ education in school and general education, but limited research on professional education, particularly agricultural education. A brief overview of the research thrust and its outcome is described below.

In many developing countries girls are often considered as a source of household labour who will leave their families upon marriage and become part of the labour force of another family. Boys, on the other hand, are expected to provide support to their families, when they become adults. Thus, some sections of the rural poor feel it economically sound to invest in the education of boys than in that of girls, particularly where money for education and basic necessities are scarce. Moreover, women generally command fewer opportunities and lower salaries in the labour market and therefore they feel investment in girls’ education is less beneficial than that of boys. For cultural reasons,

Strategies to encourage rural female students in the agriculture educationagricultural education1

parents from rural areas do not send girls to study under male instructors or in mixed gender classes. The lack of women instructors and girls only schools thus becomes an obstacle to girls’ participation in schools. Lack of transport affects women more than male as mobility of women is restricted (FAO, 2005).

In India, the rural girls are kept busy at home in sibling and household care, in fetching fuels, fodder and water or in earning a day’s wage. Therefore the problem for education of women is not only access, uniform curriculum and provision of education facilities, but also a problem that is closely related with tradition and socioeconomic structure of the society (Nagarajan, 2005).

Educated women lead to the advancement of the economy as they promote the social, physical, health and wellbeing of their families and communities. Family factors such as conservative parental attitudes, involvement as family labour, and lower socio-economic status act as hindrances to girls’ education. This was the case in many developing countries, in which the societal expectations placed on girls due to patrilineal family structures, custom and culture. The concept of universal marriage impeded the progress of girls toward higher education in Africa (Kwesiga Joy, 2002).

In rural areas, the education system suffers from absenteeism, high drop out rate specially among girls, over crowding, lack of teachers, lack of transport and poor infrastructure. This is mainly due to lack of education among the earlier generations. Absence of joyful learning (edutainment) and also long distance of the school from residence of the children also affect education for rural students (Gramayan, 2005).

In India, very conspicuous gender disparities persist in all the educational indicators, especially with regard to enrolment and retention at the primary, upper primary and higher levels of schools education. The situation is much worse in rural and tribal areas due to social attitudes, poor access to education, and family oriented role and responsibilities of the girl child (Indian NGOs, 2005).

Major focus in developing countries was on girls’ education at school, India being no exception. The National Policy of Education (NPE, 1992) laid emphasis on women’s participation in vocational, technical and professional education based on the finding that for every 100 girls enrolled in primary education in rural areas, only one girl continued till Class XII. The low pace of growth of enrollment of adolescent girls of down trodden sections in rural areas is due to the traditional societal inhibitions against their free movement outside the family precincts and also against their education particularly beyond the elementary stage. Hence, the NPE made a special resolve to encourage non-government and voluntary effort in management of education by providing financial assistance for strengthening boarding/hostel facilities for girl students of high/higher secondary schools (GOI, 2005).

To encourage girls’ participation in school, Government of India recently made school education free in all the centrally supported schools. Such schemes were already in force in states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, etc. As education is State subject in India, various


state governments have launched variety of schemes and interventions to promote girls education to retain them in the schools and to encourage increased enrolment in colleges (Anonymous, 2000). The Government of Haryana has earmarked Rs6.5 million for provision of common rooms for girl students in all colleges to improve the mental outlook and health of the students. In addition, it would also establish development centers for women to create an awakening on gender discrimination (Anonymous, 2005).

1.3 Issues in higher education

Although government encourages girls in education, they are discriminated in employment (Parikh and Sukhatme, 1992; Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). In spite of negative pressures, the enrollment of girls is on rise in all streams of science and technology (Statistical Abstract, 2002).

Bell and Fritz (2005) made a comparison of deterrents to college bound boys and girls enrollment in secondary agricultural education in US. The major obstacles encountered by the students while opting for higher education are peer pressure, parental pressure, lack of role model and lack of information on the career opted. The parents and high school teachers exert influence on the career choice of students. Mother is more influential than father especially in case of girl students’ choice for higher education. Majority of the secondary students perceived agricultural career to be boring, hard work with poor pay, involve more muscle than brain and more outdoor jobs and hence attract more men than women. Most of the students were negatively influenced by already enrolled students on lack of employment opportunities. Added to this, lack of career information about both traditional and non-traditional employment opportunities for women in agricultural sector, lack of counselor service and supportive network deters girl students to join agricultural course.

Decline in enrollment in agricultural education in Australia was related to negative perception of high school students on career in agriculture, as they are not aware of career opportunities in agriculture and equate agriculture career to farming alone (Cecchettini et al, 2005).

1.4 Issues in agriculture profession

The UNESCO/Commonwealth Secretariat study on Women in Higher Education Management (UNESCO, 1998) identified the principal barriers preventing participation of women due to limited access to higher education, stresses of dual family and professional roles, family attitudes, career interruptions and cultural stereotyping.

In the developed countries, the proportion of working women has increased to the level of workingmen (Ester Barbera et al, 2000) and the women issues are focused on representation of women in science and technology and also in the newly emerging sectors (Kennedy, 1991; Schmitt and Ziche, 1989; Paret, 1991; Goering, 1990). Low involvement of women in management have been ascribed to various factors such as economic development by Adler and Izraeli (1988); participation in labour force and education by


Antal and Izraeli (1993); gender role and career choice by Konard and Cannings (1994); and organisational culture, processes and policies by Alvesson and Billing (1997). A complex interaction of these factors holds women back from top positions.

Rajeswari (1995) in a Department of Science Technology survey reported that the proportion of women in science technology management as 1.1 per cent. In Indian corporate sector, less than two per cent mangers are women (COSMODE, 2000). Low participation was ascribed to socio-cultural determinants (Sunita Singh, 2000); and male stereotyping, exclusion from informal networks and lack of management experience (Kalpana Sinha, 2000). On the whole, few women reach management positions of real authority and significance.

Women are under-represented in university faculties in a developed country like United States of America also (Pell, 1996). The situation is no better in agricultural education system in India. Out of the faculty (in SAUs, DUs and CAU) of about 20,000 under different cadres the proportion of women faculty is about 12 per cent in 2001 (Jha and Pandey, 2005). Cadre-wise, women faculty are 13.6 per cent Assistant Professors, 13.1 per cent Associate professors and 7.2 per cent Professors (ICAR, 2005A). The representation of women is much less in other sectors as women prefer jobs in academic, research and development sectors of government. The presence of professional women is negligible in decision-making bodies, high level advisory boards and national academies (Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998).

In India, scarcity of women managers was ascribed to cultural factors, which constrain advancement of women in their careers (Krishna Raj, 1978; Mohinuddin, 1978). Besides, their scarcity has not been of much concern or research interest as most women studies were focused on status and emancipation in the society (Kaval Gulhati, 1990). In most developing countries, problems to involve women in specific development activities were encountered partly due to the lack of statistical indicators, research studies and an effective national data bank of research on women.

1.5 Need for the study and objectives

In an era of globalization, Indian agriculture is to be viewed as an enterprise with its various agricultural commodities owing to India’s unique geographical position and climatic adaptations. The existing huge potential should be tapped by effective and efficient use of trained agricultural manpower.

The NAARM study indicates that there is an evidence of increase in number of graduate women in agricultural education in India from less than four per cent in 1980 to about 25 per cent in 2000 (Rama Rao and Muralidhar, 1994; Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). Thus, there is a sharp surge in girl students. In southern states of the country, proportion of girl students is almost equal to or even more than that of the boys. Increasing number of girl students is considered a viable solution on making technology transfer more effective, particularly to farmwomen. Considering the socio-cultural aspects, there is a need to encourage and increase girl students from rural areas. But,


neither the education system has been able to keep pace with the growth in girl students nor it has planned adequately and appropriately gender-sensitive alternatives in agricultural education. In view of this, NAARM has been organizing action research on gender issues followed by dialogue through workshops, expert consultations and policy meetings.

The current study emanates from the recommendations of the NAARM study entitled “Issues of Professional Women in Agriculture” by Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy (1998). The findings of the study revealed that students pursuing agricultural education from urban background is on rise, but it is alarmingly high with respect to girl students and they prefer to work in urban areas. Thus, there is a perceived need to enroll more girls from rural areas to support the agriculture development in the country. Human resource developed by the agricultural education system has undoubtedly been instrumental in agricultural transformation of the country. Keeping this role in view, the present study is designed with the following broad objectives:

Assessment of growth of girl students in agricultural education, Strategies to enhance participation of girl students from rural areas.

1.6 Scope

The current project emphasizes on the reality that the grass root personnel well versed with the traditional techniques of agriculture, if empowered with the modern technology, will help in effective dissemination of the research findings.

The project was carried out in collaboration with SAUs in India. The data on trends of enrollment of women students in agriculture courses in the past decade along with the information pertaining to their socio-economic data, schooling, academic preferences, background, etc has been collected with the help of resource persons from the SAUs and secondary sources and from women agri-graduates. The issues pertaining to girl students’ choices and constraints in joining agriculture courses were critically analysed. Based on the systemic analysis, strategies to encourage girl students are formulated. The final outcome is shared with all the agricultural universities and it will also be used as case study for the training programs at the Academy.

The findings of the study are expected to feed into the policy making process within ICAR regarding the initiatives aimed at increasing the girls students’ enrolment in agricultural education especially from rural areas.


Chapter-II

Agricultural Manpower Development

2.1 Introduction

Soon after independence, India followed the path of science, which led to the growth of agriculture reaping rich dividends. National Agricultural Research System (NARS), consisting of ICAR Institutes and State Agricultural Universities, has played a pivotal role in the accomplishment in the field of agriculture. The green revolution, with its impressive social and economic impact, would not have been possible without the availability of technically qualified human resource. Thus, agricultural education is placed in the forefront for building a scientific manpower base.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is responsible for agricultural research and education at the central level and it promotes and coordinates the agricultural education through state agricultural universities in the states. Of late, the issues in agricultural education have been subjected to a serious policy debate under the aegis of ICAR and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS, 1999). The major content in this chapter is taken from these deliberations (ICAR, 2003; Katyal, 2004). Information from others sources are quoted in the text and these two sources are not explicitly quoted to avoid repetition.

Though agriculture continues to be the occupation of nearly two-thirds population, its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) is declining. Accelerated growth of industry and services seemed to have reduced the share of agriculture. By 2020 contribution of agriculture to GDP is forecasted to come down to six per cent as compared to 24 per cent at present (Table-2.1). Such steep change in economy reflects major impact on the agriculture vis-à-vis agricultural education system, i.e. the primary source of trained manpower in agriculture.

Table-2.1: Relative contribution of agriculture and other sectors to GDPSector Contribution in 2004

(%)Projected

contribution in 2020 (%)

Agriculture 24.0 6.0Industry 25.0 34.0Services 51.0 60.0

Agricultural education has been one of the few successful institutions in India. By the standards of relative success stories, it is clear that more can be done. This needs a deeper understanding of the historical and socio-cultural dimensions of agricultural education and internal dynamics of organizations involved in agricultural education in relation to their mandates towards development of trained manpower and production of knowledge.


2.2 Evolution of agricultural education in India

The history of agricultural education could be traced back to ancient times when agriculture was included in the curricula of Nalanda and Takshila Universities as one of the 18 arts. The importance of formal agricultural education was realized in India as early as in the 1890s and it has a history of about 120 years (Naik, 1971; Randhawa, 1979 and Wadia, 1997). Organized courses in agricultural education started in the beginning of the 20th century. The pattern of development in agricultural education is directly related to the changing socio-political scenario of the country. Some important stages in the development of agricultural education in the country are described below:

Stage 1 (1878-1947 ) : Agricultural education in India began with a diploma course in agricultural college at Coimbatore in the year 1878 and a degree course in agricultural college at Puna in 1909. At the time of India’s independence in 1947, there were 17 colleges offering degrees in agricultural sciences with a total intake capacity of about 1500 students per year.

Stage 2 (1948-1959): During the post-independence period, i.e., after 1947, a large number of agricultural colleges were established in different states to satisfy regional interests. During this stage agricultural education was transformed into a mass education system with social equity and regional development as the focus. By the end of 1959, the number of colleges increased to 92 with a total enrollment capacity of 13,500. Out of this, 50 colleges were offering postgraduate courses to about 2,000 students. The university education commission recommended establishment of rural universities modeled on the pattern of land-grant colleges of USA (Radhakrishnan, 1949).

The prevalent agricultural education programme was not holistic in content, since it was divorced from experiment stations and extension organizations. By and large, the state departmental staff at different locations carried out research and extension activities in agriculture and animal husbandry. Agricultural college teachers were neither engaged in any significant research nor had contacts with the problems of the farmers. Majority of the agricultural colleges did not have strong programmes of research and extension.

Urgency of bringing about rapid increase in food-grain production necessitated re-examination of the existing pattern of agricultural education. For achieving quick benefits from new agricultural technologies, closer linkages between research, extension and teaching programmes were felt necessary to meet the diverse needs of different production systems, which varied across agro-climatic situations and socio-economic conditions of farmers. This location and situation specificity of agriculture led to setting up of one agricultural university in each state of the country.

Stage 3 (1960-1980 ) : The first state agricultural university, G.B. Pant Agricultural University, was established at Pantnagar in 1960. The education commission 1966, headed by Dr. Kothari recommended establishment of at least one agricultural university per state, which was strongly supported by the state and central governments. The agricultural universities were strengthened by bringing all agricultural research and education centres in


a state under a common administrative control. This coincided with green revolution of the mid-1960s and gave a great boost to agricultural education and research. This stage is considered the most crucial stage in the development of agricultural education in India. This new institutional arrangement played a crucial role in production and dissemination of knowledge related to green revolution. During this period, agricultural universities at the state level and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at the federal level evolved as two unique partners associated with agricultural education and research in India. By the end of the year 1980, 24 state agricultural universities (SAUs) were established.

Stage 4 (1981-2000): Post-graduate agricultural education (PG/PhD) expanded rapidly in most universities during this phase. The agricultural universities matured with the emerging graduate studies and research programmes linked to national development. The agricultural universities have stabilized, became strong centres of research and education, and have been successfully assimilated into the institutional matrix of the state aimed at overall development. Its contribution to agricultural development is quite conspicuous.

By the early 1990s, the employment under state funded research, academic and development sectors have begun to get saturated and unemployment began to rise. The education system has neither foreseen this nor the changing market requirement for trained manpower. Thus, the agricultural universities have been caught napping amidst the rapid changes taking place in global technological environment. The state agricultural universities’ have restricted entry into the emerging frontier areas of molecular biology and biotechnology and application of information technology due to scarcity of in-house funds and almost negligible external funding.

2.3 Present status

The country has one of the largest networks of agricultural education systems in the world, which provides educational facilities in 11 undergraduate programmes and 95 postgraduate disciplines through 66 universities and in more than 320 constituent/ affiliated colleges/faculties (Table-2.2). List of colleges providing agricultural education is given in Annexure-2.1.

At present, there are 39 SAUs including seven specialized universities - six in Veterinary and Animal Sciences and one in Horticulture and Forestry Sciences; one Central Agricultural University (CAU) and five Deemed Universities (four of them are ICAR Institutes: IARI, IVRI, NDRI and CIFE; and the fifth Allahabad Agricultural Institute). The three Central Universities - Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim university and Visva Bharati also have agricultural faculties, and are involved in teaching, research and extension activities in several fields of agricultural sciences. In addition, more than 17 general universities through their affiliated colleges and postgraduate departments offer agricultural education programmes. Further, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, imparts education in the field of agricultural engineering.

Table-2.2: Agricultural education system in IndiaUniversity Number of Number of


Universities CollegesState Agricultural Universities 39 250Central Agricultural University 01 06Deemed-to-be Universities 05 11Central Universities 03 03Indian Institute of Technology 01 01General Universities 17 49Total 66 320

The list of undergraduate degrees offered in the field of agriculture and allied sciences and the eligibility criteria are given in Table-2.3. All the undergraduate degree programmes are of four years duration.

Table-2-3 : Bachelor's Degrees awarded in agriculture and allied sciencesSNo Degree (Discipline) Eligibility

1. B.Sc.(Ag.) XII Standard in Agri./Science with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology

2. B.Sc. (Hort.) -do-

3. B.Sc.(AgC&B) -do-

4. B.Sc. (Forestry) -do-

5. B.Sc. (Seri.) -do-

6. B.H.Sc. -do-

7. B.F.Sc. XII Standard in Science with Physics, Chemistry and Biology

8. B.V.Sc. & A.H. XII Standard in Agri./ Science with Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English

9. B. Tech.(Ag. Engg.) XII Standard in Science with Physics, Chemistry and Maths

10. B.Tech. (D.Tech.) -do-

11. B.Tech. (Food Sc.) XII Standard in Science with Physics, Chemistry and Math or Physics, Chemistry, Math and Biology

2.4 Stock of agricultural graduates

As per an estimate made by Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), the stock of agri-graduates and postgraduates in the country in the year 2000 in agriculture, veterinary and allied subjects was 2,55,800 comprising of 1,66,200 graduates, 78,200 post-graduates and 11,400 doctorates (IAMR, 2001). The stock of women agricultural graduates was estimated to be 6.4 per cent of the total stock in 1995 (Rama Rao and


Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). It ranged from less than three per cent in banks and private sector to about seven per cent in academic and research sectors. Recent census of scientific manpower in ICAR and SAUs shows that the women scientists and faculty in these two systems is about 11.5 per cent during 2001-02 (Jha and Pandey, 2005). Concomitant with growth in enrolment, their number in the stock and employment is also on the rise, albeit at a slow rate.

2.5 Occupational pattern

The occupational pattern among agricultural and veterinary graduates (including post graduates) in different sectors of the economy is given in the Table-2.4. The data indicates a very low level of entrepreneurship among agricultural and veterinary graduates. Until early 1990s, public sector provided vast career opportunities in education, research and extension. While the numbers of jobs in the public sector were on the decline, with passage of time avenues for jobs in other sectors like banking, NGOs, private sector input companies, R&D labs etc. have opened up. A very low percentage of self-employed graduates indicate that the present system of education lacks market orientation.

Table-2.4: Employment pattern among agricultural graduatesEmployment sector Per cent employment

Agricultural graduates

Veterinary graduates

Public 50 65Private 20 03Research and academics 12 11Financial institutions/NGO 06 01Self-employed 02 10Inactive/migrated 10 10All 100 100

Source: IAMR, 2001

Till early 1990s, situation on employment of agricultural graduates was very comfortable. For instance, the number of agricultural graduates registered in 1995 for employment was 2.8 per cent of the total science and technology registered manpower (DST, 2000). A study conducted by the IAMR on behest of Education Division of ICAR indicated that in 1999-2000, 43 per cent of the agricultural under-graduates and 23 per cent of the post-graduates were unemployed after completion of their degree programmes (IAMR, 2001). By 2010, the cumulative gap i.e., excess supply over demand at current employment rates, will be 34,000 for agricultural graduates and 6,000 for veterinary graduates.

2.6 System weaknesses

The demand for higher education in agriculture is partly due to better job opportunities and partly due to lack of proper urban-based jobs. Most jobs needing post-graduate level


education are available in the vicinity of urban areas. Besides, internal pressures in the education system led to conversion of large number of research specializations into post -graduate degree programmes. Higher education in agriculture, as it is imparted now, has two main weaknesses. Firstly, it is not integrally related to development. Secondly, it tends to isolate graduates from the non-farm sectors, depriving them a share in the rapidly expanding service sector. Both these are systemic deficiencies and can't be corrected without strong political will.

The job opportunities for agricultural graduates originated exclusively from the public sector till early 1990s. With saturation in public sector jobs, the universities have not looked into the needs of other employment sectors. The skills and knowledge imparted by the SAUs and other institutions is, apparently, neither adequately relevant to changing job market nor is directly useful to create self-employment. The consequence of this mismatch is rising unemployment.

2.7 Vocational education

In India, vocationally trained manpower constitute only 5.35 per cent of the labor force as against 80.4 per cent in Japan, 95.9 per cent in Korea, 78.2 per cent in Canada and 75.3 per cent in Germany (ICAR, 2005b). In China, women constitute 41 per cent of the vocationally trained labor force. Experiences in several other countries reveal that women participation in vocational education and training vis-a-vis labour force increases, if the programmes are offered at places convenient to them. Vocational channel permits diversification in to production and service oriented courses. So far, ICAR is concerned with coordination and promotion of formal higher education in agriculture. However, considering its importance and reach, it initiated a proactive dialogue to integrate vocational education in to the activities of NARS, i.e. SAUs and ICAR institutions (ICAR, 2005b).

2.8 Emerging concerns

The human resource developed by agricultural education system has been instrumental in agricultural transformation in the country. However, the agricultural education system has not kept pace with the rapid technological development taking place globally. There are emerging concerns (ICAR, 2004), which need to be addressed to gain advantage from the globalized agriculture. The main concerns are:

Lack of adequate financial resources- The SAUs are charged with complete integration of research, teaching and extension, for the holistic societal development. Most of the SAUs have not been able to achieve integration of these functions due to the limited resources.

Lack of support to colleges- The opening of new campus colleges without adequate financial resources or faculty has adversely affected the quality of HRD programme.


Opening of new SAUs- the original concept was to have one agriculture university in each state, but several states have more than one SAU resulting in thin distribution of the limited resources. Some states have also opened ‘discipline’ based universities. This too is against the concept of SAUs.

Extensive inbreeding- Inbreeding as a result of state policies for recruiting staff basically belonging to the region/state and also graduated from has resulted in having less competent faculty and absence of introduction of expertise in new areas of science. Such policies have deprived the universities of the opportunities for cross hybridization of ideas required for the growth and academic improvement of the universities.

Poor infrastructure- Most of the SAUs have poor infrastructure, out-dated equipment, poor lecture halls, poor libraries and amenities required for frontier educational institutions, as funds are not available for maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure.

Faculty competence- Faculty competence is critical as they are the key resource for academic excellence. This is one area that has been neglected. Most of the institutions have no career development plans. The kind of opportunities for training of faculty, which existed during the early part of their establishment, are no more available. Unless the faculty keeps abreast with the new developments, it is hardly possible to impart the necessary skills to the students.

Neglect of the holistic societal developments- The SAUs at the time of their establishment were considered as the engine for societal development particularly in the rural areas. However SAUs are not perceived as playing this role currently.

Neglect of basic sciences- Development in the basic science is the backbone of applied sciences. The SAUs, by and large, have ignored this concept.

To overcome the above concerns, ICAR has initiated a number of reforms for the improvement of quality of education. These include:

Course curriculum revision Accreditation Capacity building for human resource development Faculty competence improvement Reducing inbreeding Access to scientific information Capacity building for skill development Development of centres of excellence

2.9 Future outlook

Educational strategies to meet the future needs for trained manpower in agriculture have to keep pace with scientific advances in the fields of biotechnology, food processing, communication and marketing. In addition to skill sets as per market demands, education


must keep pace with global standards considering environmental and sustainable aspects (Rama rao, Nanda and Sriram, 2004). To meet the requirements the suggested educational strategy is to produce two types of graduates – one type with strong basic focus aiming for higher degree in research and second type with broad based education aiming at non-academic jobs. This is possible by providing more choice on courses in the form of electives, or having colleges aiming at these skills. Some colleges may be mandated to produce graduates with more basic skills that may be a better choice for students to sustain in international competition. Government needs to establish academic institutions of excellence on similar lines of IIT, IISc to generate high quality agricultural graduates in the country.

Although human resource developed by the agricultural education system has undoubtedly been instrumental in agricultural transformation in the country, the call for new knowledge and skills is becoming more challenging than ever (Katyal, 2004). Henceforth, agricultural education requires to:

(i) response to the needs of employment, economic growth and sustenance of the natural resource quality and

(ii) measure up to handle internal (poverty) and external pressures (WTA, GATS, GMOs).

Reorientation of agricultural education and its linkage with trends of employment and needs of various sectors of economy (public, private, service, import and export) on one hand and its responsiveness to maintain environmental integration on the other will have to be the most important priority of the national agricultural education system. While futuristic quality of agricultural education will hinge upon employability, economic growth and environmental health, it will be necessary to make sector-wise projections on manpower demand and plan supply accordingly at the regional and national levels. Apparently, forging and forcing a match between the kind and number of graduates and postgraduates churned out by the agricultural education system and their employability vis-a-vis changing market demand will be a must.


Chapter-III

Research Design

3.1 Study design

Secondary data regarding enrollment of girls in various professional courses from various statistical abstracts was collected for the country as a whole and state-wise in particular. State-wise enrollment of girls in various professional courses during the year 2000-01 taken from Statistical Abstract, 2002 is given in Annexure-3.1. The enrollment data reveals that proportion of girls in SAUs varies from 49.3 per cent in Kerala to 5 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.

The SAUs having girl student enrollment less than 20 per cent were selected for detailed study and the selected list is presented in Table 3.1. They are AAU in Gujarat, NDUAT in Uttar Pradesh, HAU in Haryana, MPUAT in Rajasthan, MAU in Maharashtra, RAU in Bihar, IGKVV in Raipur and UAS(D) in Karnataka. The SAU’s viz., ANGRAU in Andhra Pradesh and OUAT in Orissa having girl’s enrollment above 20 per cent were considered for regional coverage.

Table-3.1 shows the list of the selected SAUsSNo State University

1 Uttar Pradesh NDUAT, Faizabad 2 Haryana HAU, Hissar3 Rajasthan MPUAT, Udaipur4 Chhatisgarh IGAU, Raipur5 Bihar RAU, Pusa6 Maharashtra MAU, Parbhani7 Gujarat AAU, Anand8 Karnataka UAS, Dharwad9 Andhra Pradesh ANGRAU, Hyderabad10 Orissa OUAT, Bhubaneshwar

The study was carried out by collaborating with agricultural universities in India. Resource persons were identified in different agricultural universities (at least one in each agricultural university), who in turn provided the data and also assisted in the survey work. Details and intake of students in the universities was obtained from academic institutions through the resource persons and also from secondary sources. Apart from this data, the girl students were approached through a structured questionnaire to capture information on issues such as education, family, social, and economic backgrounds, employment concerns and on some specific issues pertaining to encouraging their participation in agri-education.


3.2 Target population

The data was collected from selected ten agricultural universities in the country. Respondents were selected randomly from all disciplines offered by agricultural universities such as agricultural science, forestry, horticulture, sericulture, veterinary science, home science, agricultural engineering, fishery science and dairy science/technology.

3.3 Data collection and analysis

Data regarding discipline-wise admission of students has been sought from the SAUs with special reference to enrollment of women. Deans/Director of Instruction of selected SAUs have been approached for their comments on the SAUs trend in enrollment of students with emphasis on girls students and the initiatives taken by the SAU in the recent past and future plans in this regard.

3.3.1 Survey questionnaire

The issues relevant to the project were discussed and finalized in the project initiation meeting organised on November 10, 2004. These issues formed the basis for the questionnaires. The details are given in Annexure-3.2.

Teachers and parents play a dominant role in influencing and motivating the students’ choice of higher education. Teachers of 10+2 school students and parents from rural areas were approached with a questionnaire.

Agriculture officials in NGOs and agricultural professionals in line departments were included in the study as their job involves working in rural conditions and are capable to provide field-level perspectives in a better manner. Their opinions were solicited on education of rural girls.

In all, three different questionnaires were developed to seek information from:

I. Women Professionals (given in Annexure-3.3)II. Girl students in School (given in Annexure-3.4)

III. Girl students in Agricultural colleges (given in Annexure-3.5)

Opinions of parents of rural students were sought through discussions by the project team. The questionnaire developed for the Professionals was also used as basis for soliciting opinions of parents and farmers. School students filled the questionnaires on their own, but after a brief introduction and overview to the project. The questionnaires for students and parents were developed in English and Hindi.


3.3.2 Content analysis

Content analysis is a powerful data reduction technique. Its major benefit comes from the fact that it is a systematic, replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding. The technique of content analysis extends far beyond simple word frequency counts. Content analysis enables researchers to sift through large volumes of data with relative ease in a systematic fashion (usgao, 1996). It can be a useful technique to discover and describe the focus of individual, group, institutional, or social attention (Weber, 1990). Content analysis is also useful for examining trends and patterns in documents.What makes the technique particularly rich and meaningful is its reliance on coding and categorizing of the data. Mutually exclusive categories exist when no unit falls between two data points, and each unit is represented by only one data point. The requirement of exhaustive categories is met when the data language represents all recording units without exception. Typically, three kinds of units are employed in content analysis: sampling units, context units, and recording units. Sampling units vary depending on how the researcher makes

meaning; they could be words, sentences, or paragraphs. In the mission statements project, the sampling unit was the mission statement.

Context units neither need be independent nor separately describable. They may overlap and contain many recording units. Context units do, however, set physical limits on what kind of data you are trying to record. In the mission statements project, the context units are sentences. This was an arbitrary decision, and the context unit could just as easily have been paragraphs or entire statements of purpose.

Recording units, by contrast, are rarely defined in terms of physical boundaries. In the mission statements project, the recording unit was the idea(s).

In the present case, respondents were given an open choice so as to give them a chance to write suggestions or comments on issues not reflected in the questionnaire. Besides, they were given an option to write their responses or comments for certain questions. The responses were broadly classified and frequencies obtained. The frequency response in turn indicated the important categories for further analysis.

3.4 Personal and group discussions


Progressive farmers from villages in the vicinity of selected SAUs were approached to share their views on higher education in their society and education to girls in particular. Also the aims/goals of youth were considered to have a comprehensive picture of the existing societal patterns of employment. The details of the points discussed with deans, agri-professionals and progressive farmers are given in Annexure-3.6

3.5 Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a conference technique by which the group attempts to find solution for a specific problem by amassing all the ideas by its members. It is effectively utilized for identifying the problems, developing projects, analyzing the worth of projects, and implementing and developing solutions. Thus brainstorming technique has become an increasingly popular tool for problem solving for agricultural research managers and workers in agricultural universities and ICAR institutes.

Although some primary data was collected through the questionnaires, there was a need for a comprehensive discussion on certain fundamental issues and to formulate an agenda for the future policy, planning and implementation. To achieve this in a short span of time, this particular tool was used, which has certain advantages, such as:

Original and innovative ideas may be generated if premature criticism is not activated to inhibit spontaneity.

Cross-fertilization of ideas occurs especially when the group is composed of individuals from different fields.

3.5.1 Genesis

In the process of solving any problem, the key element is the generation of ideas and approaches. Alex Osborne (1941), an advertising executive, found that business meetings were inhibiting the creation of new ideas and proposed some new rules designed to help stimulate them. He was looking for rules, which would give people the freedom of mind and action to spark off and reveal new ideas. To “think up” was originally the term he used to describe the process he developed. This in turn came to be known as “brainstorming”. It is a tried-and-tested process which helps in creating new ideas with surprisingly little efforts and hence is defined as “a group creative process used to generate alternative ideas and suggestions in response to a stated question or problem.” It is a flexible group discussion consisting of heterogeneous members, associated with a specific problem or need, exploring the ideas or solutions by thinking in vertical (intensively) and horizontally (extensively) terms within a limit (boundary) of time without any boundaries for thinking.

3.5.2 Idea development

Brainstorming can be administered either by individuals or groups or both (Edward de Bono, 1987). Individual brainstorming tends to produce a wider range of ideas than


group brainstorming, but tends not to develop the ideas as effectively, perhaps as individuals on their own run up against problems they cannot solve.

Group brainstorming develops ideas more deeply and effectively. As and when difficulties are faced in the development of an idea by one person, another person’s creativity and experience can be used to break them down. Group brainstorming tends to produce fewer ideas (as time is spent developing ideas in depth) and can lead to the suppression of creative but quiet people by loud and uncreative ones. Thus, it is called as “Unrestricted Group Discussion”. Very often, individual and group brainstorming are merged mostly by defining a problem, and then letting team members initially come up with a wide range of possibly shallow solutions. These solutions could then be enhanced and developed by group brainstorming.

During the group process, a verbal statement can be prepared by activating a range of senses stimulating interaction. The four-step methodology follows as:

Every participant writes down on a flash card one idea or a statement (“doing”). The facilitator reads each statement/idea on the cards (“hearing”). Every card is put on a pin board for everyone to see (“seeing”). The facilitator invites each participant to explain the statement / idea (“speaking”).

While doing so, the facilitator needs to apply and enforce the following guidelines.

3.5.3 Guidelines

Some rules to be followed during the session are: Freewheel: All types of ideas on the topic are allowed. Hierarchy differences among

the delegates are not allowed. There is no chairman for the session but only a facilitator.

Suspend judgment: No criticism of ideas or value judgments on any idea is allowed at the time of idea generation.

Quantity: Generate a large number of ideas. Quality is put aside at the time of idea generation stage. All the cards are retained on the pin boards and subsequently logged into a database.

Cross-fertilize: Combine, synthesize and build on each other’s ideas. Encourage: Wild and exaggerated ideas are welcome without fear of criticism.

3.5.4 Themes

Brainstorming sessions were conducted at selected SAUs to solicit opinions of the university faculty, agricultural professionals from state departments and coordinators from NGOs. The brainstorming workshops were conducted with an intension to get detail insight of the rural girls enrollment in rural areas with special emphasis on agricultural education.

The sessions were conducted on the following three themes: Societal factors influencing rural girls in higher education


Role of women in transfer of technology Strategies to encourage rural girl students in agricultural education

Details of the process employed and the outcome of the brainstorming exercises carried out for the project are presented in the chapter V.


Chapter-IV

Issues of Women in Agricultural Education

4.1 Enrollment of girls in professional courses

Enrolment of girls in various professional courses from 1990-91 to 2001-02 is given in Annexure-4.1, and the data for year-wise enrollment and growth rates are presented in Table-4.1.

Table-4.1: Enrollment of girls in professional courses during 1990-2001

CourseGirls’ enrollment (%) Growth in enrollment during

1990-2001 1990-91 2000-01 Girls Total

Engineering 10.5 21.5 6.5 3.4Medicine 34.8 44.0 3.3 2.2Agriculture 9.0 18.2 3.9 0.7

Source: Statistical abstract, India, 2002

During the decade 1990-2001, the enrolment in the field of agriculture and allied subjects increased from 9 to 18.2 per cent as against 10.5 to 21.5 per cent in engineering and 34 to 44 per cent in medicine. Although the enrollment of girls in agriculture and allied subjects almost doubled in a decade, their absolute number is far less in comparison to girls in other professional courses like medicine and engineering. Medicine has been the most favourite choice for girl students seeking professional education as they constituted 34.8 per cent of the total enrolment in 1990-91 as against 10.5 per cent in engineering and 9 per cent in agriculture.

The growth rate of enrolment (boys and girls) in agricultural sciences was 0.7 per cent as against 2.2 per cent in medicine and 3.4 per cent in engineering during the decade 1990-2001. On the other hand, the growth rate of girls’ enrollment in engineering was 6.5 per cent, followed by 3.9 per cent in agriculture at 3.3 per cent in medicine. Though engineering and agriculture are considered as male oriented professions, higher growth rates registered for girls enrollment shows that these courses are also being sought by girls, shedding the traditional notions on gender specificity of education.

The rapid growth rate in engineering is noteworthy. The expansion in engineering education took place mostly in private sector and the students have to pay a higher fee as compared to subsidized education in agriculture. Thus the issue is certainly not the cost – it is more social and employment related.

4.2 Growth of women in agriculture education

Enrollment of girls in agricultural education during 1990-91 to 2001-02 is presented in Fig 4.1. The enrollment in the field of agriculture and allied subjects gradually increased


from 9.0 per cent in 1990-91 to 18.2 per cent by the year 2000-01. In the recent years, the intake of girls in agriculture is increasing and it reached 25 per cent in 2004-05.

Fig-4.1: Enrollment of girls in agricultural education

The enrollment data also reveals that the proportion of girls in SAUs varies from a high 49.3 per cent in Kerala to a low five per cent in Uttar Pradesh. In general, girls’ representation is adequate in the south, east and north-east states like Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland and northern states like Punjab, Uttaranchal, HP and Bihar.

4.3 Degree-wise growth of women in agriculture education

Degree-wise intake of students in agricultural universities in the country during 1991-92 and 2004-05 is given in Annexure-4.2, and the per cent women students is given in Table 4.2. Although the annual intake showed a small improvement from 22.1 per cent in 1991-92 to 26.9 percent in 2004-05, the degree-wise changes are note worthy.

The intake of women students over a decade is practically same in UG courses, i.e. 24.8 per cent in 1991-92 and 26.4 per cent in 2004-05, but it increased in PG and PHD courses. In case of PG courses, the intake of girls increased from 18.3 per cent in 1991-92 to 29.0 percent in 2004-05 and in case of PhD the corresponding change is from 18.1 per cent to 24.3 per cent. The increase of women students at higher levels is partly due to the urge for soft jobs and partly due to their backgrounds. In the merit-based admissions, the proportion of urban students is on rise in all professional courses, agricultural education being no exception. More than 80 per cent girls joining UG courses in SAUs


are from urban background. The expansion at PG/PhD levels are believed to be due to the women students urge to have urban jobs and preferably in research and academic sectors. As higher education is one of the means to fulfill this, more and more women students are joining PG/PhD courses.

Table-4.2: Degree-wise growth of girl students in agriculture education

* The women students’ percentage in 1991-92 is calculated based on the available gender data on agricultural education from Ramarao and Muralidhar, 1994.

The data presented in Table-4.2 pertains to colleges under state agricultural universities, deemed universities and central universities. Besides, there are about 50 colleges in the general universities providing agriculture education, admitting about 3500 students in UG courses. These colleges do not have adequate infrastructure and girl students’ enrollment is low. As bulk of these colleges are in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where women students enrollment in agriculture education is the lowest in the country, i.e. five per cent during 2000-01 (Statistical Abstract India, 2002). Unlike SAUs and other elite institutions in the country, the intake of students in these colleges is predominantly from rural backgrounds. Improving infrastructure in these colleges and providing development grants as suggested by various experts committees constituted by ICAR (ICAR, 2001) would greatly enhance the number of women students from rural areas.

4.4 Discipline-wise growth of women in agricultural education

The data on women students admitted in various undergraduate courses in the SAUs during 1991-92 and 2003-04 is given in Annexure-4.3 and the course-wise summary is presented in Table-4.3.

Table-4.3: Discipline-wise growth of girl students in agricultural education SNo Undergraduate

discipline1991-92 2003-04

W T W% W T W%1 B.Sc. (Agriculture) 446 2173 20.5 869 3152 27.62 B.V.Sc. 148 837 17.7 265 1021 26.03 B.Tech. 32 376 8.5 118 369 32.0

W= Women and T= Total

Amongst the three major disciplines, the increase in women students is modest in B.Sc (Agriculture), i.e. from 20.5 per cent in 1991-92 to 27.6 per cent in 2003-04. In the case of Veterinary sciences, it increased from 17.7 per cent to 26 per cent during the same period. However, the intake showed remarkable increase in case of engineering degree

Strategies to encourage rural female students in the agriculture educationagricultural education

SNo Degree 1991-92 2004-05Total Women (%)* Total Women (%)

1 UG 7689 24.8 17496 26.42 PG 4131 18.3 6789 29.03 PhD 1467 18.1 1710 24.3

All 13287 22.1 25995 26.9

22

from 8.5 per cent in 1991-92 to 32 percent in 2003-04. The growth of students in agricultural engineering is in line with growth observed in general engineering disciplines offered out side the SAU system. As agriculture engineering has good interface with the industry, there is a growing demand for this course and women students are increasingly getting motivated to join them in spite of hardships in the profession. Women in engineering sector faced difficulty and discrimination both in education and employment (Parikh and Sukhatme, 1992). But, women graduates in agriculture are much better on this count (Ramarao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). As agriculture is more gender friendly than conventional engineering disciplines, women enrollment would increase if there is perceptible improvement in employability and entrepreneurship.

4.5 Mode of selection

All bachelor degree courses in SAUs are of four years' duration. The minimum eligibility for admission is a pass in the 10+2 or equivalent with science or agriculture. Many universities fix a minimum aggregate of 50 per cent marks to be obtained in the qualifying examination. Details on mode of selection, eligibility criteria and course contents followed in SAUs is given in ICAR publication (ICAR, 2002).

Admission to the state agricultural universities may be based on merit or performance in an entrance examination as per the rules prevailing in the state. Indian Council of Agricultural Research conducts an All India Entrance Examination for admission to undergraduate courses in agriculture and allied sciences (excluding veterinary science, which is conducted by Veterinary Council of India), for filling up 15 per cent of the total number of seats in State Agricultural Universities, Central Agricultural University, Imphal, and cent per cent of the seats in National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.

Some SAUs provide reservation (up to 5%) to students from farm families under the farmers quota. Some states provide reservation to girls up to 33 per cent in all categories and there is pressure on remaining states also to implement this, as almost all major political parties advocate the same. However, in case of the merit based selection, it will be of little use to rural students as they find it difficult to compete with urban students either in the qualifying examination or in the entrance examinations. On the whole, the proportion of rural students of both men and women is on a decline.

4.6 Polytechnic education

Polytechnic education produces para-professionals, and they are in demand for both public and private sectors. The growth in polytechnic education during 1991-92 and 2004-05 is given in Table-4.4. Polytechnic agricultural schools have rapidly expanded in the recent years. During 1991-92, there were only 31 such schools in the agricultural education system, while their number is in excess of 200 in 2004-05, bulk in Maharastra state with 87.5 per cent of the intake of diploma students. The data reveals a steep increase in intake of girls in to diploma courses from 0.4 per cent in 1991-92 to 19.3 per cent in 2004-05.


In view of its need, there is expansion in number of polytechnics under SAUs. In Maharashtra state, the ratio of diploma to undergraduate students in agriculture and allied sectors is 3:1. Following the Maharashtra example, the other SAUs in the country can expand diploma education and train about 50,000 students a year.

Table-4.4: Growth of girl students in agriculture polytechnic educationYear Diploma

Total Women (%)1991-92 1535 0.4*2004-05 13814 19.3

* The women students’ percentage in 1991-92 is calculated from the available gender data on agricultural education from Ramarao and Muralidhar, 1994.

The students in this course are largely from rural background and come from low and middle-income groups. Need for such para-professionals to support agricultural professional services as in medicine and engineering is felt and recommended for expansion of lower level of education (Rama Rao et al, 1997 and ICAR, 2003). These lower level professionals are crucial not only in enabling the users in knowledge application but are also helpful in giving feedback on relevance and applicability of existing knowledge and in developing new knowledge. Such professionals will be critical if agri-business and agri-clinic scheme of self-employment has to become success. However, the infrastructure facilities at these schools are far below in comparison to that available in agricultural colleges and up-gradation of infrastructure facilities in these schools haven’t yet received sufficient attention. As most students joining these courses come from rural areas, adequate infrastructure and security coupled with wider publicity in the community would encourage rural girls to join these courses.

4.7 Vocational agricultural education

About 1500 vocational institutions in the country offer certificate courses in vocational education in the areas of agriculture, business, commerce, health and para-medical, home science, humanities and engineering trades. There are about 40 courses in agriculture but their spread is thin in vast country like India. Considering this, National Meeting on Vocational Education and Training for Sustainable Rural Livelihood recommended establishment of vocational centres with residential facilities at block level to motivate girls and women from rural areas and the higher education colleges to make provision for the vocational courses so as to provide a seamless link with the vocational courses at the higher secondary stage (PSSCIVE, 2005).

In view of rising unemployment for agricultural graduates, one important strategy that emanated from the national debate on employment-oriented agriculture is to initiate and strengthen vocational courses. Some vocational agricultural courses offered by colleges in the general universities are well received by students and have become popular due to their employable skill part. There is a tremendous pressure and demand on SAUs to


initiate such courses. Expansion of vocational courses is as much an issue as is the spread of degree level agricultural education (Katyal, 2004; ICAR, 2005b and Sulaiman, 1996).

4.8 Agriculture education at school

A student exercises a choice to select academic or vocational stream at the +2 stage. The university grants commission (UGC) considers vocational education as crucial at the higher secondary stage and envisaged covering about 25 per cent of the students by 2000 (http://www.ugc.ac.in/policy/education.html). About four lakh students are enrolled in about 150 vocational courses running in about 6700 higher secondary schools (http://psscive.nic.in and ICAR, 2005b). This is insignificant considering the size, i.e., there are more than 1,10,000 secondary and higher secondary schools with about 28 million students. Agriculture is offered at school level in few states like Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. However, vocational students are often at a disadvantage in pursuing further academic study in higher education. The teachers of professional institutions expressed that they are not happy with the situation that the schools lacked good teachers that affected the education in basic science, which is foundation for higher professional education. A debate on this just started and agricultural education system is yet to give a serious thought on this (ICAR, 2005b).

Historically, vocational courses tilt towards applied science whereas serious academics look towards pure science. Many students in rural areas had difficulty in finding relevance in pure science courses. There are large numbers of drop-outs at various stages of school where students have no practical or additional knowledge useful to society. On the other hand, vocational courses are an excellent medium to learn science (Conroy and Walker, 2000). The environmental education must be part of all education and it necessitates multidisciplinary teaching with direct experience in the real field situations (Katyal, 2004). School is the best place to sensitize the young minds on issues such as environment and health.

Thomson and Russell (1989) concluded from their study in Illinois, that high school students who have taken course work in agriculture expressed more favourable perceptions about agricultural careers, and are more inclined to consider agriculture as an area of study than those students without such exposure.

The experience of introducing agriculture at school is not a very happy one. There is need to focus on inclusion of agriculture and natural science to develop and promote a well rounded program. This will allow students from these schools to compete with students from basic science stream and can function effectively for their own well-being as well as for the betterment of society. Several studies by agricultural educators address the ways in which agriculture education can act as a beneficial vehicle for science education (Edwards et al, 2002). There are impressive list of studies substantiating the fact that teaching agricultural education at school is in line with best practices related to student achievement in science (Anissa Wilhelm, 2002).


Thus, it is not desirable to embed science in vocational programmes, but use locally relevant vocational contexts in teaching science. Agricultural Universities need to develop teacher trainers in academic staff colleges to teach basic science through locally relevant applications. Agriculture teachers in US high schools begin monitoring students at elementary level and follow up by marketing their programme to incoming students and parents. It is imperative that agricultural teachers interact with community (Jason Davis and Tim Warren, 2003). The state agricultural universities, the sole agent for manpower development in agriculture in India, neither own nor acknowledge their role and take responsibility for this. This is a sad situation. The country inherited land grant model from USA but not its foundation, i.e. the agricultural education at school.

The urban graduates are distancing from the villages and the rural graduates can’t compete and enter the system. This is manifestation of lack of the foundation linking rural youth in sizeable numbers in agricultural universities. Regardless of the missions, visions, or goals set, the system ultimately must show progress and impact toward those ends. The system must show that it is not only contributing to student learning in pure academic terms, but also to student responsiveness for meeting needs at variety of levels. Policy studies on agricultural education are confined to higher education at university (NAAS, 1999 and 2004; ICAR, 2003). Besides it is never an issue for national debate. Since this is not happening, there is need to look afresh at the agriculture education at school and take responsibility to strengthen it. Therefore, it is critical that agricultural educators continue to examine, refine, and improve educational process in its entirety so as to prepare to enter the 21st century.

4.9 Gender inequalities

Women constitute about 6.3 per cent of the total employed agricultural graduates in the country (Rama Rao and Sandhya Shenoy, 1998). Although the number of women enrollment in agricultural universities has increased from four per cent in 1960s to about 25 per cent in 2005, the hostel facilities are inadequate. In most agricultural colleges, the infrastructure facilities for boys and girls are not the same and the gap widens when one looks at polytechnic schools in towns and rural locations.

Gender based inequality is common and problems of women are not dealt in systematic and organized way by the institutions. Education of women at tertiary level is considered as an instrument of liberation, not only of women but also of Indian society as a whole (Moonis Raja, 1991). Benefits of most social programmes do not reach women. To correct this situation, social planners have recommended employment of more women in development sectors associated with rural programmes (Vina Mazumdar, 1989 and Indu Grover, 2005). Increasing proportion of women in agricultural education demands alternative gender-sensitive planning in agricultural education, research and extension. This issue is on national debate (Swaminathan, 1998 and NAAS, 2004).


Chapter-V

Survey Results and Discussion

The initiation of the study began with collection and collation of secondary data on enrollment of girls in various professional courses for the country as a whole and state-wise in particular.

5.1 Survey

The survey aimed to get perceptions of professionals and senior officials familiar with rural areas and agriculture system as well as the agricultural graduates and school students of present generation with varied aims and aspirations. The project team visited MPUAT, AAU, CCSHAU, OUAT, IGKVV, ANGRAU, NDUAT, UAS(D), RAU(P), and MAU and collected data from professionals, agricultural students and school students through questionnaires. Professionals included officials from SAUs, NGOs, state departments and junior colleges. Views expressed by respondents in terms of career prospects in agricultural education, opportunities, beliefs, risks and scope for changes are summarized in the following discussion.

5.1.1 Response

The details of the category-wise response to the survey are shown in Table 5.1. In all 712 filled-in questionnaires were received out of total questionnaires of 1200 giving rise to a response rate of 59.3 per cent.

Table-5.1: Category-wise response to the survey

Response detailsRespondents category

School students

Agricultural students

Professionals Total

Questionnaires sent 400 400 400 1200No of responses 185 262 265 712Response rate 46.2 65.5 66.2 59.3Per cent response 26.0 36.8 37.2 100

Category-wise the response rate was 46.2 per cent from school students and about 66 per cent each from agricultural students and professionals. The response rate was high due to active association and involvement of SAUs in the survey work.

Out of total 712 respondents, 185 (26%) are school students, 262 (36.8%) are agricultural students and the remaining 265 (37.2%) are professionals either associated with agricultural institutions or having knowledge and understanding of rural and agricultural system. Amongst the professionals 78.2 per cent are men and 21.8 per cent are women.

5.1.2 State-wise distribution


The details of the state-wise distribution of the survey respondents are shown in Table-5.2. The respondents’ number varied from 45 to 97 among the states. As indicated in the methodology, the survey data was collected in association with respective SAUs aiming to have a maximum of 20 respondents in each category from each SAU. But for this, no special efforts were made by design on sample size and the final response represents the country fairly well.

Table-5.2: State-wise distribution of the survey respondents

SNo StateRespondents category

School students

Agricultural students

Professionals Total

1. Andhra Pradesh 15 25 19 592. Bihar 23 21 23 673. Chattisgarh 19 24 38 814. Gujarat 0 47 20 675. Haryana 13 28 26 676. Karnataka 31 28 35 947. Maharashtra 44 29 24 978. Orissa 8 23 32 639. Rajasthan 0 17 28 45

10. Uttar Pradesh 32 20 20 72Total 185 262 265 712

5.1.3 Academic qualifications

The highest qualification of the respondents was categorized and presented in Table-5.3.

Table-5.3: Highest degree of the respondents

Highest degreeSchool

studentsAgricultural

students Professionals Sub-total

N % N % N % N %High school 185 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 185 26.0Intermediate 0 0.0 234 89.3 3 1.1 237 33.3Undergraduation 0 0.0 25 9.5 12 4.5 37 5.2Postgraduation 0 0.0 3 1.1 79 29.8 82 11.5Doctorate 0 0.0 0 0.0 171 64.5 171 24.0Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

In the school students category, all the 185 students passed Class X and pursuing 10+2 (intermediate final year) at the time of the survey. The agricultural students sample comprised 89.3 per cent intermediate passed students (i.e. current under graduation students) followed by 9.5 per cent students with undergraduate degree (i.e. currently post graduate students) and 1.1 per cent students with postgraduate degree (i.e. Ph.D


students). In the professionals category, 64.5 per cent are PhD holders followed by 29.8 per cent post-graduates, 4.5 per cent under-graduates and 1.1 per cent intermediate holders. Professional respondents are more qualified as bulk of these respondents are associated with academic, research and technology transfer sectors.

5.2 Student respondents profiles

Agricultural education being in professional category, is well competed and is on demand. Some school managements take proactive initiatives to get their students into professional institutions. It is common knowledge that more urban students get into professional courses due to better equalities of education in urban schools. As jobs/opportunities in agriculture profession are rural based it would be interesting to know the composition of rural and urban students in agricultural education and the expectations of school students on agricultural education vis-à-vis other professional courses.

5.2.1 Type of school

The details on type of school managed by central government, or by state government, or by missionaries or private, in which student respondents pursued their education, are given in Table-5.4.

Table-5.4: Type of school of student respondents

School management

School studentsClass X

Agricultural studentsClass X Class XII

N % N % N %Central 5 2.7 30 11.5 19 7.3State 84 45.4 104 39.7 121 46.2Private 81 43.8 85 32.4 90 34.4Missionaries 6 3.2 15 5.7 11 4.2No Response 9 4.9 28 10.7 21 8.0Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 262 100.0

Undoubtedly, majority of the students are from the state and private schools. At class X level, 45.4 per cent school students and 39.7 per cent agricultural students had their education from state run schools. This was followed by private schools wherein 43.8 per cent school students and 32.4 per cent agricultural students had their education. The rest of them belonged to central and missionaries schools. The relative proportion of the agricultural students from state and private schools, who joined agricultural courses, is higher in the class XII as compared to that in class X. Majority of the agricultural students at class XII had their education from state-run schools (46.2 %) and private schools (34.4 %) while students coming from central schools and missionaries accounted for 7.3 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. On the other hand, students from missionaries and central schools declined in agricultural education. The sample had no


students from public schools. In other words, students from elite schools viz., central, public and missionary schools didn’t seem to prefer agriculture education.

5.2.2 Medium of instruction

The medium of instruction at school level by school students and agricultural students is depicted in Table-5.5. At class X level, 66.4 per cent school students and 57.2 per cent agricultural students had their education in vernacular languages and the rest in English medium schools. At school level there are more students in vernacular medium, where as their proportion declined in professional education. About 34 percent of the agricultural students had English as a medium of instruction till class X, which rose to 55.4 per cent when the students entered class XII, i.e. good number of students shifted from Vernacular medium to English medium. This shows that the opportunities for higher education are better when the medium of instruction is in English.

Table-5.5: Medium of instruction at school

Medium of instruction

School studentsClass X

Agricultural studentsClass X Class XII

N % N % N %English 46 25.0 89 34.0 145 55.4Indian language 123 66.4 150 57.2 97 37.0No Response 16 8.6 23 8.8 20 7.6Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 262 100.0

5.2.3 School location

Medium of instruction, type of management and location of the school have bearing on the students learning vis-à-vis their career choice. The data on location of the school of the student’s respondents was categorized into rural, town and city, and presented in Table-5.6.

Table-5.6: Location of student respondents school

School locationSchool students

Class XAgricultural students

Class X Class XIIN % N % N %

Rural 71 38.4 50 19.1 23 8.8Town 98 53.0 152 58.0 176 67.2City 7 3.8 34 13.0 43 16.4No Response 9 4.9 26 9.9 20 7.6Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 262 100.0

About 53 per cent of the school respondents had their education in towns followed by 38.4 per cent in villages and 3.8 per cent in cities. Among the agricultural students, at class X level, 58 per cent were educated in towns followed by 19.1 per cent from rural


villages and 13 per cent from cities. The proportion of rural students in class X declined from 38.4 per cent in general schools (students category) to 19.1 per cent in the agricultural students group. Similarly, the proportion of class X students from city schools sharply increased from 3.8 per cent in general category to 13 per cent in agri-students category. The proportion of students from town schools marginally increased from 53 per cent in general category to 58 per cent in agricultural students category (58%). A close look at the agricultural students data for class X and class XII revealed further decline in proportion of students from rural schools. In other words, the rural students migrated to towns and cities for higher education so as to enable them to compete to get admission to professional courses.

5.2.4 Parents income

The Table-5.7 presents the annual income of the parents of the school students and agricultural students. The students from both the categories hail from middle (57.9%) and low (27.1%) income groups. About 10.5 per cent hail from the high income group, i.e. annual income above Rs.1,50,000/-. The proportion of school students from low income families declined from 34.1 per cent in school students to 22.1 per cent in agricultural students. In other two income groups, middle and high income groups the proportion increased in agricultural students category. It can be inferred that the students from higher income families have better access to higher professional education including agricultural education. It is apparent that professional agriculture education is more preferred by students from urban English medium schools and bulk of the students come from middle income families.

Table-5.7: Annual income of students parents

Parents incomeSchool


students Sub-total

N % N % N %Low (Less than Rs 50,000/-) 63 34.1 58 22.1 121 27.1Middle (Rs 50,000-1,50,000) 96 51.9 163 62.2 259 57.9High (Above Rs 1,50,000) 15 8.1 32 12.2 47 10.5No Response 11 5.9 9 3.4 20 4.5Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 447 100.0

James Rourke et al (2005) opined that in Canada, medical students hail from families with high incomes and the cost of medical education is perceived to be a real barrier for rural students than for urban students. They also observed that the rural students face linguistic and cultural barriers in addition to the geographical barriers like distance to cope up with higher education and most of the rural high schools are deprived of the breadth and depth of academic programmes and enrichment activities that are accessible to urban high school students.

From the above discussion it is apparent that professional education is more accessible to


urban students having better facilities at school. Unlike problems with location of school from residence to rural students, distance to school is not a constraint to urban students.

5.3 Choice of profession

In rapidly changing techno-society, it is important to understand the factors influencing the choice of education by students and the role of the family, school and society at large. It is common practice that professionals encourage their wards to join professional education – more so in their own profession. This is often the case in professions like medicine and law, but not known in case of agriculture. To understand this, opinions were sought on choice of profession, motivating persons and preferred courses.

5.3.1 Motivation to join professional courses

The response on persons who influenced the respondents in the choice of higher education is given in Table-5.8. The responses indicate that parents followed by teachers and self are the most influential sources in terms of choice of the respondents for higher education. 65 per cent of the respondents cited their parents as the most influential source in terms of selection of the subject choice for their higher education and this is seen in all the three respondents categories, i.e. 65.9 per cent in school students, 72.5 per cent in agri-students and 57 per cent in professionals. Though teachers ranked second most important, they are ranked relatively higher by professionals (23 %) but not the young school students (5.4%) who indicated that they themselves (22.2 %) make the decision for the selection of course after higher secondary level. This shows changes in the society outlook towards education and the decision making process over time. Youth are more informed now than in the past and this empowers them to take rationale decision on their career choice. On the other hand, high proportion of agricultural students (72.5%) having influenced by parents indicate that bulk of these students come from traditional families where parents advice is valued high.

Table-5.8: Persons who influenced in the choice of higher education

ResponseSchool students Agricultural


N % N % N % N %Teachers 10 5.4 25 9.5 61 23.0 96 13.5Parents 122 65.9 190 72.5 152 57.0 463 65.0Friends 6 3.2 14 5.3 32 12.1 52 7.3Relatives 5 2.7 15 5.7 1 0.4 21 2.9Self 41 22.2 12 4.6 18 6.8 71 10.0No response 1 0.5 6 2.3 1 0.4 9 1.3Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

Herr (1987) reported that secondary students in US seek advice from parents followed by teachers, friends and counselors before enrolling in agricultural courses. In spite of the cultural differences and access to information on higher education at schools, the


preference to opt for agriculture courses from different social systems indicate the role of families that have respect to tradition in influencing choices of education.

5.3.2 Motivating others to select career in agriculture

There are mixed reactions on agriculture as a professional subject, unlike professions such as medicine, engineering and law. To understand this, the respondents views whether they encourage others (friends or relatives) to take up agriculture as a career option are collected and given in Table 5.9. Nearly half the respondents stated that they would encourage others to take up agriculture as a career option and one-third indicated their approval subjected to the condition that it is best for their merit. Only 5.8 per cent indicated that they would not recommend it.

More than half of the agricultural students (55.3%) and professionals (50.2%) stated that they would certainly encourage others to take up agriculture as career option. On the other hand, nearly 40 per cent professionals and 32.1 per cent agricultural students opined that they would encourage the students for agricultural education only if it is best for their merit. The non-respondents are high in school students (30.2 %) and their responses on encouraging others are not as forceful as seen with the other two groups. The students being young, it is perhaps too early for them to guide others and a good number of them may not have decided on their own choice. However, this issue is clarified while noting the preferred career choices.

Table-5.9: Response on recommending agriculture as a career option to others



N % N % N % NCertainly, yes 71 38.4 145 55.3 133 50.2 349 49.0Provided if it is best as per their merit

46 24.9 84 32.1 106 40.0 236 33.1

Definitely, not 12 6.5 17 6.5 12 4.5 41 5.8No Response 56 30.2 16 6.1 14 5.3 86 12.1Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

5.3.3 Preferred courses

As there are multitudes of career choices, the three categories of respondents were asked to indicate their choice of disciplines for college education. The weighted average responses on the preferred disciplines/courses are given in Table 5.10. The pooled data of the three groups indicate the order of preference as follows: Medicine followed by engineering, dental, agriculture, science, humanities, physiotherapy and pharmacy. The ranks are rather deceptive. The response is strong for medicine with w=1.85 then it sharply rose to 3.15 for engineering and with small increase for others reaching 4.67 for


pharmacy. In terms of intensity, preference to agriculture is only marginally higher to that of science.

The preference to medicine is unanimous by the three categories, with respective weights of 1.56, 1.76 and 2.18 adjudged by school students, professionals and agricultural students respectively. Engineering was the next preferred course by school students (w=2.39) and professionals (w=3.09), but not by agricultural students who ranked it sixth (w=4.09) implying it was not their favored choice. The preference of school students to agriculture (6th rank with w=3.69) is just reverse to that of agricultural students. The school students placed preference to agriculture education after humanities and science. But for this small variation with respect to preferences to agriculture and engineering, the three categories of respondents broadly agree on their preferences to other disciplines.

Table-5.10: Weighted average response on preferred courses

Preferred courses

School students Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total

W Rank W Rank W Rank W Rank

Agriculture 3.69 6 3.02 2 3.93 4 3.57 4Medicine 1.56 1 2.18 1 1.76 1 1.85 1Dental 3.29 4 3.35 3 3.10 3 3.22 3Physiotherapy 4.21 7 4.62 7 4.88 7 4.66 7Pharmacy 4.51 8 4.66 8 4.75 6 4.67 8Science 3.59 5 3.92 4 4.34 5 4.02 5Engineering 2.39 2 4.30 6 3.09 2 3.15 2Humanities 3.26 3 4.24 5 5.21 8 4.20 6W= Weighted average on scale 1-8

Krueger and Riesenberg (1991) found that secondary school students in Nebraska, US perceived agriculture career to be boring, hard work with low pay and career involving more muscle work than brain. Indian school students too expressed feelings on the similar lines. In India, though agriculture course is relatively cheaper, it did not rank high on school students preference. It is possible that most students of agriculture are there by virtue of their relative merit at the qualifying examination. But once they joined, they began to like the course as is evident from the higher preference given by agricultural students.

5.3.4 Reasons for choosing professional education

Along with the preferred courses, the respondents also indicated reasons for their preferences. Two important reasons for their preference to professional education are summarized in Table 5.11. The responses by the three categories of respondents are broadly same. The three most important reasons for choice in professional education are obtaining a professional degree, better employment opportunities and best option based on the merit at the qualifying examination.


To obtain a professional degree had been the most important reason indicated by 35.2 per cent respondents. This is followed by the availability of employment opportunities by 34.9 per cent and the best option based on their merit at the qualifying examination by 18.5 per cent respondents. Surprisingly, only 3.3 per cent respondents cited availability of scholarship and 1.8 per cent availability of hostel as a reason for preferences for professional education. Other reasons accounted for 3.4 per cent, which included their interest in the subject, to serve the society and cost of education.

Table-5.11: Reasons for opting professional education including agricultural education



N % N % N % N %Professional degree 124 33.5 197 37.6 180 34.0 501 35.2Employment 120 32.4 184 35.1 193 36.4 497 34.9Best with their merit 70 18.9 98 18.7 95 17.9 263 18.5Scholarship 11 3.0 11 2.1 25 4.7 47 3.3Hostel 6 1.6 6 1.1 13 2.5 25 1.8Others 22 6.0 18 3.5 9 1.7 49 3.4No response 17 4.6 10 1.9 15 2.8 42 2.9 Total 370 100.0 524 100.0 530 100.0 1424 100.0

Findlay (1982) reported that an ambition to pursue a professional career was the primary reason for US students to join agricultural courses. This was followed by their farm background and personal interest. Jess Thompson and Earl Russell (1993) observed that high school students who have taken coursework in agriculture expressed more favorable beliefs about career in agriculture than those students without such exposure. Thus, agriculture as a subject at school will improve enrollment in agricultural education.

Although Indian school students also opted agriculture as a professional course, students and teachers doubted on the professional character of agricultural education. To encourage enrollment, there is a need to look into professional character of agricultural education and bring awareness on this in society at large. This would not come from mere campaign, but has to be reflected by the graduates approach to profession in the society. This needs serious introspection and debate.

5.4 Counseling and awareness

During the pilot survey both the school students and parents of students from rural areas expressed lack of awareness about agricultural education. Some farmers, who happen to know about agriculture department, also expressed such ignorance. The respondents were enquired about stage of awareness, counseling in school about higher education, encouragement from teachers on higher education and cost of education.

5.4.1 Stage of awareness


To explore awareness of the respondents about professional agricultural education, they were enquired about the stage when they were aware and their responses are given in Table-5.12. Majority of the respondents (45.4%) were aware about agricultural education at junior college, followed by 32.9 per cent at school and 15.2 per cent at degree college, i.e. after joining degree programme. Lack of knowledge about agricultural education is cited by 4.6 per cent of the respondents.

Nearly half of the respondents from agricultural students and agricultural professionals categories indicated awareness about agricultural education at junior college, unlike the school students (55.1%) who indicated their awareness at school itself. This shows that the present students at school get to know about agricultural education much earlier than their seniors in the past. This perhaps shows the changing concern of students to plan their future education well in advance, i.e. at school itself. However, 17.8 per cent students indicated lack of awareness either at school or at junior college. Never the less, this situation calls for making the school students aware of agricultural education as a professional career choice.

Table-5.12: Response on stage at which respondents were aware of agricultural education



N % N % N % N %School 102 55.1 56 21.4 76 28.7 234 32.9Junior college 45 24.3 142 54.2 136 51.3 323 45.4Degree college 0 0.0 61 23.3 47 17.7 108 15.2Never 33 17.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 33 4.6No response 5 2.7 3 1.1 6 2.3 14 2.0Total 185 100 262 100 265 100 712 100

5.4.2 Counseling in school about higher education

In informal discussions during pilot survey, the schoolteachers indicated availability of counseling at school; where as good number of students expressed ignorance. Few students who confirmed about counseling indicated that it pertains to popular subjects like medicine, engineering and general science courses but rarely on other professional courses like agriculture.

The perception of respondents regarding counseling on higher education opportunities at school is given in Table 5.13. The counseling provided at school level regarding higher education was affirmative as 63.5 per cent acknowledged its availability; About 66 per cent agricultural students, 64 per cent professionals and 59.5 per cent school students confirmed that counseling for higher education is available at school. A matter of concern is that nearly one-third of the sample indicated negative response about counseling, i.e. it is not dealt in school.


Table-5.13: Counseling in school about higher education

Response

School students Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total

N % N % N % N %Available 110 59.5 172 65.6 170 64.2 452 63.5Not available 73 39.5 87 33.2 94 35.5 254 35.7No response 2 1.1 3 1.1 1 0.4 6 0.8Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

5.4.3 Counseling in school about agricultural education

The respondent’s reaction on the issue of counseling in school specifically about agricultural education is presented in Table 5.14. To the statement on counseling on agricultural education, 46.9 per cent of the sample indicated that they were aware that counseling included agricultural education also. But 26.3 per cent indicated its absence and an equal number gave no response. The overall decline in positive confirmation to counseling from professional subjects to agricultural subject is striking.

Table-5.14: Counseling in school about agricultural education

ResponseSchool


studentsProfessionals Sub-total

N % N % N % N %Available 45 24.3 146 55.7 143 54.0 334 46.9Not available 77 41.6 64 24.4 46 17.4 187 26.3No response 63 34.1 52 19.8 76 28.7 191 26.8Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

Within the three respondent groups, agricultural students (55.7%) and professionals (54.0%) acknowledged that the guidance about possible prospects of agricultural education is available at school. Professionals and agricultural students mentioned that its availability was known to them through their teachers/wards. Within these two groups, the respondents who confirmed about availability of counseling of professional education did not confirm for agricultural education. In case of school students, only 24.3 per cent confirmed availability of counseling to agricultural education. However, 41.6 per cent school students indicated non-awareness of counseling to agricultural education.

About 191 respondents (26.8%) have not responded to this. Since, non-respondents were less than one per cent for the query on counseling for professional education, the non-respondents are either not firm about this or it was not available to the same degree as for other professional courses. When contacted in person, the students and teachers at many rural schools mentioned that they were not aware about agricultural education and hence counseling is by and large confined to other professional courses and to general degree courses which are in the reach of most of the students in view of their merit, financial position and proximity of college to their place. As a matter of fact, majority students in


rural schools were not aware of agricultural education, although they come from farm families. In informal discussions with students, parents and teachers from rural areas indicated that agricultural education is non-technical and there is practically no publicity and discussion in the informal gatherings.

5.4.4 Encouragement from teachers at school

The survey reveals that counseling to professional education is offered by school, but the intensity of response is not the same in case of agricultural education. Thus, the respondents were enquired specifically about the role of teachers at school about agricultural education and their opinions are presented in Table-5.15. There is mixed response. Of the total sample, 43.3 per cent agreed that teachers encouraged about agricultural education also, but 34.7 per cent disagreed and 21.2 per cent remained neutral on this issue. It was interesting to note that 57.3 per cent of agricultural students and 37 per cent professionals agreed to the statement, thus revealing that school teachers encouraged them to join agricultural education. School-student’s differed on this as only 32.4 per cent agreed and majority 50.3 per cent disagreed and 16.2 per cent remained neutral on the issue.

Table-5.15: Opinions on encouragement from teachers to join agricultural education

Response Schools students Agricultural students

Professionals Sub-total

N % N % N % N %Agree 60 32.4 150 57.3 98 37.0 308 43.3Neutral 30 16.2 69 26.3 52 19.6 151 21.2Disagree 93 50.3 43 16.4 111 41.9 247 34.7No response 2 1.1 0 0.0 4 1.5 6 0.8Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

From the responses on counseling at school and the role of teachers, it is apparent that teachers do not encourage agricultural education at the same level as they do for other professional courses. In fact, some teachers were critical on this considering the working conditions in field and rural social perceptions on girls working in such field based jobs. Their reactions were similar to those expressed by farmers.

Family members, teachers and peers influence students selection of an occupational program and they be viewed as potential allies of agriculture profession (Jess Thompson and Earl Russell, 1993). Reis and Kahler (1997) study on Iowa state students suggest that counselors in agricultural schools and colleges should be made aware of the factors that influence students to enroll in agricultural education. The agricultural teachers/professors should help counselor to develop thorough understanding of the programme. In doing so, the counseling will encourage more students to enroll in agricultural courses.

In India, agricultural universities function in isolation from school system and neither there is mandate nor will to interact with schoolteachers and counselors on this. As there


are a large number of agricultural institutions across the country, agricultural professionals could interact with local schools, encourage students to visit them on farm days or organize special lectures. There are few professional bodies to agricultural professionals with limited scope and reach. Though there are professional bodies for veterinary and agricultural engineering graduates, this was never on their agenda.

5.4.5 Cost of education

In the pilot survey some rural students and parents expressed that agricultural education is expensive. Unlike other professional courses, agricultural education is largely supported by state with modest fee. The views of school students, agricultural students and professionals on this are presented in Table 5.16. Majority of the respondents (77.4%) disagreed that agricultural education is expensive in comparison to other professional courses, only 15 per cent thought otherwise and 7.6 per cent did not respond. Both the groups i.e., 88.7 per cent agricultural professionals and 82.4 per cent agricultural students also confirmed the same opinion that agricultural education is relatively cheap. In fact, they acknowledged that agricultural education is the least expensive compared to all other professional courses.

Table-5.16: Response on cost of agricultural education in comparison to other professional courses

ResponseSchool



N % N % N % N %Expensive 44 23.8 40 15.3 23 8.7 107 15.0Cheap 100 54.1 216 82.4 235 88.7 551 77.4No response 41 22.2 6 2.3 7 2.6 54 7.6Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

The response of school students differed from other two categories in this regard. Relatively higher proportion of school students (23.8 per cent) thought it expensive and 54.1 per cent opined otherwise. In the informal discussions school students mentioned that professional education in any stream is costly as compared to general education. Besides, general education in science and humanities is available close to their village or residence or at least in nearby town, whereas professional education needs one to move away from home. Both the students and parents are not aware of opportunities and risks to move girls to places unknown to them. Thus, the response of school students is pragmatic from this view.

5.5 Nature of profession

Traditionally, agriculture is viewed as male domain. However, large number of agricultural operations are /were being carried out more by women than men. There are mixed opinions on suitability of agriculture as a profession for women. In view of such


myths, respondents were enquired about the nature of work the agricultural professionals are expected to do and gender suitability there of.

5.5.1 Gender suitability of agricultural education

In the pilot survey, some parents and schoolteachers opined that agricultural education is not suitable for girls. The response on gender suitability of agricultural education is presented in Table 5.17.

Table-5.17: Opinions on agricultural education not being suitable to girls



N % N % N % NAgree 36 19.5 16 6.1 19 7.2 71 10.0Neutral 31 16.8 19 7.3 39 14.7 89 12.5Disagree 97 52.4 226 86.3 201 75.8 524 73.6No response 21 11.4 1 0.4 6 2.3 28 3.9Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

The data reveals the opinions to the statement that agricultural education is not suitable for girls. Majority of the sample (73.6%) unanimously disagreed with the statement, only ten per cent agreed, 12.5 per cent remained neutral and small sample of 3.9 per cent did not respond. The response was stronger from agricultural students (86.3%) followed by professionals (75.8%) and school students (52.4%). Relatively higher proportion of school students (19.5%) believed that agricultural education is not suitable to girls. It should be remembered that the majority of students from rural schools were not aware of the opportunities about agriculture education, job opportunities and infrastructure facilities available at agricultural colleges.

5.5.2 Difficulty with fieldwork

The data collected with a view to know the respondents opinions on the girls performance at fieldwork and is presented in the Table 5.18. The data shows that majority of the sample (50.7%) disagreed that fieldwork is difficult for girls, whereas 19.7 per cent agreed, 22.3 per cent remained neutral and 7.3 per cent did not respond. Opinion expressed by professionals (58.5%) and agricultural students (51.1%) were similar and broadly indicate that girls perform well, i.e. perhaps as good as boys at field work. About 18.9 per cent school students gave no response as against 5 per cent agricultural students and 1.5 per cent professionals. Perhaps, a good number of school students were not certain or do not know about agricultural education and fieldwork.

Table-5.18: Opinion on difficulty in doing fieldwork by girls



N % N % N % N %


Agree 36 19.5 48 18.3 56 21.1 140 19.7Neutral 42 22.7 67 25.6 50 18.9 159 22.3Disagree 72 38.9 134 51.1 155 58.5 361 50.7No response 35 18.9 13 5.0 4 1.5 52 7.3Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

Though not in majority, sizeable number of respondents across the three categories opined that fieldwork is difficult for girls. However, agricultural girl students and their teachers in agricultural colleges stated that the performance of girl students at fieldwork and rural orientation programmes are comparable to that of male students. According to them, girls have inborn capacity to understand the grass root level problems and are effective agents for transfer of technology compared to their males counterparts. In technical terms, girls could do field work as good as boys, the societal environment may not make it convenient to them since parents from farm backgrounds were quite strong on their views on this. The message is clear. Some girls will have difficulties with fieldwork but it is not true that they cannot do it.

5.6 Societal view

Many studies on girl education expressed concern on social views. In some cases societal factors were hindrance to girls education in rural areas. The respondents were enquired about the social value for agricultural education, importance of role models in the society as motivating factors and agricultural education as a means to self-employment.

5.6.1 Development of own farm

How good are agricultural graduates and their contribution to the society in terms of introducing new skills? Why don’t they go back to practice the profession on their own? If the graduates have confidence in the skills, then some of them would have developed their own farm. The SAUs have no information on these aspects. In view of this, the respondents were enquired with a query on how agricultural education would help to cater to the development of the graduates’ own farms. The observations of the respondents are presented in Table 5.19. The response was unanimous from all the categories as 91.9 per cent of the respondents opined that agricultural education aids in development of one’s own farm, and, only a small proportion of 6.9 per cent respondents disagreed to this.

A positive confirmation by 96.2 per cent school students and 94.3 per cent agricultural students is expected as they assume that agricultural education is field-based. As most of the school students hail from rural areas, they opine that agriculture education would certainly help in one’s own farm development. Only 86.4 per cent professionals agreed to this. As professionals are perhaps distanced from their native locations, and think that education would help in the own farm development only if they do farming and not if they joined employment.


Table-5.19: Response on agricultural education aiding in development of own farm



N % N % N % N %Agree 178 96.2 247 94.3 229 86.4 654 91.9Disagree 6 3.2 12 4.6 31 11.7 49 6.9No response 1 0.5 3 1.1 5 1.9 9 1.3Total 185 100.0 262 100.0 265 100.0 712 100.0

In the informal discussions with agricultural students, many urban students also opined that agricultural education not only helps in fetching respectable job but also help in developing their farms if the students desire to go for own farming.

5.6.2 Role-models

The response received to the query on the influence of role models on enrollment of girl students in agricultural education is presented in the Table 5.20. Majority (71.3%) of the sample from all categories opined that presence of women role model in agricultural sector would encourage girl students (both rural and urban) to take up agricultural education. About 16.6 per cent remained neutral and another 10.3 per cent disagreed.

Table-5.20: Opinions on role models encouraging girls’ enrollment in agricultural education

ResponseSchool




Agricultural students (76%), professionals (71.3%) and girl students from rural schools (64.9%) were positive on the catalytic role of role models. Majority of the students opined that presence of role model (woman) in field of agriculture like Kiran Bedi in police services, Sania Mirza and P.T Usha in sports would not only encourage girl students in agricultural education but also change the perception of society on the whole about agricultural education and its career prospects. This in-turn will improve the girls’ participation in agricultural education. Research shows that rural students in US aspire to reach the levels of their role models they see in their society / community. (Bajema, et al, 2002). Thus, agricultural teachers need to show school students role models in agriculture to popularise it.

5.6.3 Social value for agricultural education


During the pilot survey, the respondents made few comments on the perception of the society at large in not providing sufficient encouragement to agricultural education. Keeping this in view, the respondents were enquired about their perception on how the society rates agriculture education and the responses are presented in the Table 5.21.

Table-5.21: Opinions on negative societal rating for agricultural education

Response School students Agricultural



Nearly half (47.1%) of the respondents opined that agricultural education is not recognized and rated low by society when compared to other professional courses like engineering and medicine. The other half remained neutral (17.3%) or disagreed (32.2%) and, there was no response from 3.5 per cent. The opinions expressed by the three categories vary in magnitude; professionals confirm it more strongly with 58.5 per cent response as against about 40 per cent each from school and agricultural students. The data also reveals that among the school students, 53 per cent remained neutral on this issue. In other words, the younger generation is more positive towards the societal view of agriculture education than the professionals.

5.7 Facilities at college

One of the reasons parents do not send their girls for higher education is due to their apprehensions on the environment in which they are expected to stay while at college. The availability of hostel and security are serious concerns. Few isolated instances on inappropriate behavior by girls staying away from home will be talked about for a long time. In view of such social concerns, views of agricultural professionals and agricultural students are sought on the issue of availability of hostel and security arrangements.

5.7.1 Security at the hostel

The opinions on the security for girls in agricultural college/hostels are presented in the Table 5.22. The data revealed that 77.4 per cent of the respondents were satisfied on the security provided to the students in the agricultural college girls’ hostels. About 12.3 per cent remained neutral and 8.7 per cent disagreed indicating that they were not satisfied. The responses of both agricultural students and professionals are similar in expressing


their satisfaction. As these groups are familiar with the system and facilities available, their reaction is more positive.

Table-5.22: Opinion on security at the girls’ hostels in agricultural colleges

ResponseAgricultural


N % N % N %Agree 203 77.5 205 77.4 408 77.4Neutral 34 13.0 31 11.7 65 12.3Disagree 22 8.4 24 9.1 46 8.7No response 3 1.1 5 1.9 8 1.5Total 262 100 265 100 527 100

However, some parents were critical about attitude of girls staying independently in hostels and at times their attitude and behavior is not in conformity with the prevailing social norms. Even a small incident is talked about for decades and they are afraid to risk putting their girls in hostels.

5.7.2 Hostel infrastructure in agricultural colleges

The data on responses with respect to infrastructure, i.e., hostels for girls at agricultural colleges is presented in Table 5.23.

Table-5.23: Opinion on availability of hostel infrastructure in agricultural collegesResponse Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total

N % N % N %Agree 162 61.8 176 66.4 338 66.8Neutral 38 14.5 26 9.8 64 12.6Disagree 34 13.0 39 14.7 73 14.4No response 28 10.7 24 9.1 31 6.1Total 262 100.0 265 100.0 506 100.0

Majority (66.8%) of the respondents are content with hostel infrastructure at agricultural colleges. About 14.4 per cent expressed their unhappiness in terms of the hostel facilities, 12.6 per cent remained neutral and another 6.1 per cent did not respond on this issue. The opinions were similar from the two groups, i.e., agricultural students and professionals. When enquired about the infrastructure facilities, almost all the girl students in agricultural colleges were content with the exiting infrastructure facilities and security. However, they expressed need for more rooms in view of increasing number of girls joining every year.

5.8 Employment


Young students are now better informed about professional opportunities than in the past. The employment opportunities, the type of jobs and the earning potential influence students as well as their parents to decide on the preferred course. With the advent of internet, freedom and mobility for the students, they are making their choices in rapidly changing global economy. Therefore, views on employment opportunities, preferred sectors, and earning potential are sought from agricultural students and agricultural professionals.

5.8.1 Employment opportunities

The views expressed by the respondents on employment opportunities to the agricultural graduates in comparison with other professional courses are presented in Table 5.24. There is vertical division in response with 50.3 per cent agreeing that employment opportunities are adequate to agricultural graduates, and 47.4 per cent stating inadequacy and 2.3 per cent gave no response on this count. The agricultural students pursuing their professional education have higher expectations with regard to their future and hence, about 58.8 per cent of them expressed satisfaction and denied that they have meager opportunities in comparison to other professional courses like engineering and medicine. However, only 41.9 per cent professionals, the experienced category of respondents, indicated employment opportunities are satisfactory and majority of these two categories stated that opportunities are less for the agricultural graduates. In informal discussions, the school students expressed that they may not opt for agricultural education, as jobs with professional education in other streams are more lucrative.

Table-5.24: Response on employment opportunities for agricultural graduates

Response Agricultural students Professionals Sub-totalN % N % N %

Adequate 154 58.8 111 41.9 265 50.3Less 103 39.3 147 55.5 250 47.4No response 5 1.9 7 2.6 12 2.3Total 262 100.0 265 100.0 527 100

When enquired about their views on the employment opportunities in agricultural sector compared to other professional areas, majority students and professionals stated that employment opportunities in agricultural sector are same as in other professional areas. But, large number of students regardless of their rural and urban backgrounds opined that the employment opportunities in urban areas are less in agricultural sector as compared to engineering and medical sector, and hence, agricultural education is not the first choice for majority students after completing school. The general opinion expressed by all the respondents was that better employment opportunities would improve the enrollment of girl students to a considerable extent.

5.8.2 Jobs in rural areas


It is generally believed that jobs in agriculture sector necessitate working in rural areas. The agricultural students and professionals were asked to comment on location/site of job and the responses are given in Table 5.25. About 54.8 per cent of the agricultural students and professionals felt that the career prospects for agricultural graduates are rural-based. However, 20.9 per cent of the respondents deferred from the view indicating that opportunities for agricultural graduates do exist out side rural areas. One-fourth of the respondents did not give any response.

Nearly half of the respondents in both categories, i.e. agricultural students (55.7%) and professionals (54%) agreed with statement that agricultural graduates have to work mainly in rural areas unlike other professional graduates, who are absorbed in the urban jobs. This may be one of the reasons that majority of the agricultural students are reluctant to pursue their PG in agricultural sciences and are planning to divert to banking or civil services. Another reason cited by them for pursuing their career in other steams is less recognition to agricultural courses in the urban-based jobs.

Table-5.25: Perception on most of the jobs being in rural areas for agricultural graduates



N % N % N %Yes, agree 146 55.7 143 54.0 289 54.8Not necessary 64 24.4 46 17.4 110 20.9No response 52 19.8 76 28.7 128 24.3Total 262 100.0 265 100.0 527 100.0

Agriculture sector is rapidly diversifying and most jobs in the recent past are coming in non-government sector. Traditionally academic, research and extension sectors were the bulk employers for agricultural graduates till about a decade back and these are largely state funded. In the recent years, new job areas emerged in services, sales and marketing, and these are largely out side government system. Such jobs involve extensive travel and contact with farmers but are urban centered. The opinions expressed by both agricultural students and professionals are alike on this.

5.8.3 Earning potential

The respondents’ comments on the issue of earning in relation to other professional courses like engineering and medicine are presented in Table 5.26. About 58.1 per cent of the respondents agreed that agricultural graduates earn relatively less compared to other professionals, while 31.1 per cent disagreed and 10.8 per cent did not respond. Within the respondents, 73.6 per cent professionals, bulk of them working in the agriculture sector, acknowledged that the earnings are relatively less in relation to other professionals. The agricultural students who are pursuing their education responded equally, i.e., 42.4 per cent agreeing and 45.4 per cent disagreeing. In the changing employment market and the new jobs being mostly in non-government and corporate


sectors, young graduate students are more optimistic about their earnings as compared to their senior colleagues.

Table-5.26: Responses on earnings being relatively less for agricultural graduates

Response Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total

N % N % N %Agree 111 42.4 195 73.6 306 58.1Disagree 120 45.4 44 16.6 164 31.1No response 31 11.8 26 9.8 57 10.8Total 262 100.0 265 100.0 527 100.0

It was interesting to note that many students opined that agricultural graduates earn same as other professional graduates in agricultural related sectors like R&D, NGO sector and agricultural marketing. However, they feel in emerging sectors like IT and biotechnology, jobs are more soft, remunerative and visible.

5.8.4 Preferred employment sectors

The data in the Table 5.27 presents responses on girls’ preference to government employment. The responses reveal that more than three-fourths (i.e. 81 %) of the respondents from all the categories agreed to the statement that girls prefer jobs in government sector. About 9.9 per cent of the responses indicated either in agreement or neutral to the issue. Overwhelming response on preference to government jobs is mainly because such jobs help women in maintaining the required balance between their professional and family life, in turn giving them the professional and personal satisfaction.

Table-5.27: Opinion on girls’ preference to employment in government sectorResponse Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total


Agricultural girl students stated that irrespective of the opportunities, girls would always prefer jobs in government and also in organized sector. It was interesting to note the reason behind this as the jobs involved fixed hours of working, which helps the women employees to maintain required balance in professional and family life. When enquired about their willingness to be self-employed, mixed response was received due to lack of skills and confidence for self-employment. Some indicated that this was not thought of as


an option at all due to non-availability of information and entrepreneurship orientation at the college.

5.9 Academic content

Education system attempts to mold the curriculum as per the changing needs. With saturation of jobs in public sector, graduates are beginning to seek employment in other sectors. Relevance of academic content has become a national issue in the recent past and policy-makers to students are concerned on this. Specific views of the respondents on the type of courses, changes in curriculum and orientation of students at college are sought from agricultural students and professionals.

5.9.1 Orientation in agricultural colleges

The views expressed on the orientation provided at the agricultural college on professional courses and their career prospects are presented in Table 5.28. The data reveals that more than half (50.1%) expressed satisfaction on the orientation provided to the students on professional education and career prospects in agricultural colleges, whereas 21.4 per cent remained neutral and 18.6 per cent expressed unhappiness. The opinions of agricultural students (55 %) are more positive than the professionals (45.3%), possibly reflect the change in orientation at agricultural colleges over time.

Table-5.28: Opinions on satisfaction regarding the orientation provided on entry at agricultural collegesResponse Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total


Orientation at entry is a feature seen in most professional colleges including some well-run, reputed private colleges in other streams. This is one of the important traits of a professional education institution especially if bulk of the students is expected to stay in hostels. Only half the respondents being satisfied with this feature indicates the need to organize it in a better manner.


5.9.2 Courses on self-employment

The responses to the question “whether girls prefer self-employment based courses” are presented in the Table 5.29. Majority of 48.4 per cent of the respondents agreed with the statement, 21.6 per cent disagreed, 22.3 per cent remained neutral and 7.6 per cent did not respond. It was interesting to note that bulk of the girl students from agricultural education (64.9%) desired self-employment based courses as against 32.1 per cent professionals. In fact 30.9 per cent professionals disagreed on this as against 13.7 per cent agricultural students. This is probably because the professionals perceive that girls have more inclination towards placements in organized or government sectors and they may not like self employment based courses. This apparently reflects the conservative outlook of the seniors on one side and also the changing aspirations and expectations of youth, more specifically girls, on the other.

Table-5.29: Opinion on girls’ preference to self-employment based courses



N % N N %Agree 170 64.9 85 32.1 255 48.4Neutral 39 14.9 75 28.3 114 21.6Disagree 36 13.7 82 30.9 118 22.4No response 17 6.5 23 8.7 40 7.6Total 262 100.0 265 100.0 527 100.0

The issue of self-employment and change in curriculum are being discussed in the academic circles. The existing course curriculum doesn’t provide the graduates desired opportunities for self-employment or setting their own farms (Singh, D. P., 1995). The changes suggested are given below.

5.9.3 Change in the course curriculum

There is wide spread unrest in the intellectual community on the need for change in the syllabus in many professional courses, including agriculture. There is demand for market- oriented education that would enhance employment opportunities. The opinions on need for changes in the course curriculum are presented in the Table 5.30. Majority of (78 per cent) respondents opined for the need to change the curriculum, 8.7 per cent remained neutral and only 3.2 per cent did not agree.

Amongst the two groups, the responses of professionals (84.9%) indicated a stronger viewpoint on need for change in the course curriculum. In case of agricultural students, 71 per cent agreed and 12.6 per cent remained neutral. Such large response for change in curriculum clearly indicates that there is an urgent need for revising the present curriculum according to the changing employment needs and demands.


Majority of the students were unhappy with present course curriculum. According to them the exiting course curriculum is not sufficient to meet the current employment needs. The students demanded the inclusion of job-oriented courses, as it will help them in establishing own business. In addition to this, all the students felt the need for periodic orientation on career prospects, as it will help them in updating their skills as per the market needs well before they graduate from the university.

Table-5.30: Opinions on need for changes in the course curriculumResponse Agricultural students Professionals Sub-total


A study by National Research Council of US (1988) felt that the course content of some agricultural educational programmes has not kept pace with changing and emerging careers in agriculture. The study also reveals that the students, particularly male students were not finding course content aligned with their specific interest.

In informal discussions with the employers, both in public and private sectors, professionals and the graduates it was expressed that there is the need for change in the present curriculum and its delivery. The universities have no active interface with the industry as such and as a consequence the students have little or no interaction with organized industry (Rama Rao et al, 2004).

Agricultural graduates are neither confident nor competent to create their own employment. They generally lack entrepreneurship skills. Also, they find themselves grossly ill equipped to be accepted for positions in processing industries, agri-business houses and cutting edge areas of science and technology. A close watch on emerging job market trends, identifying their needs and developing a focused course package commensurate to fill those needs is a strategy to overarch and reorient agricultural education with employability (Katyal, 2003).

5.10 Suggestions

In addition to the structured questions, the respondents were also asked to give their opinions and suggestions to improve rural girls enrollment in agricultural education. As the suggestions were taken in open format, there were multiple responses from many individuals. About 875 suggestions were received in all from the respondents. The suggestions are subjected to content analysis and the results are presented in Table 5.31.

About 23 per cent each of the respondents opined that popularization of agricultural education by counseling or motivation at school level and provision of adequate


opportunities / job avenues for graduating students in the profession would definitely result in enrollment of more rural girl students into agricultural education. Provision of scholarships /free education for the rural girl students would enhance their participation as suggested by 13.9 per cent responses. In addition to the above, 10.9 per cent of the responses indicated that societal concerns are next most important for the rural girl students in terms of encouragement to pursue higher education. The need for modifying the existing syllabus to meet the emerging needs has been indicated in 7.8 per cent of the responses. The availability of infrastructure, hostel and security facilities would definitely increase the participation of rural girls in agriculture profession as suggested by 6.9 per cent of responses.

Table-5.31: Respondents suggestions to increase rural girls participation in agricultural education

SuggestionSchool



N % N % N % N %Publicity/ counseling 33 16.5 61 21.1 109 28.2 203 23.2Job opportunities 39 19.5 95 32.9 68 17.6 202 23.1Scholarship/ free education 32 16.0 27 9.3 63 16.3 122 13.9Social concerns 29 14.5 51 17.6 15 3.9 95 10.9Modify course curriculum 5 2.5 18 6.2 45 11.7 68 7.8Hostel facilities/ security 19 9.5 11 3.8 30 7.8 60 6.9Reservations 2 1.0 16 5.5 33 8.5 51 5.8Colleges in rural areas 24 12.0 2 0.7 3 0.8 29 3.3Others 17 8.5 8 2.7 20 5.1 45 5.1Grand Total 200 100.0 289 100.0 386 100.0 875 100.0

The issue on reservations has been reported by 5.8 per cent of the responses. The response from the three groups is strikingly different on this. While 8.5 per cent professionals and 5.5 per cent agricultural students endorsed reservations, only 1 per cent school students suggested the same. In other words, the beneficiaries and the aspiring students are not keen on reservations; rather they are more concerned about employment after education. The provision of colleges in rural areas was recommended and found necessary by 12 per cent of the school students. About 5.1 per cent of the responses indicated other suggestions such as provision of transport facility, special incentives for rural students in enrolment in agriculture and introduction of agriculture at school level. Although the responses shown in Table 5.31 are reflected in the earlier sections, the data provides an approximate indication on relative importance of the various factors/issues. From the above responses, publicity, employment, scholarships and social concerns appear to be the four most concerns that need to be given most priority to encourage rural girls to agricultural education.


5.11 Summary

The sample of 712 respondents comprised of school students (185), agricultural students (262) and professionals (265) from ten state agricultural universities.

The school and agricultural students profile depicted their education from state and private-run organizations located at towns while few were from central schools and missionaries. Their parents motivated them to pursue higher education though their income was less than Rs.1,50,000/- per annum. After class X rural agricultural students migrate to towns to pursue Class XII due to lack of quality education at their village school and also to accustom/adjust to the medium of instruction from Vernacular to English so as to enable them to compete for competitive examinations.

Counseling for higher education was provided by the schoolteachers but agriculture education was excluded as it was considered to be non-technical. Though some school students were aware of agricultural education they were not interested in the course. Education programs in agriculture are in direct competition with programs such as medicine and engineering, which are judged by the public as more professional with promising careers. Students are attracted into such programs in pursuit of economic security and status. The preferred courses of respondents in the order of importance are medicine, engineering, dental, agriculture, science, physiotherapy, pharmacy and humanities. The school students showed preference to humanities than agriculture or science courses in view of the hardship involved and lack of knowledge of English. Agricultural education was preferred if it’s the only option available with their performance at qualifying examination. The agricultural education helps graduates to develop their farm/field, if they so desire.

In contrast to other professional courses like medicine and engineering, agriculture education was considered to be relatively cheap; opens up less employment opportunities with low earning; doesn’t have equal status in society; and jobs need working in rural areas.

The general opinion of the respondents was that ‘the notion of agriculture education unfit for girls because of their inability to sustain fieldwork’ should be eliminated by depicting eminent ladies in the agriculture sector as role models. The tendency to settle for government jobs is predominant in girls due to lack of openings in the private sector. However, they volunteer for own enterprise if provided with entrepreneur and management skills as part of their education. This essentially necessitates the existing syllabus to be modified to suit the needs of current and future employment requirements.

Girls are better agents of transfer of technology due to their inherent characters of patience, sincerity and devoted nature of work. However, provision of security, hostel, and transportation, flexible nature of work and infrastructure facilities would enhance and encourage their participation.


The strategies recommended by the respondents to improve the rural girls enrolment in agricultural education in order of preference are: awareness/counseling on the course at school; career opportunities, provision of scholarship or incentives; societal encouragement to educate girls; more vocational courses; course curriculum in view of changing market demands; adequate hostel, security and infrastructure facilities; reservations; and presence of schools/colleges in rural areas.

Finally, counseling and peer influence is enormous on youth choice of profession. Their association and involvement are essential in effectively encouraging rural students to agricultural education.


Chapter-VI

Perceptions and Opinions

This chapter focuses on the results obtained by the adoption of a novel method of brainstorming with groups and informal discussions and interviews with individuals for identifying issues and developing creative solutions to them. The project team adopted brainstorming technique as it was realized that the information collected through questionnaires is purely individual and hence there is call for comprehensive discussion to formulate the required agenda for future policy, planning and implementation. The purpose, the procedure followed and the issues after the brainstorming are given below.

6.1 Brainstorming

The brainstorming workshops were conducted to get detailed insights about the various issues influencing enrolment of rural girls for higher education with special emphasis on agricultural education. Discussions were initiated with the purpose to:

Elicit more ideas on the given themes Look for innovative suggestions on improving the current scenario Bring together a large number of scientists and officials from government and

non-government departments (NGOs) for free thinking thus allowing cross fertilization of ideas on given themes

6.1.1 Brainstorming sessions

Brainstorming workshops were organized in the selected SAUs i.e., MPUAT(Udaipur campus), AAU(Anand campus), ANGRAU(Naira campus), OUAT(Bhubaneshwar campus), UAS (Dharwad campus), MAU(Latur campus) and IGKVV(Raipur campus). The workshops were organized by National Academy of Agricultural Research and Management (NAARM), Hyderabad and National Center for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP), New Delhi in collaboration with concerned SAUs. In all the brainstorming sessions, the faculty from the various departments of the universities, state departments and NGOs attended and the university-wise participation details are given in Table-6.1.

Table 6.1 University-wise participation in the brainstorming sessions.Sno University No of participants

1 MPUAT Udaipur, Rajasthan 352 AAU Anand, Gujarat 253 ANGRAU Naira, Andhra Pradesh 244 OUAT Bhubaneshwar, Orissa 355 UAS Dharwad, Karnataka 356 MAU Latur, Maharashtra 307 IGKVV Raipur, Chattisgarh 40

Total participants 224


6.1.2 Brainstorming themes About 25 to 40 officers from the various departments of the selected universities, state departments and NGOs participated in each of the seven brainstorming sessions at different locations. After giving brief over view of the project, and the technique, brainstorming was done on three broad themes as under:

Theme-1: Societal factors influencing rural girls in higher educationTheme-2: Rural women graduates in agricultural extensionTheme-3: Strategies to encourage rural girl students in agricultural education

Participants were given five minutes time to write their ideas on cards. Each theme was provided with a different color card. After completing the rounds, the group was split into three sub-groups and each sub-group discussed on one particular theme for about 20 minutes, which was followed by presentation by the groups in brief on each of the issues. The points emerged in each session are presented in Annexure-6.1. 6.2 Discussions with faculty and senior officials

The project team interviewed a range of individuals familiar with agriculture such as faculty and senior officials from SAUs, officers in state departments of agriculture, school teachers and students, NGO officials, and farmers. The focus of these discussions were to seek their views, experiences and perceptions with regard to higher education of girl students with special emphasis on agricultural education. Issues that emerged in these discussions are presented in Annexure-6.2. 6.3 Discussions with farmers

The project team interviewed randomly selected farm families in rural areas and took their perceptions with regard to higher education of girls with special emphasis on agricultural education. The villages covered within the jurisdiction of the respected SAUs are: Garak and Kamalapur (UAS, Dharwad); Bhatkedha, Mamdapur and Kolpa (MAU, Latur); and Gomchi (IGKVV, Raipur). Nine case studies are made based on discussions and presented in Annexure-6.3.

6.4 Major findings

The issues and factors that influence rural girls to join higher education that arose from the brainstorming sessions, discussions with faculty, senior officials and farmers are pooled together. The views that have originated from these efforts were restructured so as to provide the required direction towards strategy development and presented below.


6.4.1 Societal

Lack of encouragement from society including illiterate parents and relatives for higher education

Lack of self confidence in parents and rural youth Social stigma attached for sending girls outside the village. Difficulty to put girls in hostel and at distant place away from village due to

financial and security reasons and very low risk taking attitude with respect to girl children

Early marriages depriving some rural girls to pursue education Difficulty in getting highly educated groom to match educated girls, especially in

rural areas. Delay in marriage due to longer course duration detrimental for pursuing higher

education for girls. Parents prefer to save for marriage instead of spending on education of girl child. Changed outlook of society is favorable towards girls’ education. Religion and caste sanctions limiting rural girls education Girls are into sibling care and household work and these hinder going for higher

education Gender bias within the family and village community with belief that the male

child will protect at old age, hence higher education to boys than girls Women are encouraged to do farm operations than higher education. Agricultural education is given low priority / status / image by the society as

compared to medicine and other professional courses. Not recognized by society, as there is no practice and earning.

Fear of undesirable changes in character after education in towns and cities. Lack of support, guidance and desirable environment for higher education of girls

from society. Migration of families in search of livelihood is the major cause for dropouts from

rural schools The rural girls are made to accompany their parents to work in the field in peak

farming operations stage. The villagers have low opinion on jobs being done by agricultural diploma

holders as gram sevikas. Nature dependency of agriculture is considered non- profitable business

6.4.2 Financial

Lack of financial incentive in the form of scholarships exclusively for rural students.

The higher cost of professional education that rural population cannot afford. Provision of economic incentives by the state government like exemption of

tuition fees for girls till graduation irrespective of their discipline will promote enrollment.

Rajastan state government has launched Agricultural Development Programme in 1985. Under this programme, an annual incentive of Rs 1000/ and Rs 3000/ is


provided to the girls admitted in 10+2 (agriculture) and B.Sc.(Ag.) respectively. This improved enrolment, but not of rural girls.

Special reservations to students from rural areas.

6.4.3 Infrastructure

Low basic educational standards at rural schools. There is a need to improve the quality of education at school level in rural areas for making them capable of competing in entrance examinations

Constraints to higher education due to poor access to schools and colleges in rural areas

Establishment of agricultural colleges in rural areas will improve the enrollment of rural students.

Provision of accommodation and security helps women to perform better. Time is usually constraint for women, conveyance facility need to be provided.

Increase in the transportation facilities specially in rural areas Establishment of women agricultural colleges. Need more residential and hostel facilities

6.4.4 Employment

Lack of suitable jobs for women trained in agriculture. Farmers perceive stationary jobs like teaching, nursing with regular income suitable for girls.

Couple’s convenience need to be considered for job. Lack of conducive job environment for women in agriculture. Lack of agricultural based industries/clinics in rural areas. Lack of employment opportunities with in the vicinity of their villages. Skills enhancement needed to market their services. Generation of employment opportunities would improve the enrollment of girl

students. Reduction in the rate of interest on loans by commercial banks for agricultural

based business will promote agricultural graduates to initiate their own enterprise. The private sector prefers basic science graduates (and train them on job) as they

expect low pay compared to agricultural graduates. Need for employment guarantee schemes exclusively for agricultural graduates. Professional education in agriculture is not encouraged by the teaching staff as

the main aim of the graduates is to go abroad (in Gujarat). Though agricultural education is not the first choice for majority of the science

students at 10+2 level, it is always their next choice as the employment opportunities in this sector are relatively better compared to other sectors.

IT sector offers good salaries and it is valued high in the society compared to profession in agriculture.

Special reservation in the jobs for women extension workers (agriculture) as in nursing and teaching fields.

Special self- protection trainings to women extension officers.


Poor enrolment in agricultural education is due to low employment opportunities and less scope for own entrepreneurship.

Reservation needed in Government and private sectors for agricultural graduates. Security should be provided to agricultural extension women officers. Curtailing the working hours for women agricultural extension workers especially

during night. Severe judicial punishment to the troublemakers for women agricultural extension

workers.

6.4.5 Perceptions on profession

Women are better agents for transfer of technology. Women are better as motivational agents compared to their male counterparts. Women should be encouraged in extension, as they are more hardworking than

men. Women are more acceptable and approachable compared to male officials. Women are better communicators especially for rural women. Rural agricultural-graduates will help in reducing women related drudgery more

effectively. Rural women have better understanding of the problems faced by the rural

community than urban women graduates. The rural students in agricultural education fare better in field/practical oriented

courses compared to lab/research work. Usually rural girls opt for general education/degree like BA, B.Sc rather than for

professional degree with an apprehension that it is arduous. The rural girls are educated till Class X (High school) and not further with the

intention that they are capable of decision-making. Agriculture is not suitable for girls, as it demands fieldwork in scattered and

distant fields. The students are optimistic about their career prospects in agricultural education Women cannot give their best, as it is difficult for them to maintain balance

between family and professional life. Women in extension work face many difficulties in terms of transportation, hence

are reluctant in opting for field based jobs. Transfer of technology is limited to the technical aspects. Women are unable to

provide information on marketing and trade. Thus, some of them are unable to provide total information to the end users.

Problems in getting jobs in private /corporate sector and getting accepted. Providing incentives to the parents of girl students to change their attitudes

towards the agricultural education. Special rewards to be given for women agriculture extension workers.

6.4.6 School education

Government should formulate policies exclusively for rural students, especially girl students in order to improve their enrollment status in agricultural education.


Poor quality of education in rural areas is the major cause for low enrollment of rural students in professional education.

The rural students pursue commerce-based courses rather than science courses, as they could not adjust to the transformation in teaching from vernacular language (upto class X) to English (after Class X) in science courses.

Medium of instruction (in regional language) placed the rural students at disadvantage to face the entrance examinations for professional courses.

Low percentages in 10th standard forces the rural students to opt for commerce based courses at 10+2 level.

Provision for increased farmers quota in professional education especially in agricultural education is desired.

Relaxation in qualifying marks for rural students. Inclusion of the agriculture subject from primary school level.

6.4.7 Counseling and publicity

Lack of awareness regarding the existence of agricultural education. Lack of publicity of the course in rural areas. Motivation at 10+2 level on agricultural education mentioning role models. Counseling for students specially for rural youth and their parents is necessary Present education system should focus on developing personality of students

especially from rural areas to make them competent for the interviews. Campaign for creating awareness to youth and parents regarding the scope of

agricultural education among rural population. Creating awareness among the parents, teachers and wards regarding the

agricultural education including the future prospects, job opportunities and entrepreneur ship.

Popularize agricultural education through mass media such as TV and Radio.

6.4.8 Agriculture curriculum at college

Re-orienting the course according to the present employment needs. Course curriculum in regional languages. The enrollment pattern has come down drastically with increase in the duration of

the course from three to four years. Colleges offering diploma /special courses near rural areas. Location specific focus to improve the enrollment of rural students. Lack of field orientation leading to their unwillingness to work in rural areas. Curriculum changes to exploit the emerging scope for the processed and value

added products in the domestic and international market. Impart soft skills in rural youth to provide total solution in all dimensions of

professional life. Provision of economic incentives exclusively for rural students in the form of

stipends and scholarship.

6.5 Summary


The issues emerged from brainstorming and individual discussions have relevance to girls education and point to changes in the agricultural education system. The major conclusions that can be drawn from the discussions with deans, senior officials and from the case studies on select farmers experiences indicate lack of publicity on agricultural education and opportunities there of as an important constraint leading to low enrollment. Need for awareness on agricultural education in rural areas came out strongly.

In rural schools, due to poor quality of education, students are unable to compete in the competitive examinations, which are prerequisite for admission to professional courses including agricultural education.

Agricultural education as a subject may be introduced at school level as it has relevance to nearly two-thirds population dependent on agriculture. However, the scope in terms of equal opportunity to higher education to such students is critical. Special incentives are to be provided for rural students. Due consideration in transportation, accommodation and security would encourage girls into agricultural education.

The suggestions emerged recommends motivation by trained personnel with due support from organizations to impart confidence to rural students and parents on education to provide information on scholarships and entrepreneurship possibilities.

Girls by virtue of their patience, hardworking nature, credibility of work, understanding nature, communication skills and decision making ability are better agents for motivation resulting in effective transfer of technology. However, social constraints, inhibitions arising due to societal sanctions, family pressures, and lack of transportation facilities hamper their full potential.

Social factors such as gender bias, poor financial status, early marriages and social stigma on sending the girls outside the village for pursuing higher education are also the other major reasons for low intake. Another important causative factor for poor enrollment is negative perception of the society towards agricultural education as majority of them relate agricultural education to farming alone and hence consider it less prestigious compared to other professional courses like engineering and medicine. Less employment opportunities, especially in government sector, and low scope for entrepreneurship are also some factors influencing the girls’ enrollment into agricultural education.


Chapter VII

Issues, Recommendations and Strategies

Role of women in agriculture and rural development is widely acknowledged in many societies. A strategic initiative by FAO (1998) provided a direction to higher agricultural education and opportunities in rural development for women. In India, women in agricultural education increased from less than four per cent in 1980 to about 25 per cent in 2000. However, the proportion of girls in SAUs varied from 5 to 50 per cent in various states. Women agriculture professionals had greater access to both farmwomen and farm communities, and thus aid in better technology transfer. Considering the socio-cultural aspects, there is a need to encourage and increase girl students from rural areas as they are more tuned to serve in rural areas. Keeping this felt need, the project was initiated to assess growth of girl students in agricultural education and the limitations in their growth. The study was carried out in ten agricultural universities in India through a survey, brainstorming sessions, discussions with the farmers, senior executives in public and private sectors and girl students from agricultural colleges and rural schools.

In the following sections, a set of broad issues emerged from the project on improving rural girls access to agricultural education, strategies for each of the issue to enhance their participation and specific actions that are required are presented. Each issue is accompanied by details and justification for the action. The strategies cover the proposed mode of implementation of the specific actions and the agencies recommended to be responsible in the case of each strategy/action.

7.1 Issues

This study has brought out a number of issues related to rural female participation in agricultural education. Some of the issues are in a sense generic as it affects girls access to higher education of all kinds (including agriculture). Much of it is related to the norms, beliefs, value systems and practices related to gender prevalent in rural areas regarding the level of education for women. Parents who would like to send their girl child for higher education face two kinds of constraints. Firstly, they have to send their children to distant areas where these facilities are available. They are concerned about their child’s security during travel to these colleges and stay in hostel. Secondly, the poor quality of education in rural areas, these children receive during their formal schooling years makes it difficult for them to qualify in the entrance tests or selection based on intermediate marks when they compete with students who are better educated from schools in urban areas. Regarding agricultural education, many are not aware about existence of such courses. The few who are aware have varied perceptions on the course regarding its utility, the employment opportunities and its suitability to girls. The major issues that emanated from the study are summarized below.


7.1.1. Customs and beliefs

In villages, rural young women have least opportunity for education due to social, economic and cultural reasons. Majority of the rural poor prefer to save money for girls dowry by performing early marriages than spending on education. Also they feel educated girl would cost more in marriage as they have to look for an educated bridegroom. Limited family income sometimes forces parents to make difficult choices concerning the education of their children. In many instances where culture and tradition demand that priority be given to the education of male children, girls are forced to dropout of school at an early age. The girls from middle and low-income families help their parents at work and household duties. Lack of encouragement and support from society including parents and relatives hampers their self-confidence. Role models could impart a new set of social values about the work of men and women, which presently discourages women from taking up agriculture. There are too few role models for young women to follow and even fewer opportunities for educational pursuits that require long years of study and expense.

7.1.2. Infrastructure

Poor infrastructure like absence of good schools in nearby areas, poor quality of teaching in rural schools (compounded by a number of factors such as adverse teacher student ratio, lack of quality labs and library etc) affects the quality of education available. Lack of electricity and unreliable power situation constrain studying at home. Inadequate arrangements for transport and increasing concerns on security further restricts girls’ access to better education available in urban and semi-urban areas. When seats in programmes of higher education are awarded based solely on examination scores, the rural schools with fewer qualified teachers and poorer facilities produce fewer students who are deemed ready for advanced study. It is quite natural that most of the rural students often fail to compete in the admission tests for professional courses.

While the agricultural colleges within the State Agricultural Universities have a reasonably good infrastructure (classrooms, laboratories, fields, libraries, hostel facilities etc), the colleges in the general universities providing agricultural education do not have adequate infrastructure and women students enrollment is low. As the intake of students in these colleges is predominantly from rural backgrounds, improving the infrastructure in these colleges for agricultural education might facilitate better enrollment of girls in these courses.

7.1.3. Vocational courses

Vocational courses in agriculture are mostly offered by agricultural schools and as part of vocational education at the intermediate level in schools. The junior colleges and higher secondary schools are outside the ICAR-SAU ambit and the institutions imparting agricultural education function in isolation from school education. The infrastructure available for vocational education and training in agriculture is weak, and this needs


considerable strengthening. Encouraging women in this stream needs proactive policy initiative.

7.1.4. Awareness and publicity

Lack of awareness about agricultural education among farmers and rural schools is striking. Few young women follow the science stream through secondary school and continue with the study of agriculture in colleges or universities. Many in rural areas are not even aware about the existence of agricultural courses. Students are better aware of courses in agriculture due to better contacts and many who knew about it perceive the same as non-technical and non-professional.

There are many obstacles for rural girls seeking higher education. For the few fortunate also, some myths specific to agriculture come in their way. For example, many believe that there is a lot of field work in agricultural courses and a career in the field of agriculture would be difficult for women. There also exists a general belief that women would find it difficult to strike a balance between family and professional life. Most of these perceptions, however, are not true and there is need to generate public awareness, demystifying such myths.

7.1.5. Course content and delivery

Most of the agricultural colleges were established in this country in the 60’s and 70’s and the curriculum for agricultural education were formulated originally to meet the manpower demands of that time. The curriculum was modified a few times in response to recommendations of Deans Committees. However, some of the basic assumptions on potential employment for which the curriculum was developed haven’t changed much. For instance, the students graduating from the agricultural colleges were absorbed in the line departments in the state for extension and development work. The post-graduates joined teaching/research positions in State Agricultural Universities and ICAR. By the 90’s the employment situation has changed drastically. The most promising opportunities for agricultural professionals currently emerge in the private sector (research, marketing, extension) and NGOs (development professionals). There has been a feeling among the professionals and the students that the present curriculum is not adequately reflecting the change in employment pattern. Moreover, the nature of agriculture in India has also been changing. There has been a rapid change in the information and support needs of the farming community and the curricula needs to address these issues. To increase the interest of women candidates, new fields for training and employment opportunities also need to be identified (e.g. agribusiness including marketing, food processing, environmental control) and publicized.

7.1.6. Social marketing of education

Institutions of higher education in agriculture function in isolation from school education. There must be an interaction among academic staff and members of the agricultural community and rural schools. The development of mechanisms and channels


of communication which institutionalise the process of developing, transferring, and utilizing knowledge is of vital importance. The relevance, quality, and utilization of educational programmes are indicators of how effectively agricultural universities market their programmes. Agricultural education in many states is confined to state run universities. The experience of education in private sector warrants urgent need to open agricultural education to private sector so as to reach its benefit to large mass at affordable cost. Private institutions may be encouraged to open in small towns so as to be in the reach of rural students.

7.1.7.Statutory body for agricultural education

At present, there is no statutory national body to control and guide agricultural education. The role of ICAR/DARE is limited, and it is by and large confined to higher agricultural education. Such national body can integrate development of students of varied levels and backgrounds, i.e., from school to doctoral level, implement programmes with gender concern in agricultural education and initiate policy actions as per the country’s needs time to time.

7.2 Recommendations and implementation strategy

The following strategies are indicated as a means to address the above stated issues. (Some of these recommendations on strengthening agricultural education given below have been made by several other committees, and they are repeated, as the implementation has been uneven).

7.2.1. Customs and beliefsTo address the issues related to customs and beliefs related to poor enrollment of girls for higher education, the following strategies are proposed for implementation.

Involve panchayath raj institutions (PRIs) in promoting awareness on higher education for girls

Use role models as ambassadors to promote the concept of higher education among girls

Strengthen girls literacy in rural areas Improve quality of education in rural schools - recruitment of more teachers,

strengthen basic educational infrastructure.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development and the State Departments of Education may take a lead in this.

7.2.2. Admission policy

The proposed mode of implementation of pro-active admission policy towards rural female students in agricultural education:

Reservation for rural female students in agricultural education (minimum 33%)


Relaxation in qualifying marks in selection Fellowships, scholarships for girl students pursuing agricultural education right from

intermediate stage.

ICAR to take a lead on this and provide scholarships for girls at intermediate stage.

7.2.3. Infrastructure

The proposed mode of implementation to strengthen infrastructure:

Develop an inventory of agricultural education infrastructure available outside the ICAR-SAU system (general universities, agricultural schools, vocational higher secondary schools etc) and assess their weakness.

Strengthen agricultural education infrastructure in agricultural colleges/schools. This relates to hostel, labs, libraries and demonstration farms and staff training. ICAR should take a lead in this.

Strengthen infrastructure especially related to hostel and security for girl students Strengthen agriculture polytechnics and schools Establish agriculture polytechnics and colleges in rural areas

ICAR to take a lead in these and fund specific activities that would support better rural female enrollment.

7.2.4. Awareness and publicity

The proposed mode of implementation for developing awareness on agricultural education:

Promote the concept of higher education for girls through developing appropriate publicity materials involving different media on the scope of agricultural education in general and its prospects as a career choice for girls. Organise these activities in a campaign mode.

Orient SAUs teachers and KVK faculty to the issues related to rural female participation and involve them in career counseling activities in schools in their region.

SAUs may take a lead in this through formulating necessary guidelines and specifying targets to be covered each year.

7.2.5. Relevance of agriculture education

The proposed mode of implementation to make agricultural education more relevant:

Assess the curricula to meet the changing employment scenario Introduce specialization within the undergraduate programme Introduce new courses to meet the market demands


Make the course content and delivery more relevant to the needs of women Introduce and expand diploma courses in agriculture Promote mechanisms for a regular and effective interaction between all those

involved in teaching agricultural courses (SAUs, General universities, polytechnics, schools etc) with agricultural professionals working in different sectors.

Students to have industry orientation also

ICAR may take a lead in this through facilitation, funding and regulation.

7.2.6. Integration of knowledge systems

The proposed mode of implementation to integrate various agricultural knowledge systems:

Agricultural universities, colleges and faculties must understand their role as partners in identifying right talent from right social background. The link between the institutions of higher agricultural education and rural schools is weak and needs to be strengthened. Once this two-way relationship is ensured, institutions of higher agricultural education will be able to contribute more effectively to the functioning of agricultural knowledge systems. Involving past students and those working in agricultural related institutions in marketing agricultural education programmes is effective way of keeping research and teaching relevant and interesting.

ICAR may take a lead in this through facilitation and dialogue with SAUs.

7.2.7. Regulatory body

Need and functions of proposed regulatory body for agricultural education:

The country needs national body in the lines of National Council for Agricultural Education in US to prepare agricultural education for the new millennium. It can help agricultural education create its preferred future, rather than react and respond to change only after it happens, as is happening now due to lack of such national body. It must have programmes and responsibilities to develop students of varied levels and backgrounds, i.e. from school to doctoral level. Mobilize strong social and political commitment for education to rural girls. Develop national action plans and enhance significantly investment in basic education and higher education more accessible to rural students. Ensure the engagement and participation of the society in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategies for educational development. Promote education policies within a sustainable and well-integrated sector framework clearly linked to development strategies. Implement integrated strategies for gender concern in education. Develop responsive, participatory and accountable systems of educational governance and management. Harness new information and communication technologies to help achieve the desired goals. Such a national body will be able to initiate policy action as many strategies mentioned above.


DARE and Union Minister for Agriculture may initiate dialogue on this.

7.3 Conclusion

Implementing this action plan is going to require the sustained effort of all sections of national agricultural research and education system. However, there is a need for an overall implementation mechanism, which could help to facilitate and coordinate the actions being suggested. Necessarily, and leading on from the recommended statutory regulatory body on governance of agricultural education and training proposed above would define the role for various institutional mechanisms and ensure the participation of as widespread a section of India’s population as possible. In turn, the regulatory body would help and promote participation of rural girls in agricultural education.


Chapter – VIII

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Chapter – IX

Annexures

Annexure-2.1: List of colleges providing education in agiculture and allied sciences in India

Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500030

1. College of Agricultural Science (ANGRAU), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 5000302. College of Home Science (ANGRAU), Saifabad, Hyderabad 5000043. S.V. Agricultural College (ANGRAU), Tirupati 517502, Chittoor Dist4. College of Agricultural Science (ANGRAU), Bapatla 522101, Guntur Dist5. College of Agricultural Engineering (ANGRAU), Bapatla 522101, Guntur Dist6. Agricultural College (ANGRAU), Aswaraopet, Khammam Dist7. Agricultural College (ANGRAU), Nandyal (Mahanandi), Kurnool Dist8. Agricultural College (ANGRAU), Naira, Srikakulam Dist

Sri Venkateswara University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (SVUVAS), Tirupati 517502

9. College of Veterinary Science (SVUVAS), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 50003010. College of Veterinary Science (SVUVAS), Tirupati 517502, Chittoor Dist11. College of Fishery Science (SVUVAS), Muthukur, Nellore Dist12. College of Dairy Technology, Kamareddy, Nizambad Dist, AP (Govt college

being afiliated to SVUVAS)

Anand Agricultural University (AAU), Anand, Gujarat13. Sheth M.C. College of Dairy Science (AAU), Anand 388110, Gujarat14. B.A. College of Agriculture (AAU), Anand 388110, Gujarat15. College of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry (AAU), Anand 388110, Gujarat

Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU), Junagadh Gujarat 36200116. College of Agriculture (JAU), Junagadh 362031, Gujarat17. College of Agri Engg ,Junagadh 362031, Gujarat18. College of Fisheries (JAU), Opp. Somnath College, Rajendra Bhavan Road, Veraval,

Junagadh Dist - 36226519. Navasari Agricultural University (NAU), Navsari 396450, Gujarat20. N.M. College of Agriculture (NAU), Navsari 396450, Gujarat 21. ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry (NAU), Navsari 396450, Gujarat

Sardar Krushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU), Sardar Krushinagar, Gujarat 385506

22. C.P. College of Agriculture (SDAU), Sardar Krushinagar 385506, Banaskantha Dist23. ASPEE College of Home Science (SDAU)), Sardar Krushinagar 385506,

Banaskantha Dist24. College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (SDAU), Sardar Krushinagar

385506, Banaskantha Dist


Assam Agriculture University (AAU) Jorhat, Assam 785013 25. Biswanath College of Agriculture (AAU), Biswanatha Chariali, Dist Sonitpur26. College of Veterinary Science (AAU), Khanapara Campus, Guwahati 78102227. College of Fisheries (AAU), Roha, Nagaon28. College of Agriculture (AAU), Jorhat 785013, Assam29. College of Home Science (AAU), Jorhat 785013, Assam30. Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science (AAU), Azad, Lakhimpur 787001

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishva Vidyalaya (BCKVV) Nadia,West Bengal 74124631. College of Agricultural Science (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia 741 25232. Faculty of Agricultural Engineering (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia 741 25233. College of Horticulture (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia 741 252

West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (WBUAFS), Kolkata - 700037

34. College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences ( (WBUAFS), 37 Kshundiram Bose Sarani, Kolkata

35. College of Fishery Sciences (WBUAFS), 37 Kshundiram Bose Sarani, Kolkata 36. College of Dairy Technology (WBUAFS), Mohanpur, Kolkata

Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (UBKVV), Cooch Behra– 73616537. College of Agriculture (UBKVV), Pundibari, Cooch Behar 38. College of Horticulture (UBKVV), Pundibari, Cooch Behar

Ch. Sarwan Kumar Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (CSKHPKV), Palampur, HP 17606239. College of Agriculture (CSKHPKV), Palampur 176062, Dist Kangra40. College of Home Science (CSKHPKV), Palampur 176062, Dist Kangra41. College of Veterinary & Animal Husbandry (CSKHPKV), Palampur 42. College of Basic Sciences & Humanities (CSKHPKV), Palampur

Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry (YSPUHF) Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173230

43. College of Forestry (YSPUHF), Via Ochighat, Nauni, Solan – 173230 44. College of Horticulture (YSPUHF), Via Ochighat, Nauni, Solan – 173230

Ch Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) Hisar, Haryana 12500445. College of Agriculture (CCSHAU), Hisar 125004, Haryana46. College of Agriculture (CCSHAU), Kaul, Kaithal Dist47. College of Animal Sciences (CCSHAU), Hisar 125004, Haryana48. College of Basic Science & Humanities (CCSHAU), Hisar 125004, Haryana49. Academy of Agricultural Research & Education Management (CCSHAU), Hisar 50. College of Veterinary Sciences (CCSHAU), Hisar 125004, Haryana51. I.D.College of Home Science (CCSHAU), Hisar 125004, Haryana 52. Agricultural Engineering & Technology, (CCSHAU), Hisar 125004, Haryana


Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth (KKV) Dapoli, 41571253. College of Agriculture (KKV), Dapoli -415712, Dist Rathnagiri54. College of Horticulture (KKV), Dapoli-415712, Dist Rathnagiri55. College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology (KKV), Dapoli - 41571256. College of Fisheries (KKV), Shirgoan, Dist Rathnagiri57. Govindraoji Nikam Agriculture College (Private -afiliated to KKV), Mandaki-

Palvan, Dist. Ratnagiri 58. Dr. Budhajirao Mulik College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (Private -

afiliated to KKV), Mandki-Palvan. Tal-Chiplun, Dist-Ratnagiri. Pin - 41564159. College of Agriculture (Private-afiliated to KKV), Saralgaon , Tal. Murbad, Dist.

Thane 60. Sharadchandrajee Pawar College of Horticulture (Private-afiliated to KKV),

Kharavate Dahivali, Sawarde, Tal. Chiplun, Dist. Ratnagiri 61. Chatrapati Shivaji Agriculture College, (Private-afiliated to KKV), Kirlos, Tal.

Kudal, Dist. Sindhudurg 62. Shri. S. S. Patil College of Agril. Marketing and Business Management. (Private

afiliated to KKV), at Vaveghar, Post Rasayani, Tal. Panvel, Dist. Raigad.63. Sharadchandrajee Pawar College of Food Technology, Kharvate-Dahivali, (Private

afiliated to KKV), Sawarde, Tal. Chiplun, Dist. Ratnagiri 64. College of Agril. Engineering and Technology, (Private afiliated to KKV), Nivali.

Tal. Chiplun, Dist. Ratnagiri.

Marathwada Agricultural University, (MAU), Parbhani 43140265. College of Agriculture (MAU), Krishi Nagar, Parbhani - 43140266. College of Food Technology (MAU), Krishi Nagar, Parbhani - 43140267. College of Home Science (MAU), Krishi Nagar, Parbhani -43140268. College of Agricultural Engineering (MAU), Krishi Nagar, Parbhani - 43140269. College of Agriculture (MAU), Lathur, Latur Dist70. College of Agriculture (MAU), Badnapur, Jalna Dist71. College of Agriculture (MAU), Ambajogai - 431 517, Beed Dist72. College of Agriculture (MAU), Osmanabad, Maharashtra73. College of Horticulture (MAU), Krishi Nagar, Parbhani – 431402 74. Dadasaheb Patil College of Agriculture (Private afiliated to MAU) , Dahegaon, Tal

Vaijapur, Dist Aurangabad 75. College of Agriculture, (Private afiliated to MAU) , Naigaon Bazar, Tal Naigaon,

Dist Nanded 76. Rajiv Gandhi College of Agriculture, (Private afiliated to MAU) , (Private afiliated to

MAU) , Jintur Raod, Parbhani77. Shri Chhatrapati Sahu Phule Ambedkar College of Agriculture, (Private afiliated to

MAU) , Ashti, Dist Beed 78. College of Agriculture, (Private afiliated to MAU) , Hingoli79. Shri DMV Mandal’s College of Horticulture, (Private afiliated to MAU) , Gevrai

Tanda, Aurangabad80. Aditya College of Agricultural Engineering, (Private afiliated to MAU) , Telgaon

Road, Beed 81. Aditya College of Food Technology, (Private afiliated to MAU), Telgaon Road,

beed 82. Sau Kesharbai Sonajirao Kshirsagar (KAKU) College of Food Technology, (Private

afiliated to MAU), Beed-431122


http://www.dbskkv.org/college_agr_saralgoan.htm

83. College of Agril. Marketing and Business Management (Private afiliated to MAU), Shrinagar, Latur-413512

84. Rajiv Gandhi College of Food Technology, (Private afiliated to MAU) , Parbhani 85. MGM’s College of Bio-Technology, (Private afiliated to MAU) , N-6 CIDCO,

Aurangabad 86. DMV Mandal’s College of Bio-Technology, (Private afiliated to MAU), N-1

CIDCO, Aurangabad 87. Mahatma Gandhi College of Bio-Technology, (Private afiliated to MAU), Pokharni,

Post Limbgaon, Nanded Dist-431735

Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, (MPKV ), Rahuri 413722, Ahmednagar Dist88. College of Agriculture (MPKV), Dhule89. College of Agriculture (MPKV), Kolhapur - 416212, Maharashtra90. College of Agriculture (MPKV), Shivajinagar, Pune-41100591. College of Horticulture (MPKV), Pune-411005, Maharashtra92. Post Graduate Institute (MPKV), Rahuri - 413722, Ahmednagar Dist93. Dr Annasaheb Shinde College of Agricultural Engineering (MPKV), Rahuri 94. College of Horticulture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Shahada, Nandurbar Dist -

425409 95. Lokmanya College of Horticulture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Vadala, Solapur

Dist - 41622296. College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Akluj, Tal Malshiras, Solapur

Dist- 41310197. Shri Shivajiraje College of Horticulture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Phaltan,

Satara Dist - 415523 98. College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Kadegaon, Sangli Dist-415303 99. College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Sonai,Tal Newasa,

Ahmadnagar Dist-414105100. Padmashri Dr Appasaheb Pawar College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to

MPKV), Baramati, Pune Dist - 411015 101. College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Nasik-422013 102. Krishna College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Rethare, Shivnagar-

415108, Tal Karad, Dist Satara 103. K.K. Wagh College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Panchawati,

Nasik-422003 104. College of Agriculture (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Banpuri, Tal Patan, Dist

Satara 105. Dr Ulhas Patil College of Agricultural Engineering, (Private – afiliated to MPKV),

Jalgaon-425003 106. Padmashri Dr D.Y. Pawar College of Agricultural Engineering, (Private – afiliated

to MPKV), Talsande, Tal Hatkanangale, Dist Kolhapur 107. Karmveer Kakasaheb Wagh College of Agricultural Engineering, (Private –

afiliated to MPKV), Panchavati, Nasik-422003 108. College of Food Technology (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Rajmachi, Tal Karad,

Dist Satara 109. Padmashri Dr D.Y. Pawar College of Agricultural Marketing and

BusinessManagement, (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Akuradi, Pune-411 044 110. College of Bio-Technology (Private – afiliated to MPKV), Loni Kd, Tal Rahata,

Dist Ahmednagar-413713

Dr Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), Akola, Maharashtra 444104


111. College of Agriculture (PDKV), Akola - 444104, Maharashtra112. College of Horticulture (PDKV), Akola - 444104, Maharashtra113. College of Agriculture (PDKV), Nagpur, Maharashtra114. College of Forestry (PDKV), Akola - 444104, Maharashtra 115. College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Akola 116. Post Graduate Institute (PDKV), Akola 117. Anand Niketan College of Agriculture (Private college -afiliated to PDKV),

Warora – 442914, Chandrapur Dist118. Shri Shivaji College of Agriculture (Private college-afiliated to PDKV), Amravati -

444603, Maharashtra119. Shivaji College of Biotechnology (Private college-afiliated to PDKV), Amravati -

444603, Maharashtra 120. Shivaji College of Horticulture (Private college-afiliated to PDKV), Amravati -

444603, Maharashtra 121. Swatantrya Vir Ganpatrao Ingle College of Agriculture (Private college-afiliated to

PDKV), Jalgaon – Jomod, Buldhana Dist, Maharashtra 122. Vivekanand College of Agriculture (Private college-afiliated to PDKV),

Vivekanand Nagar, Hiwara Ashram, Tal Mehkar, Buldhana Dist123. Marotrao Wadafale College of Agriculture (Private college-afiliated to PDKV),

Kalamb, Yavatmal Dist124. College of Agriculture (Private college-afiliated to PDKV), Dharwa, Yavatmal Dist125. Ramakrishna Bajaj College of Agriculture (Private college-afiliated to PDKV),

Wardha 126. Sau Vasudhatai Deshmukh College of Food Technology (Private college-afiliated

to PDKV), Ghatkhed, Amaravti Dist

Maharashtra Animal Science & Fisheries University, (MASFU), Nagpur127. College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (MASFU), Udgir, Dist Latur128. Nagpur Veterinary College (MAFSU), Seminary Hills, Nagpur - 440006129. Krantisinha Nana-Patil College of Veterinary Science (MASFU), Shirval, Satara

Dist130. College of Veterinary and Animal Science (MASFU), Krishinagar, Parbhani 131. College of Dairy Technology (MASFU), Warud (Pusad), Maharashtra132. College of Fisheries (MASFU), Shirgoan, Rathnagiri 133. Mumbai Veterinary College (MASFU), Parel, Mumbai 134. Post Graduate Institute for Veterinary & Animal Sciences, (MASFU), Akola

Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPAUT), Pantnagar, Uttaranchal 263145

135. College of Agriculture (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145, 136. College of Veterinary Sciences (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145, Uttaranchal137. College of Basic Science and Humanities (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145138. College of Home Science (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145, Uttaranchal139. College of Fisheries (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145, Uttaranchal140. College of Agricultural Business Management (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145141. College of Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145142. College of PG Studies (GBPUAT), Pantnagar 263145

Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (IGKVV) Raipur,Chhattisgarh 492012143. College of Agriculture (IGAU), Krishak Nagar, Raipur 492012144. College of Dairy Technology (IGAU), Krishak Nagar, Raipur 492012145. College of Agriculture (IGAU), Bilaspur, Chattisgarh


146. College of Agriculture (IGAU), Ambikapur, Chattisgarh147. College of Agriculture (IGAU), Jagdalpur, Chattisgarh148. College of Agricultural Engineering (IGAU), Krishak Nagar, Raipur 492012149. College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (IGAU), Anjora, Durg

491001

Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV) Jabalpur, MP 482004150. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Indore, Madhya Pradesh151. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Krishinagar Adhartal, Jabalpur 482001152. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh153. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh154. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Rewa, Madhya Pradesh155. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Sehore, Madhya Pradesh156. College of Agricultural Engineering (JNKVV), Krishinagar, Jabalpur-482001157. College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (JNKVV), Krishinagar

Adhartal, Jabalpur-482001158. College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (JNKVV), Mhow159. College of Agriculture (JNKVV), Gwalior

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003160. Agricultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Coimbatore - 641003161. Agricultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Madurai - 625104, TN162. Agricultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Killikulam - 628252,

Tuticorin Dist163. Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute (TNAU),

Navalur Kattupattu, Trichy - 620009164. College of Agricultural Engineering (TNAU), Coimbatore - 641003, Tamil

Nadu165. Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute (TNAU), Kumulur,

Pallapuram P.O, Poovalur (via), Trichy Dist166. Forest College and Research Institute (TNAU), Mettupalayam, Coimbatore -

641301167. Horticultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Periyakulam Theni Dist -

625604, Priyakulam East168. Horticultural College and Research Institute (TNAU), Coimbatore - 641003169. Home Science College and Research Institute (TNAU), Madurai, Agric.

College Campus - 625104 170. Adiparasakti Agricultural College (Private college - afiliated to TNAU), G.B.

Nagar, Kalavai – 632506, Vellore Dist. 171. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute (Govt of

Pondichery institution - affiliated to TNAU), Nedungadu P.O, Karikel - 609603


Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Science University (TANUVAS), Chennai 600007

172. Fisheries College and Research Institute (TANUVAS), Thoothukudi - 638008173. Madras Veterinary College (TANUVAS), Madhavaram Milk Colony, Chennai 174. Veterinary College and Research Institute (TANUVAS), Namakkal-637001

Punjab Agricultural University, (PAU), Ludhiana, Punjab 141004175. College of Agriculture (PAU), Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana - 141004176. College of Basic Sciences and Humanities (PAU), Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana177. College of Agricultural Engineering (PAU), Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana 178. College of Home Science (PAU), Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana - 141004179. College of Veterinary Science (PAU), Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana – 141004

Rajasthan Agricultural University, (RAU), Bikaner180. College of Agriculture (RAU-B), Beechwal, Bikaner - 334006181. College of Veterinary and Animal Science (RAU-B), , Bikaner - 334001182. SKN College of Agriculture (RAU-B), Jobner, Rajasthan183. College of Home Science (RAU-B), Beechwal, Bikaner – 334006184. Institute of Agri-Business Management (RAU-B), Beechwal, Bikaner - 334006185. Academic Staff College (RAU-B), Beechwal, Bikaner – 334006

Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology (MPUAT), Udaipur186. College of Agricultural Technology & Engineering (MPUAT), Udaipur - 313001, 187. College of Home Science (MPUAT), Udaipur - 313001, 188. College of Dairy & Food Science Technology (MPUAT), Udaipur - 313001,189. Rajasthan College of Agriculture (MPUAT), Udaipur - 313001,

Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), Kerala190. College of Agriculture (KAU), Vellayani P.O, Thiruvananthapuram-695522191. College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (KAU), Mannuthy PO,Thrissur-

680651192. College of Fisheries (KAU), Panangad P.O, Ernakulam Dist-682506193. College of Forestry (KAU), P.O. Vellanikkara, Thrissur - 680656, Thrissur194. College of Horticulture (KAU), P.O. Vellanikkara, Thrissur - 680656195. College of Dairy Sciences & Technology (KAU), Mannuthy P.O, Thrissur -

680651196. Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (KAU),

Tavanur P.O, Malappuram – 679573197. College of Cooperation, Banking and Management (KAU), Thrissur - 680656198. College of Agriculture (KAU), Padannakkad -671328, Kasargode Dist

Rajendra Agricultural University, (RAU), Pusa, Samastipur – 848125199. Bihar Agricultural College (RAU-P), Sabour, Bhagalpur – 813210200. Bihar Veterinary College (RAU-P), Patna - 800014, Bihar201. College of Agricultural Engineering (RAU-P), PO Pusa, Samastipur – 848125


202. College of Basic Sciences and Humanities (RAU-P), PO Pusa, Samastipur203. College of Fisheries Science (RAU-P), Dholi, Muzaffarpur204. Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Dairy Technology (RAU-P), Jagadeo Path, Patna205. Tirhut College of Agriculture (RAU-P), Dholi, Muzaffarpur206. College of Home Science (RAU-P), PO Pusa, Samastipur – 848125207. Faculty of Ahriculture (RAU-P), Pusa, Samastipur – 848125

Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand 834006208. Ranchi Forestry College (BAU), Kanke, Ranchi 834006209. Ranchi Agricultural College (BAU), Kanke, Ranchi 834006210. Ranchi Veterinary College (BAU), Kanke, Ranchi 834006

Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751003211. College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar 212. College of Engg & Tech, Fisheries, (OUAT), Bhubaneswar– 751003213. College of Agriculture (OUAT), Bhubaneswar, Khurda – 751003 214. College of Agriculture (OUAT), Chiplima, Sambalpur215. College of Basic Sciences and Humanities (OUAT) Khurda – 751003216. College of Fishery Science (OUAT) Rangeilunda, Berhampur, Ganjam217. College of Home Science (OUAT), Bhubaneswar, Khurda –751003 218. College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (OUAT), Bhubaneswar

University of Agricultural Sciences, (UAS), Bangalore 560065219. College of Agriculture (UAS-B), GKVK Campus, Bangalore - 560065220. College of Agriculture (UAS-B), Hassan - 560065, GKVK221. College of Agriculture (UAS-B), VC Farm Mandya Dist- 571405, Karnataka222. College of Basic Sciences &Humanities (UAS-B), GKVK, Bangalore –560065223. College of Agriculture (UAS-B), Shimoga Dist, Naveli – 577201224. College of Forestry (UAS-B), Ponnampet - 571219, Kodagu Dist225. College of Horticulture (UAS-B), Chikmangalur, Karralko Dist, Mudigere –

577132226. College of Sericulture (UAS-B), Chintamani - 563125, Kolar Dist

University of Agricultural Sciences, (UAS), Dharwad227. College of Agriculture (UAS-D), Bijapur Dist, Bijapur228. College of Agriculture (UAS-D), Krishinagar, Dharwad - 580005229. College of Agriculture (UAS-D), Raichur Dist, Raichur - 584101230. College of Agricultural Engineering (UAS-D), Raichur Dist, Raichur - 584101231. College of Forestry (UAS-D), Sirsi, Uttara Kannada232. Rural Home Science College (UAS-D), Krishinagar, Dharwad – 580005233. College of Agriculture (UAS-D), Bheemarayanagudi, Gulburga Dist234. Kittur Rani Chinnamma College of Horticulture (UAS-D), Arabhavi, Belgaum Dist

Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fishery Sciences University (KVAFSU), Bidar, Karnataka

235. College of Veterinary Science (KVAFSU), Hebbal236. College of Fisheries (KVAFSU), Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada Dist237. Veterinary College (KVAFSU), Nandinagar, Bidar – 585405238. College of Dairy Science (KVAFSU), Hebbal - 560024, Belgaum Dist


Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Tech. (SKUAST-K), Kashmir 190006

239. Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (SKUAST-K), Srinagar - 240. Faculty of Agriculture (SKUAST-K), Wadura, Sapore, Kashmir –191121

Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Tech (SKUAST-J), Jammu241. Faculty of Agriculture (SKUAST-J), R.S.Pura, Jammu - 180004242. Faculty of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry (SKUAST-J), R.S.Pura,

Jammu – 180004

Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology (NDUAT, Faizabad 224229

243. College of Agriculture (NDUAT), Narendranagar, Kumarganj, Faizabad 244. College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry (NDUAT), Narendranagar,

Kumarganj, Faizabad 245. College of Home Science (NDUAT), Narendranagar, Kumarganj, Faizabad

Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology (CSAUT) Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208002

246. College of Engineering (CSAUAT), Etawah, Uttar Pradesh247. College of Home Science (CSAUAT), Kanpur 208 002, Uttar Pradesh248. College of Agriculture (CSAUAT), Kanpur 208 002, Uttar Pradesh

Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture Technology, Meerut249. College of Agriculture (SBBPUAT), Modhipuram, Meerut – 250110

UP Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya evam Go Anusandhan Sansthan (UPDDUPCVV), Mathura

250. College of Veterinary Sciences, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh

Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal, Manipur 795001251. College of Agriculture (CAU), Iroisemba, Imphal – 795004252. College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry (CAU), Selesih, Aizawal

– 796007253. College of Horticulture and Forestry (CAU), Pasighat - 791102, Arunachal

Pradesh254. College of Fisheries (CAU), Lembuchera, Agartala – 799003255. College of Agricultural Engineering (CAU), Gangtok, Sikkim256. College of Home Science (CAU), Tura, Meghalaya (yet to start)

Deemed Universities (Including Central Institutions)

Allahabad Agricultural University (AAU), Allahabad, UP 221007257. College of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science (AAI), Allahabad -221007258. College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology (AAI), Naini, Allahabad259. College of Home Science & Women Development (AAI), Naini, Allahabad260. College of Silviculture & Agro Forestry (AAI), Naini, Allahabad


261. College and Food and Dairy Technology (AAI), Naini, Allahabad

Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, 110 012262. PG School, New Delhi

National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal263. Dairy Science College, Karnal

Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Bombay264. CIFE, Bombay265. CMFRI, Cochin266. Central Instt. of Fresh Water Aquaculture (CIFA), Bhubaneswar

Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar267. PG School, Izatnagar

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur 721302268. Dept. of Agril. & Food Engineering

Central Universities

Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan269. Institute of Agriculture, Sriniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh270. Centre of agriculture, Aligarh

Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi271. Institute of Agriculture Sciences, Varanasi

General Universities (with academic affiliation to SAUs)

Rajasthan University, Jaipur272. Baba Bhagwan Das Government Post-Graduate College (Academic affliation to

RAU-B), Chimanpura, Shahpura, Jaipur – 303103

Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer273. Dayanand College (Academic affliation to RAU-B), Ajmer - 305001, Rajasthan274. Swami Keshawanand Mahavidyalaya (Academic affliation to RAU-B), Sangaria -

335063275. Government Degree College (Academic affliation to RAU-B), Sawai Madhopur -

322001276. Parmanand Degree College (Private college - Academic affliation to RAU-B),

Gajsinghpur - 335024, Sri Ganganagar Dist


Pondicherry Central University, Pondicherry277. Rajiv Gandhi College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Kurumbapet - 605009,

Pondicherry (Govt college - afiliated to TANUVAS)

General Universities

Bangalore University, Karnataka278. College of Sericulture, Bangalore

Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala279. Dept. of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar280. Khalsa College, Amritsar 143 002

Bundelkhand University, Jhansi281. Baba Brahmanand Mahavidyalaya, Rath, Hamirpur282. Zila Parishad Agricultural College, Banda, UP

Deen Dayal Upadhyay University, Gorakhpur283. National Post Graduate College, Barhalganj, Gorakhpur 273 402284. Baba Raghwa Das Post Graduate College, Deoria 274 001

Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut285. Raja Mahendra Pratap (PG) College, Gurukul Narsan, 249 406 Haridwar Dist 286. Amar Singh College, Lakhaoti, 245 407 Bulandsahar, UP287. Janta Vedic College, Baraut, 250 611Baghpat, Dist UP288. Rashtriya Kisan P.G. Degree College, Shamili, Muzaffarnagar, UP289. Kisan P.G. College, Simbhaoli, 245 207 Ghaziabad Dist290. Gochar Mahavidyalaya, Rampur Maniharan, Saharanpur, 247 451291. Kisan Vidyalaya PG Degree College, Machhra, Meerut Dist292. Instt. of Advance Studies, Meerut 250 004293. Ch. Chhotu Ram PG College, Muzaffarnagar 251 001

Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj University, (CSJM), Kanpur294. Kulbhaskar Ashram Post Graduate College, Allahabad-211 007, UP295. Janta Mahavidyalaya, Ajitmal 206 121, Auraiya (UP)296. Janata Degree College, Bakewar, Etawah Dist297. C.B.Gupta College of Agriculture, Bakshi-Ka-Talab, Lucknow Dist298. Madan Mohan Malviya P.G.College, Kalakankar, Pratapgarh-229 408

Veer Bahadur Singh (BBS) Poorvanchal University, Jaunpur299. PG College, Ghazipur 233 001300. Udai Pratap (Autonomous) College, Varanasi 221 002301. Govt. Degree College, Jakhini, Varanasi 221 305302. Murali Manohar Town PG College, Ballia 277 001


303. Tilak Dhari Post Graduate College, Jaunpur 222 002304. Shree Ganesh Rai Post Graduate College, Dobhi, Jaunpur, UP305. Shree Durga Ji P.G. College, Chandesar, Azamgarh 276 128

Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Barailley306. RSM (PG) College, Dhampur, Bijnor, UP

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Agra307. Ch. Charan Singh Shivdan Singh College, Iglas, 202 124, Aligarh Dist, UP308. Raja Balwant Singh College, Bichpuri, Agra309. Narain Degree College, Shikohabad-205135 310. Lal Pokhpal Singh Agricultural College, Anandpuram, Achalpur-207125, Etah 311. Sarvodaya Mahavidyalaya, Chaumuhan-281406, Mathura Dist, UP

Calcutta University, Calcutta312. Rev. William Carey Institute of Horticulture, Calcutta313. College of Agriculture, Calcutta

Nagaland University, Shilong, Nagaland (Central University)314. School of Agricultural Sciences & Rural Development, Mediziphema, 797106,

Nagaland

Osmania University, Hyderabad-500007, Andhra Pradesh315. Loyala Academy (Autonomous) Degree College,Alwal, Secunderabad 500010

Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, 608 002, Tamil Nadu316. Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalainagar

Gandhi Gram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu317. Faculty of Agril. & Animal Husbandry, Gandhigram

Mahatma Gandhi Gramodyog Viswavidyalaya, Madhya Pradesh318. College of Agriculture, Chittrakoot - 485 331, Satna, MP 319. College of Agriculture Engineering, Chittrakoot - 485 331, Satna, MP

Goa University, Talegau Plateau, Panaji, Goa-403521320. Bhartiya Veterinary College, Curti-Ponda, 403 401, Goa

Note: The list of colleges is compiled from Rama Rao & Muralidhar, 1994; ICAR, 2001; ICAR, 2003; ICAR, 2005A and various other sources including input from trainees to Academy’s programmes.


Annexure-3.1

State-wise enrollment of girls in various professional courses (2000-01)

StateEngineering Medicine Agriculture &

allied sciencesTotal W % Total W % Total W %

Andhra Pradesh 56273 28.6 19639 45.5 4281 33.3Arunachal Pradesh 975 13.5 0 0 0 0Assam 3275 10.9 2417 36.1 1449 31.5Bihar 2160 11.8 7760 20.2 441 19.5Chattisgarh 5295 17.3 1636 40.7 642 19.6Goa 1711 25.9 1030 61.1 0 0Gujarat 27536 17.5 11887 44.2 2347 8.3Haryana 16148 16.0 3331 37.7 1579 10.8Himachal Pradesh 1233 13.5 1315 48.1 1116 26.3Jammu&Kashmir 1092 11.3 2591 38.2 688 6.5Jharkand 6176 6.8 2298 33.8 522 27.2Karnataka 80823 23.2 56613 45.5 5176 16.3Kerala 20026 30.5 7230 54.7 1426 49.3Madhya Pradesh 15869 17.6 7544 38.6 2439 13.6Maharastra 117458 21.2 46587 46.0 10647 20.0Manipur 630 20.2 142 30.3 292 40.4Meghalaya 240 12.5 80 43.8 25 44.0Mizoram 0 0 133 98.5 0 0Nagaland 0 0 0 0 273 34.4Orissa 12521 18.6 4514 23.7 1057 22.6Punjab 14721 19.1 8710 56.0 1589 26.6Rajasthan 12953 11.4 11337 24.3 2581 9.2Sikkim 738 16.8 0 0 0 0Tamil Nadu 126603 24.7 37766 55.1 4791 40.3Tripura 471 35.5 17 11.8 0 0Uttar Pradesh 18043 12.8 12270 31.9 16247 5.0Uttaranchal 5879 12.4 234 29.1 1658 22.0West Bengal 12336 9.8 5992 26.2 1780 15.5Union Territories 15464 17.3 9680 47.8 850 17.9

All India 576649 21.5 262753 44.0 63896 18.2 Source: Statistical Abstract, India, 2002 W=Women

Annexure-3.2


Outcome of project meeting organised on November 10, 2004

First meeting of the project was held on November 10, 2004 at NAARM Hyderabad. The

entire project team (given below) attended the meeting.

SNo Name Designation Posted at1. Dr D. Rama Rao Principal Investigator

Head, ICM DivisionNAARM,Hyderbad

2. Dr N. Sandhya Shenoy Co-InvestigatorSenior Sceintist, ICM Divison

NAARM,Hyderbad

3. Dr V. Rasheed Sulaiman Co-InvestigatorSenior Scientist

NCAP, New Delhi

4. Dr N Sunanda Research Associate NAARM,Hyderbad5. Ms Mrunal Udaylahankar Senior Research

AssistantNAARM,Hyderbad

6. Mr Badruddin Khan Research Associate NCAP, New Delhi

The meeting discussed project methodology and issues relating to the data collection. Tentative action plan was drawn as given below.

1. Based on the intake of girl students, eight SAUs having less than 20 per cent girl students were selected. ANGRAU and OUAT were selected for regional coverage. The universities tentatively selected for the project study are:

SNo State University Responsibility for data collection

1 Uttar Pradesh NDUAT, Faizabad NCAP, New Delhi2 Haryana HAU, Hissar NCAP, New Delhi3 Rajasthan MPUAT, Udaipur NCAP, New Delhi4 Chattisgarh IGAU, Raipur NCAP, New Delhi5 Bihar RAU, Pusa, NCAP, New Delhi6 Maharashtra MAU, Prabhani NAARM,Hyderabad7 Gujarat AAU, Anand NAARM,Hyderabad8 Andhra Pradesh ANGRAU, Hyderabad NAARM,Hyderabad9 Orissa OUAT, Bhubaneshwar NAARM,Hyderabad10 Karnataka UAS, Dharwad NAARM,Hyderabad

2. A letter will be sent from NAARM to VCs of selected SAUs to nominate a university officer as a resource person to facilitate access to information pertaining to the project and also for logistic support in the survey.

3. In each university, resource person will be requested to identify about 25 agricultural students at random for survey and informal discussions. Resource persons will also


identify agricultural institutions and schools in rural areas for survey and discussions. They will also identify few villages to visit by project team for discussions with the parents (farmers) of prospective girl students to professional education or those having girls at school and familiar with higher education.

4. School teachers from rural schools, parents and officials from agricultural institutions located near rural areas will be randomly selected for their perceptions on girls education in agriculture. In view of diversity in literacy and background of the respondents, perceptions will be obtained by personal interview.

5. Survey will be carried out in rural locations near selected agricultural institutions.

6. Students of school final year and UG course in agriculture will be approached for their perception on girls in agricultural education.

7. The research staff will visit selected SAUs for the data collection after receiving the nomination of a resource person from the VCs. At each university they will collect the filled in survey questionnaires, organize brainstorming with participants from diverse backgrounds, but familiar with agriculture system in the region.


Annexure-3.3

Questionnaires

ICAR APCESS ProjectStrategies to encourage rural female students in agricultural education

National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad and

National Research Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi

Dear Respondent,

NAARM and NCAP are carrying out the above-cited project. For this, we are collecting information on status of female in professional education and issues there of from female graduates, agri-professionals, academicians, aspiring girl students and their parents from rural India.

It is acknowledged fact that women agricultural professionals had greater access to both farmwomen and farm communities and thus aid in better technology transfer. Considering the socio-cultural aspects, there is a need to encourage and increase female students especially from rural area in agricultural education as they are more tuned to serve the farming community. To realize this, the current project was initiated with an objective to identify strategies to enhance participation of female students from rural areas in to agricultural education.

In the end, the project outcome will help Indian Council of Agricultural Research in making policy to encourage rural female students in agricultural education.

We thank you for your time and request you to provide information in the enclosed questionnaire.

Dr D Rama Rao, Dr N Sandhya Shenoy and Dr V Sulaiman RasheedInvestigators


Strategies to encourage rural female students in the agricultural education

Questionnaire(To be filled by professionals working in agriculture related sectors)

Note: Agricultural education includes all courses offered by agricultural universities such as BVSc, BTech (Agricultural engineering / Dairy), BSc (Agriculture/Horticulture/ Home science/ Forestry/ Agri-Business Management)

1. General information

1.1 Name:

1.2 Designation:

1.3 Working experience (Years):

2. Highest educational qualificationDegree Name of the university / Institution Year

3. In your opinion, who influence the students in choice of subjects for intermediate (10+2) level? Indicate your choice in the box

a) Teachersb) Parents c) Friendsd) Relativese) Any other (Specify)

4. According to you, what are the preferred courses after 10+2 (intermediate) by students in your vicinity or known to you? Rank accordingly.Degree in RankAgricultureMedicineDentalPhysio-therapyPharmacyScience coursesOthers (specify)


5. At what stage do you think present students get to know or become aware of agricultural education? (Mark the stage)

Class ten 10+2 level Not aware up to 10+2 level Any other (Specify)

6. Rank two most important reasons for student’s choice to join agricultural educationReasons RankProfessional DegreeMore employment opportunitiesBest with your performance at qualifying examAvailability of scholarship Availability of hostel Any other (specify)

7. Do you encourage others (your friends or relatives) to take up agriculture as a career option?

Yes, Certainly Yes, provided this is the best based on their merit No

What are your perceptions on agricultural education and career in agriculture? Indicate Yes or No to the following statements.

8. Career counseling provided at school / inter college Yes / No

9. If yes to the above, does it include counseling on agricultural education also

Yes / No

10. Jobs for agricultural graduates are mainly in rural areas Yes / No

11. Agricultural-graduates have less employment opportunities compared to graduates of other professional courses like engineering /medicine

Yes / No

12. Agricultural graduate earn less as compared to graduates of other professional courses like engineering /medicine

Yes / No

13. Agricultural education is expensive Yes / No

14. Agricultural education help in developing own farm field Yes / No


Based on your experience, what are your perceptions on the following? Mention whether you agree or disagree or neutral to the following statements? Tick the appropriate one for each statement.

S.No Statement Agree Neutral Disagree15. No encouragement from teachers and other staff

to join agricultural course16. If there are role models in agriculture (like

Kiran Bedi in police service and P.T.Usha in sports), more girls may join agricultural courses

17. Profession in agriculture is not rated high in the society

18. Agriculture sector is not the right place for girls

19. Girls prefer secure jobs in government or organized sector

20. Girls prefer more entrepreneur skill aimed at self employment

21. It is difficult for girls to cope with field work in college

22. Male students are better at field work

23. There is adequate security for girls while at college or hostel

24. Existing infrastructure facilities at agri-college and hostel are adequate for girls or same as compared to boys

25. Course content should be revised according to the current employment needs

26. Orientation provided at college (or agricultural university) on professional education and career prospects was satisfactory

27. Comment and suggestions to encourage girls into agricultural education


Annexure-3.4

Questionnaire – Agricultural Girl Students


(To be filled by girl students in agricultural universities)


1. General information:1.1 Name:

1.2 College now studying:

1.3 Course:

1.4 Parents occupation:

1.5 Parents annual income (tick the approximate choice): Low (Less than Rs50, 000) Middle (Rs 50,000- Rs 1,50,000) High (above Rs 1,50,000)

2. Academic record Exam passed

Examination board

School and college location

School and college Management**


Tenth or equivalent

Place Type*

Intermediate or 10+2

* Indicate school type based on location as Rural/Town/City ** Management type like State / Central/ Private/ Missionaries/ Public / ZP etc

3. Who influenced you the most in choice of subjects for intermediate (10+2) level? Write the most important choice in the box a) Teachers b) Parents c) Friends d) Relatives e) Any other (Specify)


4. What were your preferred courses after 10+2 (intermediate)? Rank accordingly.Degree in RankAgricultureMedicineDentalPhysiotherapyPharmacyScience coursesOthers (specify)

5. At what stage were you aware of agricultural education? (Mark the stage) Class ten 10+2 level Not aware upto 10+2 level Any other (Specify)

6. Rank two most important reasons for your choice to join agricultural educationReasons RankProfessional DegreeMore employment opportunitiesBest with your performance at qualifying examAvailability of scholarship Availability of hostel Any other (specify)

7. Do you encourage others (your friends or relatives) to take up agriculture as a career option?

Yes, Certainly Yes, provided this is the best based on their merit No

What are your perceptions on agricultural education and career in agriculture? Indicate Yes or No to the following statements.

8. Career counseling provided at school / inter college Yes / No

9. If yes to the above, does it include counseling on agricultural education also

Yes / No

10. Jobs for agricultural graduates are mainly in rural areas Yes / No

11. Agricultural-graduates have less employment opportunities compared to graduates of other professional courses like engineering /medicine

Yes / No

12. Agricultural graduate earn less as compared to graduates of other Yes / No


professional courses like engineering /medicine13. Agricultural education is expensive Yes / No

14. Agricultural education help in developing own farm field Yes / No

After joining college for professional education, what are your experiences and perceptions on the following? Mention whether you agree or disagree or neutral to the following statements? Tick the appropriate one.

SNo Statement Agree Neutral Disagree15. No encouragement from teachers and other staff


Kiran Bedi in police service and P.T. Usha in sports), more girls may join agricultural courses



19. Girls prefer secure jobs in government or organized sector

20. Girls prefer more education aimed at self employment


22. Male students are better at field work


24. Existing infrastructure facilities at agricultural-college and hostel are adequate for girls or same as compared to boys

25. Course content should be revised according to the current employment needs

26. Orientation provided at college (or agricultural university) on professional education and career prospects was satisfactory


Annexure-3.5Questionnaire – School Students



[To be filled by school (10+2) students]

Note: You need not answer the questions not relevant to you


1. General information

1.1 Name:

1.2: College now studying:

1.3 Course

1.4: Parents occupation

1.5 Parents annual income (tick the approximate choice): Low (Less than Rs50, 000) Middle (Rs 50,000- Rs 1,50,000) High (above Rs 1,50,000)

2. School record Exam passed

Examination board

School location School Management**


Tenth or equivalent

Place Type*

* Indicate school type based on location as Rural/Town/City ** Management types like State / Central/ Private/ Missionaries/ Public / ZP / . .

3. Who influenced you the most in choice of subjects for intermediate (10+2) level? Write the one most important choice in the box a) Teachersb) Parentsc) Friendsd) Relativese) Any other (Specify)

4. Are you planning to go for higher education after intermediate (10+2)? Yes / No


5. What would be your preferred courses after 10+2 (intermediate)? Rank accordingly.

Degree in RankAgricultureMedicineDentalPhysio therapyPharmacyScience coursesOthers Specify

6. Rank two most important reasons for your choice of higher educationReasons RankProfessional DegreeMore employment opportunitiesBest with your performance at qualifying examAvailability of scholarship Availability of hostel Any other (specify)

7. At what stage were you aware of agricultural education? (Mark the stage) Class ten 10+2 level Not aware up to 10+2 level Any other (Specify)

8. Will you encourage others (your friends or relatives) to take up agriculture as a career option?Yes, CertainlyYes, provided this is the best based on their meritDefinitely NoNo comments


What are your perceptions on higher education? Indicate Yes or No to the following statements.

9. Have you been made aware of various higher education opportunities at school level

Yes / No

10. If yes to the above, does it include agricultural education also Yes / No

11. Agricultural graduates have less employment opportunities compared to graduates of other professional courses like engineering /medicine

Yes / No

12. Agricultural education is expensive Yes / No

13. Agricultural education help in developing own farm Yes / No

What are your experiences and perceptions on the following statements? Mention whether you agree or disagree or neutral to the statements?

S No Statement Agree Neutral Disagree14. No encouragement from teachers and other staff


Kiran Bedi in police service and P.T. Usha in sports), more girls may join agricultural courses



18. Girls prefer secure jobs in government





Annexure-3.6

Issues taken-upfor discussion with faculty and senior management executives in agriculture related sectors

Admission criteria General background of girls opting agriculture Reservation to girls in agricultural admission Farmer’s quota in agricultural admission – details by gender Girls from ICAR quota Are all seats filled – branch-wise? Growth of female students over the years. Infrastructure availability to girls students State support for gender specific infrastructure Experience with private colleges offering agricultural courses Polytechnic courses in agriculture and their impact Source of employment to girls: past, present and future Aims/Goals of present generation of girl students Employers reaction on girls at work New degree courses in agriculture offered by the university and girls enrollment Role of female graduates in transfer of technologies to rural women Agri-related programmes aimed at women and their participation Steps to be taken to encourage rural female in agricultural education

Issues for discussion with progressive farmers

Opinion on higher education with specific reference to agricultural education Restrictions imposed by the society on female education Any change in the mindset of men to involve women into the societal system Role of women in agricultural operations Experience on transfer of technology by women Agri-related programmes aimed at women and their participation Steps to be taken to encourage rural female in agricultural education


Annexure-4.1

Enrolment of women in professional courses during 1990-2001

YearEngineering Medicine Agriculture + Veterinary

Total Women%

Women Total Women%

Women Total Women%

Women1990-91 258284 27096 10.5 152733 53109 34.8 52732 4743 9.01992-93 303590 37710 12.4 166033 60918 36.7 53303 5845 11.01993-94 329142 44487 13.5 173112 65244 37.7 53599 6490 12.11994-95 356845 52482 14.7 180492 69676 38.6 53903 7210 13.41995-96 386879 61914 16.0 188187 74838 39.8 52845 8012 15.21996-97 416029 71141 17.1 199119 80922 40.6 55426 8746 15.81997-98 456680 83207 18.2 215634 89229 41.4 58086 9422 16.21998-99 500088 96917 19.4 233477 98807 42.3 60103 10148 16.91999-00 537781 110083 20.5 247959 106820 43.1 62794 10928 17.42000-01 576649 123992 21.5 262753 115557 44.0 63896 11611 18.2

Source: Statistical abstract, India, 2002


Annexure-4.2

Students admitted in SAUs during 1991-92

State UniversityDiploma UG PG PhD

W T W T W T W TAndhra Pradesh ANGRAU 0 0 335 799 97 253 17 46Assam AAU-Jorhat 0 0 115 410 39 179 5 41Bihar BAU 0 0 26 120 0 0 0 0Bihar RAU-PUSA 0 0 57 260 7 128 4 35Gujarat GAU NA 430 NA 625 NA 161 NA 16Haryana HAU 0 0 112 358 46 248 28 130Himachal Pradesh HPKV 0 0 20 89 7 33 1 19Himachal Pradesh YSPUHF 0 0 17 116 12 106 3 56Jammu & Kashmir

SKUAT-SRINAGAR 0 0 0 0 0 54 1 3

Karnataka UAS-BANGALORE 0 0 40 291 45 282 10 85

Karnataka UAS-DHARWAD 0 0 51 322 34 199 2 46

Kerala KAU 0 0 197 412 32 69 14 24Madhya Pradesh IGKVV 0 0 NA 66 NA 38 NA NA

Madhya Pradesh JNKVV 0 0 52 567 6 182 0 7

Maharashtra KKV 0 115 15 213 1 97 0 0Maharashtra MAU 0 300 39 235 4 159 0 0Maharashtra MPKV NA 643 NA 644 NA 222 NA 4Maharashtra PKV 0 0 54 483 17 161 2 10Orissa OUAT 0 0 91 540 29 289 1 11Punjab PAU 2 47 225 444 118 304 34 88Rajasthan RAU-BIKANER 0 0 67 374 31 236 0 60Tamil Nadu TANVASU 0 0 52 220 8 49 5 53Tamil Nadu TNAU 0 0 146 360 119 307 85 372Uttar Pradesh CSAUAT 0 0 NA 205 NA 165 NA 40Uttar Pradesh GBPUAT 0 0 82 507 14 166 3 39

Uttar Pradesh NDUAT 0 0 23 52 1 62 0 38

West Bengal BCKVV 0 0 20 234 12 156 3 41 All SAUs 2 1535 1836 7406 679 3719 218 1204All India (DUs and Central Universities)

AAI-Allahabad 0 0 44 148 2 28 0 0CIFE-Mumbai 0 0 0 0 NA 40 NA 5IARI- New Delhi 0 0 0 0 NA 100 NA 120IVRI-Izatnagar 0 0 0 0 NA 100 NA 50NDRI-Karnal 0 0 NA 25 NA 60 NA 50AMU-Aligarh 0 0 0 0 6 14 0 0BHU-Varanasi 0 0 13 80 0 56 0 38


Visva bharati 0 0 0 30 0 14 0 0All DUs & CUs 0 0 57 283 8 412 0 263

Grand Total 2 1535 1893 7689 687 4131 218 1467Source : Rama Rao and Muralidhar, 1994NA= Not Available W=Women T=Total

Students admitted in SAUs, DUs amd Central Universities during 2004-05

State UniversitiesDiploma UG PG PhD

W T W T W T W TAndhra Pradesh

ANGRAU, Rajendranagar 80 225 419 954 81 228 21 42

Assam AAU, Jorhat 0 0 147 318 50 98 2 7Bihar RAU-Pusa 0 0 0 240 0 141 0 36Chattisgarh IGAU, Raipur 0 0 189 1463 43 157 0 0Gujarat AAU, Anand 50 260 11 164 10 73 2 16Gujarat JAU, Junagadh 0 0 8 103 5 64 1 8Gujarat NAU, Navsari 27 176 6 96 12 105 3 23

GujaratSDAU, Sardarkrushinagar 72 180 41 90 4 58 0 12

Haryana CCSHAU, Hisar 51 119 62 233 79 260 14 43Himachal Pradesh HPKV, Palampur 0 0 83 162 29 69 5 16Himachal Pradesh YSPUHF, Solan 0 0 21 81 26 64 15 33Jammu & Kashmir SKUAST, Jammu 0 0 17 100 3 27 2 11Jammu & Kashmir SKUAST, Shalimar 0 0 14 131 10 43 4 8Jharkand BAU-Ranchi 0 0 23 78 23 58 11 23Karnataka UAS-Bangalore 302 402 157 477 74 241 22 108Karnataka UAS-Dharwad 0 0 387 1959 139 595 18 152Kerala KAU, Thrissur 16 30 227 369 84 131 13 22Madhya Pradesh JNKVV, Jabalpur 0 36 224 745 92 388 0 5Maharashtra KKV, Dapoli 397 1425 279 931 21 103 2 21Maharashtra MAU, Parbhani 363 3540 165 1458 50 165 3 17Maharashtra MASFSU, Nagpur 0 0 63 295 44 152 0 0Maharashtra MPKV, Rahuri 0 0 180 604 61 203 12 110Maharashtra PKV, Akola 1217 7126 122 455 70 233 8 12Manipur CAU, Manipur 0 0 175 417 5 20 0 0Orissa OUAT, Bhubaneswar 0 0 247 521 102 215 1 7Punjab PAU, Ludhiana 68 87 116 311 133 300 46 75


Rajasthan MPUAT, Udaipur 0 0 106 382 46 108 16 49Rajasthan RAU, Bikaner 0 0 112 591 29 142 4 27Tamil Nadu TNAU, Coimbatore 22 49 336 708 137 251 37 74Tamil Nadu TNVASU, Chennai 3 6 64 230 31 82 2 9Uttaranchal GBPUAT, Pantnagar 5 8 231 680 91 249 43 77Uttar Pradesh CSAUAT, Kanpur 0 0 49 357 40 173 4 30Uttar Pradesh SVBPUAT, Meerut 0 0 27 136 0 14 1 11Uttar Pradesh NDAUAT, Faizabad 0 0 145 596 51 290 5 128

Uttar PradeshUPDDUPCVVV, Mathura 0 0 14 300 9 74 1 23

West Bengal BCKVV, Mohanpur 0 0 23 140 38 179 12 81West Bengal UBKV, Pundibari 0 0 11 50 6 23 1 7

West BengalWBUA&FS, Belgachia 0 0 21 119 18 118 12 39

All SAUs 2673 13669 4522 17044 1746 5894 343 1362All India(DUs and CUs)

AAI,Allahabad 1 61 65 260 141 444 17 54CIFE-Mumbai 1 63 0 0 11 45 9 24IARI, New Delhi 0 0 0 0 15 74 16 92IVRI,Izatnagar 0 9 0 0 13 86 10 58NDRI-Karnal 0 12 8 49 15 78 10 53AMU, Aligarh 0 0 0 0 12 38 0 0BHU, Varanasi 0 0 25 107 13 106 6 42Visva Bharati, Santiniketan 0 0 7 36 3 24 6 25All DUs & CUs 2 145 105 452 223 895 74 348

Grand Total 2675 13814 4627 17496 1969 6789 417 1710Note: Data of SAUs, DUs and CUs obtained from Education Division, ICAR, 2005A.W=Women T=Total

Annexure-4.3

Women Students Admitted in Undergraduate Courses in SAUsDuring 1991-92 and 2003-04


Students admitted in B.Sc (Agriculture)

SNo University 1991-92 2003-04W T W% W T W%

1 GBPUAT, Pantnagar 12 152 7.9 74 171 43.32 HPKVV, Palampur 8 57 14.0 19 57 33.33 KAU, Vellanikkara 146 261 55.9 124 168 73.84 KKV, Dapoli 5 116 4.3 94 593 15.95 ANGRAU, Hyderabad 198 518 38.2 222 585 37.96 UAS, Dharwad 12 228 5.3 60 361 16.67 YSPUHF, Solon 17 116 14.7 28 84 33.38 JNFVV, Jabalpur 13 371 3.5 123 583 21.19 CCSHAU, Hisar 4 151 2.6 13 107 12.110 NDUAT, Faizabad 0 29 0.0 5 75 6.711 UAS, Bangalore 31 174 17.8 107 368 29.1

Total 446 2173 20.5 869 3152 27.6

Students admitted in B.Tech (Ag. Engg.)

SNo University 1991-92 2003-04W T W% W T W%

1 GBPUAT, Pantnagar 7 216 3.2 9 45 202 KAU, Vellanikkara 7 18 38.9 26 43 60.53 ANGRAU, Hyderabad 11 40 27.5 36 103 35.0

4 UAS, Dharwad 0 22 0.0 7 33 21.2

5 JNKVV, Jabalpur 4 40 10.0 18 64 28.16 CCSHAU, Hisar 1 18 5.6 1 28 3.67 UAS, Bangalore 2 22 9.1 21 53 39.6

Total 32 376 8.5 118 369 32.0

Students admitted in BVSc

SNo University 1991-92 2003-04

W T W% T W


W%1 GBPUAT, Pantnagar 6 82 7.3 25 88 28.4

2 HPKVV, Palampur 2 22 9.1 6 37 16.23 KAU, Vellanikkara 44 133 33.1 73 156 46.84 KKV, Dapoli 10 97 10.3 9 39 23.15 ANGRAU, Hyderabad 40 160 25.0 77 245 31.46 UAS, Dharwad 0 33 0.0 10 59 16.97 JNFVV, Jabalpur 35 156 22.4 34 194 17.58 CCSHAU, Hisar 4 59 6.8 8 79 10.19 UAS, Bangalore 7 95 7.4 23 124 18.5

Total 148 837 17.7 265 1021 26.0Source:1991-92 data taken from Rama Rao and Muralidhar,1994.2003-04 data collected from respective universitiesW=Women T=Total

Note : Though data for 1991-92 is available for all the SAUs, for comparison sake data available for the both years (i.e. 1991-92 and 2003-04) is only presented in the above tables.


Annexure 6.1

Issues from Brainstorming Sessions

1. College of Agriculture, Udaipur (29-03-2005)

Issues :

Societal factors influencing rural girls in higher education

1. Early marriages giving no scope for the rural girl child to pursue education2. Gender issues i.e., parents feel insecure to send the girls outside and also the

belief that male child will protect them at their old age.3. Lack of higher educational facilities4. Agricultural education is rated low status/image in society5. Women participation in agricultural work is significantly higher in agricultural

operations and hence the girls are encouraged to perform farm operations rather than study. However, the societal outlook has changed now a day and girls are being sent to school in the village.

6. Lack of awareness about agricultural education because of poor socio-economic status and backwardness

7. Lack of trained staff to update farmers knowledge with the recent advances in the technology.

Role of women in agricultural extension

1. Rural women carry out majority of the work in agricultural operation.2. Girls help in better transfer of technology 3. Better communicator especially for rural women

Strategies to encourage rural female in agricultural education

1. Motivation at 10+2 level on agricultural education and mention of role model2. Counseling for parents is also necessary3. Generation of specific job meant for girls4. Course curriculum in regional languages5. Financial assistance and assured hostel6. Wide agri-based job opportunity7. Filling of government posts8. Transport facilities to rural areas.

List of participants

1 Dr(Mrs)C Dave Prof & Head2 Dr(Mrs)M Chowdary Prof & Head3 Dr Ritu Sanghvi Assoc Professor & Head


4 Dr G C Nanawati Prof & Head5 Dr S C Bhandavi Prof & Head6 Dr Vandanakaushik Associate Professor7 B M Dixit OSB SRF Ex Ad D As8 S R Maloo Associate Director Seed9 H M Gour Prof & Head 10 Dr Surendra Chhangan Assistant Director11 Dr A K Gupta Associate Professor13 Dr P K Dashra Student Welfare Officer14 Dr M K Paual Prof & Head15 K L Kothari Former Dean16 Dr Virendra Kumar Professor17 Dr Y C Bhatt Head, FMP18 Dayu Saxene Deputy Director (ICPS)19 Dr Tiwari Incharge Sevamandir20 I J Mathur Assoc Director Extension21 Dr L L D Director Ext Education22 R C Verma Assoc Prof & Head23 Dr P L Marwal ADR24 Dr Igbal Hussan ADR25 S K Avanthi Training Assistant26 Mahesh verma Joint Director (Ag)27 Prakash Chandra Chittore Agriculture Officer28 L L Somani DRI, MPUAT29 Dr K N Singh Asstt Director Agri30 Sudhir Verma Asstt Director Agri34 D Rama Rao Head, ICM, NAARM35 Dr S L Mehta VC, MPUAT

2. College of Agriculture, Anand (01-04-2005) Issues : Societal factors influencing rural girls in higher education

Financial insecurity specially in rural areas Lack of encouragement from society including parents and relatives Poor literacy of parents early marriage Basic educational standards are low at rural levels Lack of suitable jobs Inaccessibility to higher education specially in rural areas Lack of self confidence Difficult to put in hostel and at distance place Present an appealing image of agriculture ie; agriculture is not confined merely to

plough, oxen etc


Early marriage Rural women should be made dependent giving job opportunities Social Customs Gender Inequalities

Role of female graduates in agriculture extension

Daily mobility would be difficult by for female graduates Problems in getting the permission to work and being accepted Malnutrition and irregular food habits can cause health problems Girls students are more effective as extension worker compared to males Rural women can contribute their best in agriculture extension Lady graduates act as better resource person specially for women farmers compared

to male counterparts Has better understanding of the problems faced by the rural community Can act as moral and technical support to husband Is a better communicator because in case of marginal and small farmers most of the

decision making is done by the farm women Rural female graduates can easily understand and help person in the village to accept

new ideas and technology

Strategies to encourage rural girls in agricultural education

Societal and economical security should be provided to rural girls in agri-education Job reservation for agricultural graduate both government sector Present education system should focus on developing personality of students to make

competent for the interviews Special reservation in the jobs for female extension workers (agriculture) as in

nursing and teaching fields Need to popularize the course specially in rural areas through radio and TV

programmes Course curriculum should me made in regional language Hostel facility should free of cost Agricultural education should be presented in an appealing way to the people

specially in rural areas Counseling should be provided to the girls students at school level Agricultural education should be more skill oriented in order to start their own

entrepreneur Scholarship should be provided More economic incentives /Stipends should be given


1 DrV R Bhatt Professor2 R Lata Assistant Professor3 Dr Ushabala I/c Librarian


4 S V Pinto Assistant Professor5 Dr H C Patel Associate Professor6 Mrs H N Shelat Assistant Professor7 S Manisha Assistant Professor8 Dr Ankita K Research Scientist9 Dr G N Patu Professor10 Dr R Bhatnagar Professor11 Mr H H Chewada Asstt Ext Education12 Dr S J Patel Assistant Professor13 Dr M J Sol Professor DT14 S K Dixit Assistant Professor15 Dr Purnima Jami Assistant Professor16 Dr D R Patel Prof (P.B)17 D Rama Rao Head, ICM18 Bindu Panickar SRF19 A M Shetch Principal20 Ashok Patel Principal21 H R Patel Ext Education

3. Agricultural college, Naira (20-04-2005)

Issues :


Misconception on work in the field Corporate sector is influencing towards engineering or medicine Parental influence- due to lack of awareness on education Parents are not comfortable with agri-education Poverty conditions in the rural families to afford education Girls are in sibling care and household responsibilities System still encouraging early marriages in the rural areas Parental insecurity leading to gender discrimination Equal opportunities should be created to girls Fear of proper working atmosphere in the institutional systems Cost/religion is influencing the education

Role of female graduates in agricultural extension

Highly successful in agricultural extension making more impact of agricultural extension programmes in rural areas, however the women agricultural officers are facing certain constraints at various level

Most of the participants opined for strengthening their role in agricultural extension for best results


Some participants expressed their success is limited to influence farm women and the women extension officers and some are unable to provide timely information to the end users.


Creating awareness among the parents, teachers and wards regarding the agricultural education including the future prospects, job opportunities and entrepreneur ship. This will be further strengthened by providing the needed financial support (fee concession, scholarships etc) especially among the economic ally backward classes. It was also felt that that increase facilities of transport, communication etc will also help in agricultural education.


1 Dr A.V.Ramana Assistant Prof (Agro)2 Dr A.A.Swamy Assistant Prof (GPBR)3 M.M.Nanda Assistant Prof (Hort)4 L.Suryanarayana Assistant Prof (GPBR)5 T.Suseela Assistant Prof (Hort)6 R.Saritha Assistant Prof (Ento)7 Dr V.Visalakshmi Assistant Prof (Ento)8 Dr P.Gurumurthy Assistant Prof (SS)9 Y.Madhavi Assistant Prof (En)10 N.Sanyasi Rao Project Director11 P.Sanyase Faculty12 D.Nagabhushnam Coordinator13 M.R.Naidu Associate Dean14 K.Suseela Assistant Prof (Agril. Econ)15 K.V.Ramana Murthy Assistant Prof (Agronomy)16 Dr K.Anandarao Training Associate17 Dr Subba Rao Professor (Ento)18 Dr P.Suresh Assistant Prof (Extn)19 P.Anitha B.Sc (final)20 K.Sireesha B.Sc (final)21 D.Sudha Rani Librarian22 Dr P.C.Sarkar Associate Professor23 V.Nageswara Rao A.O

4. College of Agriculture, Bhubaneswar (28-04-2005)

Issues :


Higher Cost of professional education


Conservativeness in the rural families Lack of awareness and interest Lack of job opportunities in agricultural sector Illiteracy of parents in rural areas Gender inequalities Early marriage Difficulty in getting highly educated bridegroom match specially in rural areas Lack of confidence Engaged in household works from their childhood Lack of higher educational facilities in rural areas Low standards of education in rural areas compared to towns and cities


More acceptable and approachable compared to male counter partners More trust worthy More devoted Sometime cannot give their best due certain social obligation Some women candidates do not prefer the job due social insecurity Sometime cannot maintain balance between family and professional life

Strategies to encourage rural girls in agricultural ducation

Reservation in educational as well as employment sector Provision of financial incentive in the form of scholarship/fellowship Counseling at 10+2 level both for the students as well as teachers Relaxation in qualifying marks Establishment of women agricultural colleges Vocational training Better infrastructure facilities Re-orienting the course according to the present job opportunities Provision for farmers quota in professional education


1 Dr B.K.Das Associate Professor2 Dr P.C.Samal Professor3 Dr S.K.Das Associate Professor4 Dr H.N.Mishra Associate Professor5 Dr C.M.Khanda Assistant Professor6 Dr L.K.Babu Associate Professor7 Nityananda Roat Associate Professor8 Dr N.Sahoo Associate Professor9 M.Garnayak Associate Professor10 G.S.Sahu Assistant Professor11 Dr A.K.Mishra Assistant Professor


12 Dr A.P.Sahu Assistant Professor13 Dr J.C.Paul Assistant Professor14 Chiffara Purind Professor15 Dr L.L.Rath Associate Professor16 Dr P.K.Sarangi Assistant Professor17 Dr H.P.Patnaik Professor18 Dr B.Pradan Professor19 Dr N.Nayak Associate Professor20 Dr K.M.Mahepatra Associate Professor21 Dr Pradhan Professor22 Dr B.S.Rath Assistant Professor23 Dr P.Agarwal Assistant Professor24 Dr S.Nanda Assistant Professor25 Dr P.Das Associate Professor26 Dr B.Parasar Associate Professor27 Dr R.K.Swanth Associate Professor28 Dr S.Nayak Assistant Professor29 Dr D.Naik Prof. Agril. Econ30 Dr D.C.Pradhan Associate Professor31 Dr R.K.Mishra Associate Professor32 Dr M.A.A.Bair Associate Professor

5.Brainstorming Issues, Latur (06-07-2005)

Issues :


Advertisement of successful persons/stories through different communication medias Punishments for corruption Awareness campaign regarding scope and importance of carrier in agricultural field

in rural areas Councelling at 10+2 students regarding agricultural education Campaign regarding gender variation Orientation courses during primary education Policies for providing securities t female workers Development of agri based industries/clinics in rural areas


Encouraging the female gradates for extension work Providing more scholarships to female candidates Increasing the security in rural area The female graduates should use for orientation and opportunities in agriculture Remove the fear of mass communication


Changing natural preference for table work giving case studies providing conveyance or vehicle facility to females for extension work to avoid females attitude towards touring

High potential of female graduates can be increased by giving suitable trainings to them

Consideration of couple convenience


Inclusion of the agriculture subject from primary school level Free education to girls in agriculture Change of the attitudes of rural people toward working women in rural area Providing residential facility By curtailing the working hours specially during night Severe punishment to the trouble starters to female workers Change of attitudes of life partner towards working in rural area By providing protection to the female worker Special rewards for rural workers, incentive Providing employment guarantee to female graduates Change of the attitudes of the parents towards the agricultural education to their girls-

by providing incentives to the parents of girl students Campaign for creating awareness parents regarding the scope of agricultural

education Special self-protection measures


1 Kolgane.B.T Assistant Professor2 Mr.Bhikane M.U Agril. Assistant3 Mr.Mande J.V Assistant Professor4 B.B.Badgire Assistant Professor5 Dr Halwe Associate Professor6 Mahajan R.S Assistant Professor7 Dr Shetgar S.S Assistant Professor8 G.S.Ankush Assistant Professor9 Dr V.D.Pani Associate Professor10 Dr R.S.Raut Professor (Soil Sci)11 Dr G.D.Deshpande Professor (Plant Path)12 Dr M.K.Ghodke Associate Professor13 Dr.B.M.Thombre Associate Professor14 Dr A.M.Degaonkar Associate Professor15 Dr V.TJadhav Associate Professor (Hort)16 Dr T.G.Saptule Professor17 R.S.Khandare Assistant Professor18 R.V.Jaybhage Assistant Professor19 V.B.Kamble Assistant Professor


20 Ku.S.R.Ingle M.Sc(Agri) Student21 Ms.Ashtekar S.K M.Sc Student22 Ms.Chavan A.M M.Sc Student23 Ms.Jadhav S.K M.Sc Student24 Sattarkhan M Lab Assistant25 M.B.Rant Accountant26 A.K.Shivsharan M.Sc Student27 Amare A.A.O28 Swami S.P Office Assistant29 Kale P.K SLO30 Mujawar D.Y Lab Assistant31 Dr Sandhya Shenoy Principal Scientist, NAARM

6.College of Agriculture, Dharwad ( 01-07-2005)

Issues :

Strategies to encourage rural girls in agri-education

Gender discrimination Education to parents, Develop media to popularize the importance of education among girls Change in attitude of parents in particular i.e., society in general Educate to change the wrong traditional values towards girls education Introduce agricultural courses at 10+2 Provide transport facilities for rural girls Establishing proper communication facilities Security and safety well equipped hostel facility, accommodation for their visitors Financial assistance Campus interviews


Can easily approach the issue Opinion makers Easily access need based programme More honest and hard working Share of women in agriculture is more Better acceptance by the local people Region based posting policy Infrastructure plan should be the part of the total plan Flexibility in office timing for women extension workers Intensive training for HRD and personal protection Programmes to create awareness on benefits of agriculturall extension officers


Officers should be equipped with modern communication and devices for security


Reservation of seats for rural girls for taking admission in agricultural college/university

Provision of more number of scholarships for girls coming from rural areas Provision of stipends to the girls during study Introduction of agriculture and allied as a subject at high school level Creating awareness to the teachers, parents, local rural female leaders and students

through mass media/workshops/campaigns abut agricultural education Establishment of agriculture colleges in rural areas Create more job opportunities for rural agricultural graduates (girls) Starting of skill oriented diploma and certificate course to the rural girls in

agriculture Opening of agribusiness centers in rural areas which takes care of entrepreneur

activity and marketing Agri-clinic centers and agricultural input centers are to be reserved for agricultural

graduates o lie with medical shops Agricultural and allied based government jobs are to be advertised as and when

vacant Integrated education approaches to rural girls Working women’s hostel to be provided at village/taluka level Creating employment opportunities in the form of starting agro-based small-scale

industries in rural areas. Starting diploma courses and also opening the agro-based small-scale industries can materialize it.

List of Participants

1 S.D.Shashidhara2 Dr K.B.Gond Associate Professor (Ext)3 Dr N.S.Hepsur Associate Professor (Soil)4 Mr.R.V.Hede Assistant Professor (Hort)5 Dr Chhaya B Associate Professor6 Dr Nityashri Assistant Professor7 Mrs.Uma H Associate Professor8 Mrs.Sharada Associate Professor9 Dr D.M.Chanelargi Associate Professor10 Dr Anilkr Mugal Assistant Professor11 R.L.Ravikumar Associate Professor12 S.Lingaraju Associate Professor (Plant Path)13 Dr(Mrs) Susheela Asso. Prof of Head14 Mrs Renuka Budihil Assistant Professor of PRM15 Dr K.C.Gummagolmath President (ROSA-Dharwad)16 S.M.Hagar Project Officer17 Dr Geeta Shirvalli Sr. Microbiologist


18 Veena Savalga Associate Professor19 Jayashree H Assistant Professor20 Jyothi V.V Assistant Professor (TAD)21 Sadhana D.K Assistant Professor (TAD)22 Dr Suhasinirao D.I.C (H.Sc)23 Dr V.R.Kirisur Head, PPMC24 Dr A.S.Byadgi Associate Professor of Path25 Vatsalor M Training Officer26 K.C.Shashidhar Assistant Professor27 Ravi K.B Student28 Chandru Patil Student29 Vittal Sy Student30 V.S.Kulkarni Assistant Professor33 Mahantesh Nayak Ph.D. Scholor

7. Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (IGKVV) Raipur (29-07-2005)

Issues :


Financial insecurity specially in rural areas Lack of encouragement from society including parents and relatives Poor literacy of parents early marriage Lack of awareness and interest Inaccessibility to higher education specially in rural areas Lack of self confidence Lack of higher educational facilities in rural areas Low standards of education in rural areas compared to towns and cities Lack of awareness about agricultural education because of poor socio-economic

status and backwardness Lack of trained staff to update farmers knowledge with the recent advances in the

technology.


More acceptable and approachable compared to male counter partners More trust worthy More devoted Sometime cannot give their best due certain social obligation Some women candidates do not prefer the job due social insecurity Sometime cannot maintain balance between family and professional life



Reservation in educational as well as employment sector Job reservation for agricultural graduate both government sector Present education system should focus on developing personality of students to make

competent for the interviews Special reservation in the jobs for female extension workers (agriculture) as in

nursing and teaching fields Establishment of women agricultural colleges Vocational training Better infrastructure facilities Re-orienting the course according to the present job opportunities Provision for farmers quota in professional education Counseling should be provided to the girls students at school level Agricultural education should be more skill oriented in order to start their own

entrepreneur Scholarship should be provided More economic incentives /Stipends should be given


1 C.P.Khare Scientist2 N.Khare Senior Scientist3 R.N.Singh Associate Professor4 S.Ramole Assistant Professor5 R.P.Kujur Assistant Professor6 Dr S.S.Tyteja Senior Scientist7 T.Tirkey Assistant Professor8 M.S.Chari Senior Scientist9 S.R.Patel Principle Scientist10 Diptimayee Douh Scientist11 Jayalaxmi Ganguli Assistant Professor12 R.N.Gangulli Associate Professor13 Gajendra chandraker Scientist14 Sandhya R Gaur Associate Professor15 V.B.Kuruvamshi Scientist16 Dr Arti Guhey Senior Scientist17 S.Ravishanker Assistant Professor18 Dr P.K.Tiwari Assistant Professor19 Dr R.K.Dantre Associate Professor20 L.R.Gautam Joint Director Agril21 P.K.Sangode Assistant Professor22 Nitintoorray Research Fellow23 V.K.Verma Assistant Dir. Agril.24 Dr I Pandey Librarian25 R.K.Chandra vamshi D.D.A26 R.K.Singh Add.D.Agri27 S.P.Beera D.D.A


28 Alka Laxman R.A29 Dr Pratibha Katiyeen Scientist30 S.S.Chandra vamshi Scientist31 Vijaya Laxmi Ph.D


Annexure-6.2

Discussion with senior faculty, executives and farmers

This chapter presents the excerpts of personal discussions with senior executives; NGO personnel and progressive farmers pertaining to girls education. Senior executives who are familiar with the agricultural education system, NGO persons at grass root level with due knowledge of the society and progressive farmers of the village to focus on their village scenario with regard to girls higher education.

Discussion with Senior Officers of SAUs

Dr Somani, Resident Instruction, MPUAT

Dr Somani mentioned that the Rajasthan government provides scholarships to students taking agriculture at 10+2 (inter) level. However, these students are not as good as biology students probably due to the fact that biology stream students are eligible for medicine and dental courses while agriculture students are eligible for admission to agricultural courses and science courses in the general degree colleges. As the best students are not coming for agriculture at 10+2 level it is not desirable to have specialization at school level.

Dr H.C.L.Gupta, Dean of Agriculture, MPUAT

In an ongoing discussion with Dr H.C.L.Gupta, Dean of Agriculture, revealed that the girl’s enrollment in the past decade in agri-education has increased from about 5 per cent to 40 per cent. The reasons attributed to this were reservations for girl students and provision of economic incentives by the state government like exemption of tution fees for girls till graduation irrespective of their discipline. But at the same time it was also revealed that enrollment of rural girls is still low and this is because of poor access to higher education in rural areas, low income of financial status of parents, early marriages, lack of employment opportunities with in the vicinity of their villages, lack of awareness about the existence of course and other social obligation including gender biasness.

Dr (Mrs.) Pushpa Gupta, Dean of College of Home Science MPUAT

The Dean of College of Home Science Dr (Mrs.) Pushpa Gupta reported that enrollment of girl students including rural girls has improved considerably for the past few years, but because of recent amendment of course (Home Science) to 4 years from the previous 3 years duration, the enrollment pattern has come down drastically, the reason attributed to another year of education directly implying postponement of marriage by a year. Dr. (Mrs.) Pushpa mentioned that rural girls are unable to take up higher education due to lack of access to higher education. Another reason for the low intake of rural girls is poor financial status of their parents. The parents do not promote their daughters to pursue higher education away from village compounded by several social factors.


Dr P.K.Mahapatra Dean of Agriculture, OUAT

Dr P.K.Mahapatra Dean of Agriculture, OUAT stated that reservation for girls has led to their increased enrollment in all technical and professional courses. He revealed that due to the recent recruitment of Bsc Ag students in nationalized banks as agriculture officer, the students intake in agricultural education has tremendously increased. Low enrollment of rural students is due to lack of publicity of the course in rural areas. OUAT has a proposal to launch diploma courses in collaboration with IGNOU with an aim to train the students specially from rural areas in entrepreneur skills.

Dr B.K.Sahu, Dean of Veterinary College, OUAT.

Dean of Veterinary College Dr B.K.Sahu, proudly claims that, there is a huge demand for the course due to its vast employment opportunities. He was against reservation for girls in educational sector as girls are competent enough to cope up with the existing competition. In terms of agricultural education he stated that efforts should be made to re-orient the existing course curriculum according to the current employment needs. He also emphasized the need to popularize the course especially in rural areas, as it will ensure the enrollment of students from rural areas. According to him another reason for low enrollment in agricultural education is low priority given by the society compared to medicine and other professional courses.

Dr Suhasini Rao, Director of Instruction, Home Science. UAS

Dr Suhasini Rao, Director of Instruction Home Science explained that the mission of the course is to educate rural female students. In order to improve the enrollment of girls from rural areas an additional 10 per cent marks are allotted for them who produce a certificate assuring their education in rural areas till class 8th or 9th. The students also need to under go a practical test of identifying various items viz., seeds, farming instruments, pests, pesticides etc. Thus, of the 50 students enrolled, 50 per cent are from rural areas. She informed that initially the faculty members visited near by villages to popularize the course and to motivate the girls to enroll into the course. If enough employment opportunities are provided, the enrollment percentage of female students would improve to a considerable extent.

Dr J.H.Kulkarni, Director of Instruction, College of Agriculture. UAS

Dr J.H.Kulkarni, Director of Instruction, College of Agriculture opined that the annual intake capacity in other professional courses like engineering and medical are more compared to agriculture. Low enrollment of girls in agricultural education is due to the fact that girls fare better at 10+2 level and opt for engineering and medical courses than agricultural education. The rural students pursue commerce-based courses rather than science courses as their school education is in vernacular language and bulk of the subjects in arts are dealt in vernacular language while the science stream courses are dealt in English. The rural students in agricultural education fare better in field/practical oriented


courses compared to lab/research work. Intake of students in agricultural education will improve, if the course content is revised as per the employment needs. Introduction of polytechnic courses will increase enrollment from rural areas. Reduction in the rate of interest on loans by commercial banks for agricultural based business will promote agri graduates to begin own entrepreneurship.

Dr Sunil Puri, Director of Instruction, IGKVV

Dr Sunil Puri Director Of Instruction, IGKVV felt that education was male dominated in the past but due to the reservations provided for girls/women the enrollment of female students has improved at various levels. Thus, women have occupied many prestigious posts. Agricultural education is not recognized in the society because of its poor employment opportunities. The private sector prefer basic science graduates and are trained with agricultural techniques as they expect low pay compared to agricultural graduates. He opined that the course duration of 3 years for agricultural education would increase enrollment of rural students especially girls as it reduce their marriage age. The poor demand of agricultural graduates is due to the lack of field orientation and their unwillingness to work in rural areas. Policy makers should aim at employment guarantee schemes exclusively for agricultural graduates. He emphasized on banking system to provide the required incentives to agriculture graduates and NABARD can directly provide the required loans at low rate of interest.

The special quota for rural students, which earlier was around 45 per cent of the available seats, was reduced to mere 2 per cent in recent times. Establishment of agricultural colleges in rural areas will definitely improve the enrollment of rural students.

Dr Shastri, Dean of Agriculture, IGKVV

Dr Shastri Dean of Agriculture, IGKVV Raipur informed that four agricultural colleges viz., Raipur, Bilaspur, Jagdalpur and Ambicapur are affiliated under IGKVV. About 80 per cent of the student population belong to/fall under agrarian group. The enrollment of rural students in the course has increased due to negative propaganda on agricultural education by media. Diploma course were started in the year 2002 to improve the enrollment of rural students in agricultural education to enhance their skills and market their services after attaining training in need based, location specific areas. Efforts of the university should be directed to publicize the courses in rural areas.

Dr Patil, Associate Professor, College of Agriculture, Latur, MAU

Dr Patil, Associate Professor for Soil Science College of Agriculture, Latur narrated that girls enrollment in higher education has improved to a large extent and agricultural education is no exception. The major reason for students to join in BSc (Ag) as majority of their predecessors have been absorbed in the state government departments through MPSC. Few joined the course with an intension to get a professional degree. Enrollment of rural students will increase if the course is offered in regional language.


Dr M.R.Naidu, Associate Dean, Agricultural College, Naira, ANGRAU

Dr.M.R.Naidu, Associate Dean, Agricultural College, Naira furnished his comments and suggestions on issues put forth before him. His opinion on private colleges offering agriculture is that the students lack the basic foundation and hence cannot compete with agricultural graduates in agriculture sector. The polytechnic courses in agriculture offered by the university are effective for the students who cannot afford higher education and also there are large avenues for employment. Commenting on source of employment to girls, he stated that the girls of the past hesitated to do jobs but the present generation of girls have proved themselves to be hard working, sincere and honest in all avenues. In the WTO era, there is a lot of scope for the processed and value added products in the domestic and international market. In this backdrop, the role of women in agriculture is very vital.

Dr (Mrs) Savita Singal, Dean, I.C. College of Home Science, CCSHAU, Hisar

Dr. Savita Singal, entrance examination for admissions is the major reason for the poor enrolment of girl students in agricultural courses. Rural girls find it difficult to compete in entrance examinations as there are only very few good schools in rural areas in comparison to urban areas. There should be reservation in admission for rural girls in at least 10% of total seats. They also require financial assistance. There should also be job opportunities for agricultural graduates. There is less awareness about agricultural courses among girls from rural areas in comparison to those from urban areas.

B. Discussions with senior faculty

Dr R.K.P.Singh, Professor (Agril Eco), RAU, Pusa

Dr. Singh mentioned that there should be reservation in admission for encouraging the rural girls. There is need to change the examination pattern or reduce the minimum marks for the admission in the entrance exam (50 % seats are vacant because students could not get even minimum qualifying marks). Everyone cant afford the cost of hostel accommodation. Parents are not encouraging their daughters to go for higher education, because they do not want to spend or invest money on educating the girl child, instead of that they will prefer to give that money in dowry.

Dr P.B.Jha , Prof. & Chairman ( Plant breeding), RAU,Pusa

According to Dr.P.B.Jha, Chairman of Plant Breeding, usually women go for general education/degree like BA, B.Sc rather than for professional degree like B.Sc (Ag) etc. The professional degree could be more arduous to women. To encourage rural girl students into agricultural education, upto 30% of the seats may be reserved for them. Further more, they could be encouraged by providing scholarships etc.

Dr (Mrs) Sangeeta, Associate professor, Dept. of Home Science, RAU,Pusa


Dr. Sangeeta stated that the participation of rural girls are less due to state level combined entrance exam. Girls from rural areas find it difficult to compete in entrance examination and they are unable to even get the minimum marks. Only two students got admission in B.Sc (Home Sc.) during the last year. Out of 30 seats, remaining 28 seats are vacant. So many girls are interested to join the course, but are unable to get even the minimum marks in the entrance exam. There should be reservation / quota for rural girls in admission. She suggested that some of the questions should be related to the rural situation also as this can help students from rural areas to qualify in the test. There should be programmes in rural areas to make people aware about agricultural education and the benefits arising from that. There should be short term courses to develop entrepreneurial skills for rural girls. Financial assistance may also have to be provided to them.

Dr R.N. Yadav, Professor (Agril.Eco), RAU, Pusa

Dr.R.N.Yadav, stated that, parents in rural areas are not willing to send their daughter outside for higher education due to several social factors, weak financial status and several apprehensions related to undesirable changes in character. Another reason is the lack of awareness about the nature of competitive examinations, educational institutions and job prospects and the advantages of such education. Ensuring job availability after studying agriculture is the only way to attract girls to agricultural education.

Dr (Mrs) Meera Singh, Assoc.Prof. & Head, Dept. of Home Science, extension education, RAU, Pusa

According to Dr. Meera Singh, there is lack of awareness and publicity among the rural girls about the agricultural courses. They are also worried about the nature of co-education in agricultural courses. This kind of a mind-set has to be changed. There should be weightage /reservation of seats for girl students in admission. There should be financial assistance / incentives for rural girls.

Dr Ashok K.Singh, Prof. & Chairman, Dept. of Extension Education, RAU,

Dr. A.K. Singh, suggested there is need to provide short- term courses in agriculture pertaining to horticulture and related enterprises like agricultural processing.

Dr H.C.Singh, Head of Soil Science & Asstt. Registrar, NDUAT, Faizabad.

Dr. H.C. Singh, , observed that there are only very few agricultural colleges compared to other general degree college or even professional course like Medical/Engg etc. In rural areas, parent are not willing to send their daughter far away from home for higher education, due to several social factor, financial problems and apprehensions related to security/safety of their children.

There is less number of enrolments of rural girls in admission because rural girls are not well trained to answer questions in competitive examinations and so often fail in entrance examinations. Rural girls are getting good quality of education at school level. But a girl


child also helps her mother in doing household work after coming to school and due to irregular power supply and no desirable environment for studying at home, she cannot concentrate on her study for competitions/entrance exam. Another important reason is that parents in rural areas are not giving much importance for their daughter’s education in comparison to son (it may be due to gender bias / mindset/ financial constraints/ apprehension of character/security/safety, not willing for co-education etc). Parent do not want to spent money on a girl child, because they think she will go to other’s house after marriage. There is need for changing this mindset of gender bias.

Early marriage is also a hindrance for higher education in rural areas. There must be quota for rural girls in admission and financial support like scholarships or charging only a nominal fees and other incentives for rural girls. There is need to improve socio-economic condition to rural people for increasing the level of education. The low participation in agricultural courses is also due to the fact that the priority of the parents as well students is for other professional courses such as medicine or engineering then other professional courses like agriculture or other courses.

Dr B. N. Singh, Professor NDUAT, Faizabad.

Dr B.N Singh suggested that the girls should get preference or reservation in jobs. For the encouraging rural female students in agril education there should be more scholarships for them. Hostel facilities should be provided to all girl students. Poor enrolment of rural students is due to limited number of degree colleges and lack of awareness on agricultural courses in rural areas. Keeping these things in view, there is need to open more degree colleges in remote / rural areas. There is also a need to improve the quality of education at school level in rural areas for making them capable of competing in entrance examinations.

Dr R. A. Singh, Assoc. Professor NDUAT, Faizabad.

According to Dr. R.A.Singh, there should be job security in each discipline/area in agricultural sector for rural female students for encouraging them. Hostel facility is essential at cheaper rates with security and safety for girl students. There should be reservation in admission and provision of scholarships to them. There is need to open more agricultural college in rural areas. There is a need to provide entrepreneurial skills through training to agri-graduates for starting their own business and govt should provide financial assistance to them like loan at lower levels of interest.

Dr S. Chhikora, Professor and Head, Dept of Economics, NDUAT

Dr. Chhikora explained that there is need for revamping courses to make them more in tune with the demands of the industry. There should be more efforts in the direction of campus interview and selection of the students by different industries. There is need to have programmes to promote awareness about agricultural education in rural and urban areas.


Dr Saroj.S. Jeet Singh, Professor and Head, Dept of Food and Nutrition, NDUAT

Dr. S. S. J. Singh suggested that there is need to create awareness about agricultural courses and its advantages at 10+2 level through counselling/publicity/advertisement etc. Another important thing is that there is need to change the mindset of the guardians/parents of rural students for encouraging the girls to go for higher education. Government should provide all facilities related to higher education at nominal rate for the rural girls. There should be provision of campus selection of agri-graduates by private companies.

Dr Shukhbir Singh, Principal, Campus School, NDUAT

According to Dr. Singh, causes of low participation in higher education are as follows: Early marriage Not aware about Agril. Courses/education Nature of job/field work Generally girls like teaching job (it is the most respectable propfession in rural

areas) Parents are not willing to send their daughter outside their districts and are not

interested to put them in hostels.

Dr Pushpa Khadia, HOD, Human and Child Development, UAS, Dharwad

Though agriculture education is not the first choice for majority of the students at 10+2 level, it is always their next choice as the employment opportunities in this sector are more compared to other sectors.

Dr Rama Devi, Coorinator, DATTC, Amadalavalasa

On provision of accommodation, conveyance and security at work place, urban women agricultural graduates will perform better than their male counterparts. Time is usually constraint for women.

Dr Kanaka Raju, Head, ARS on Mesta, Amadalavalasa

The girls are educated till Class X with the intention that they are capable of decision-making. The programmes like mid-day meals at schools increased girls enrollment in primary and secondary education. Farmers perceive stationary jobs with regular income suitable for girls.

Dr Rayapu Reddy, Training Organiser, KVK, Amadalavalasa

Women as a group are confident in resolving their problems and getting things done. Awareness campaigns should be organized by KVK towards higher education.


Field experience be made mandatory for scientists of ICAR and SAUs in initial stages of their career to understand the ground realities and in later stages can take up research activities that fulfill farmers requirements.

Sri Ananda Rao, JDA, Srikakulam

Department officials reside in towns and lack the service motto resulting in poor transfer of technology. Moreover, they are burdened with desk top jobs at office and are unable to devote at least 25 per cent of their time in field.

Dr Sarangi, Director, CIFA, Bhubaneswar

Migration in rural areas is the major cause for poor enrollment. Girls are more effective in transfer of technology compared to their male counterparts. Polytechnic education in fisheries discipline is not necessary.

Dr J.P.Verma, Training Organiser, CIFA-KVK, Bhubaneswar

to reduce migration rate of labour in rural areas, CIFA is conducting various trainings aimed at improving their entrepreneur skills.

Dr H.H.Chawla, Assistant Professor, AAU, Anand

Rural girls with Class X qualification are admitted into certificate course in Home Science on the basis of merit and are paid a monthly stipend of Rs.190/. Teaching and nursing courses are most preferred followed by the Home Science certificate course.

Dr Meena Sandhya, Assistant Professor, MPUAT

To promote the concept of income-generating activities among rural women the university conducted need based training programmes in nutrition, block printing, tie and dye etc., by forming SHGs.

Dr Dixit, Retired JDA, Rajasthan

Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) was launched in 1985 and funded by state government till 1990. The scheme is from then continued by state government. Under this program, an annual incentive of Rs 1000/-and Rs 3000/- provided to the girls admitted in 10+2 (agriculture) and B.Sc.(Ag.)respectively. Women candidates after completion of post graduation in agriculture prefer to stay back at home rather than opting for field-based jobs.

Mr Bipin Deshmukh, Principal Government College, Chandrakuri

Agricultural education is considered as a non-technical education both by the teachers as well as students.


Mr Narayana Bhai Patel, Pricipal, Government Junior college, Anand

Professional education in agriculture is not encouraged by the staff as in that region the aim of the graduates is to go abroad i.e., U.K. and later settle with family.

Mr Ravi Kumar, Professor, Basic Science College, Bhubhaneswar

The trend of the students is to work in IT sector which offers good salaries and valued high in the society compared to professional agricultural education.

C. Discussions with NGO officials

Mr Som Dev Tyagi, Abhudaya Sansthan, Achhoti: The aim of the organization is to impart education skill along with the human values to the professional and rural youth with a desire to provide total solution in all dimensions of human life.

Sri P.S.Appa Rao MAVISA, Srikakulam: The rural girls are made to accompany their parents to work in the field in peak farming operations stage, thus disturbing their education while some girls stay back at home to look after the siblings and household duties.

Ms Vastalla, Dharwad: Lack of support to the girls from the family prevents them from pursuing higher education. Promotion of agri-based enterprises through value-addition and food processing would encourage girls’ enrollment in higher education.

D. Discussions with progressive farmers

Mr R.Patel, Farmer, Chandrakuri: Farming is not a profitable enterprise. Myself and other farmers plan to quit farming to migrate to towns and earn livelihood there.

Vimal Bhai Chowda, Chandadi: My fore-fathers migrated from Gujarat and took farming as an enterprise taking leased land and developed to a level that their family owns 500 acres of land. Farmers of the region have very low risk taking attitude.

Vijay Chowda, Gomchi: My daughter and is now pursuing MBA in Rajasthan. Her education would make her financially independent specially at her in-laws place after marriage.

Mr M. Appalanarasimham, Progressive farmer, Buravalli: Girls are educated till Class X but they are restricted to higher education to look after household duties. Suitable jobs for women are in teaching and clerical departments. Financially weak position to afford tuitions or apply for competitive examinations

Mr Gangadhar Patnaik, Farmer, Garak: The admission to professional courses is based on merit at 10+2 level and hence; the rural students with minimum educational


facilities, lack of proficiency in English language and poor financial status cannot compete with the urban students.

Mr Valji Patel, Sarpanch & Progressive farmer, Ballokaghoda: As an adopted village of MPUAT, all the farmers in the village are adopting vermicompost in their floriculture fields and earning annual profit of Rs 12000/-.

E. Discussions with agricultural students

Lack of publicity by the university regarding various courses being offered resulting in unawareness of the same in rural areas. B.Sc.(Ag.) student of UAS, Dharwad.

Entrepreneurship oriented courses be included in the course curriculum to initiate their own enterprise after graduation. B.Sc.(Ag.) student of UAS, Dharwad.

The students are optimistic about their career prospects in agricultural education. However, their faculty do not encourage them informing about careers in agriculture instead, suggest them to diversify from agriculture to other fields. B.Sc.(Ag.) students of AAU, Anand.


Annexure-5.3Case Studies

Case Study-1: Sri.Chennaiah, Farmer, Kamalapur Village, Dharwad Dist

Sri.Chennaiah is a progressive farmer of Kamalapur village, which is 5 km from Dharwad has become a part and parcel of Dharwad town, because of the latter’s rapid expansion.

Sri Chennaiah (76), s/o. Late Karabasavaiah is a progressive farmer of the village. He is a large farmer with holding of 12.5 acres of which 7.0 acres is under Cotton, 3.5 acres chillies and the remaining 2.0 acres is under jowar. He is educated till Class X and hence aware of the recent technological advancements in the field of agriculture through various sources viz., radio, television and scientists of UAS, Dharwad.

Sri Chennaiah and his wife Smt Iramma (65) had six children of which two are girls. As Smt.Iramma happens to be daughter of a Secretary of Co-operative society, she studied till Class VII in those days. The upper caste girls were educated to help the male members in performing the religious activities. Smt Iramma had assisted her children in providing solutions to the problems faced by them. The educational qualifications of his children are as follows:

SNo Name Sex Age Qualification Present occupation

1 Basavaraj M 46 Diploma in Agriculture Field Asst, UAS Dharwad

2 Mangala F 42 Class X House wife3 Gangadhar M 38 PG in Commerce Commerce

Lecturer4 Gummagolmath M 36 Ph.D in Agril.Eco Research Associate5 Anasuya F 34 B.A (Economics) House wife6 Chandrasekhar M 33 B.A. (Arts) Student

Sri Chennaiah had spent his life devoted to his occupation i.e., agriculture and is content with what he possess. As a respected elderly man who has seen the ups and down of life his comments and suggestions are valuable for the society. With an educational qualification of Class X in those days, he had many options to be appointed as Secondary division clerk/ Primary school teacher/ Sub-assistant in Agriculture department/ Secretary in PACS. He rejected all the offers with the sudden loss of his father to shoulder the responsibilities of earning bread and butter for his family. His counterparts who were appointed in state government departments then, have retired in various capacities and leading a successful life.

Commenting on profitability of agriculture occupation in the past and present, he said that an investment of Rs100/- had reaped Rs200/- in the past while in the present


circumstances the same amount incurred would yield only Rs50/- lamenting that agriculture has become an unprofitable venture. Agriculture was once a noble profession in the past while it is unable to feed the family and fulfill the basic requirements. Organic farming techniques which were adopted previously are being popularized by the UAS, Dharwad. His fellow farmers are also continuing farming but are not encouraging their children to continue farming owing to the high costs, physical labour and mental stress involved in it with returns uncertain, involvement of high risk associated with the weather conditions.

Sri Chennaiah wanted to educate all the children alike because he was deprived of higher education due to financial constraints. His elder daughter, Ms.Mangala was educated up to Class X in the village. Being the eldest daughter, she had an additional burden of looking upon her siblings and household activities. Though she pleaded for higher education, her plea was rejected on the grounds that sending girls outside the village would create rumours that they mingle openly with boys that later on hamper the girls’ marriage prospects.

With passage of time, the attitudinal change in the society towards girls has changed for the better and girls were educated as per their choice. However, an incident that took place later had brought set back on the society. A girl who successfully pursued M.A. (Journalism) from the village rejected the marriage alliance brought by her parents and instead married her classmate belonging to a different community. The consequence of the incident was clear. Educated girls would not heed the advice of parents/elders and take decisions on their own. Girls were not sent to long distances to pursue their career but had to be content with the education available in the vicinity. Thus, they are protected and monitored by the society. Ms.Anasuya was a victim of the incident and she had to take up B.A. (Economics) offered in the village against her desire of pursuing Home Science at Dharwad and settle as Assistant Agricultural Officer.

The avenues for the current generation of youth are in the fields of education, health and defence as the country invariably needs their services and thus potential is created for employment. The society in general opines that the suitable job for girls is teacher/lecturer, which can be taken up after pursuing graduation in arts/social sciences. Higher education for girls has also been requisite for suitable matrimonial alliances in the modern society. In discussion about his village, he made the following observations

A girl named Ms.Sudha, hailing from the village, belonging to down trodden sections and devoid of amenities had pursued B.Sc. (Ag.) with determination and is now posted as Assistant Agricultural Officer in the state.

Agriculture department is defunct in the state and hence the agricultural universities are requested by the farming community to have a direct network with them.


Case study –2 : Yellappa Mandival Appa Amar Goud, Farmer, Garak Village, Dharwad Dist.

Yellappa Mandival Appa AmarGoud is 57-year-old progressive farmer of Garak village, Dharwad District. Yellapa stays in joint family comprising of 60 members, which includes his 4 brothers (excluding him) and their families. He is the eldest and is a father to 5 children (3 sons and 2 daughters)

His father was an illiterate, but educated his children including daughters. All the siblings except for one sister are educated till 10th standard. His wife is illiterate and same is the status of all the elderly women members. The children and the daughter in-laws of the family are educated of which one (daughter in-law) is pursuing B.A after the marriage. The following table shows the educational status of his children

SNo Members Age Marital status Educational Status

1 Munii Amma

(Daughter)

26 Married SSC

2 Ambica (Daughter) 18 Unmarried Completed 10+2, wants

to pursue B.A

3 Eraapa (Son) 24 Married SSC

4 Devendraapa (Son) 22 Married Completed 10+2

5 Sanghappa (Son) 21 Unmarried B.com final year

Family owes 80 acres of land .The siblings jointly carry the cultivation, as the fragmentation of land results in comparatively less produce and thus low income.

Agriculture being the primary occupation of the family, cultivation is carried out in both the seasons i.e. is Kharif and Rabi .In Kharif, they mainly produce cotton and rice whereas in Rabi they take up dry land crop cultivation such as red gram and jowar. The annual income of the family is approximately Rs 85,000 to Rs 90,000.Apart from agriculture he owes a small Kirana shop, but the income from this comparatively very less.

Yellappa being educated realizes the importance of education, hence allowed his children irrespective of their gender to pursue higher education. According to him due to poor quality of education in rural areas, students fail to get good percentage at 10th standard and hence could not get admission in reputed college specially in science stream. Further the medium of instruction in rural areas being Kannada (Regional language), students face difficulties in understanding the science terminologies in English and thus opt for commerce-based courses at 10+2 level.


He stated that to his knowledge none of the student from his village has enrolled in agricultural education and the primary reason for this is majority of the villagers including the rural youth are not aware of existence of agricultural education though the village is just 5kms away from the agricultural university (UAS, Dharwad).

Yellaapa is aware of the agricultural education and hence wanted his younger son to take up agir-education but due to low percentage in 10th standard, he was unable to get admission in the course and joined in commerce at 10+2 level. Presently he is pursuing B.Com in Dharward City and is simultaneously working as a marketing executive in a private enterprise.

When enquired about his views on girl’s enrollment in agricultural education, he opined that, agricultural sector demands fieldwork in distant and scattered field and therefore is unsafe and inappropriate for girls. According to him girls should always prefer table work jobs and hence wants his younger daughter to take up teaching profession as it not only safe, but also recognized in society.

Case study - 3 : Bajrang Ganga Ram Godgave, Farmer, Bhatkedha Village, Latur District

Bajrang Ganga Ram Godgave is a progressive farmer of Bhatkedha village, Latur district. Bajrang is educated up to 7th standard and owes 8 acres of land on which he grows soyabeans, red gram, and green gram. He has two sons and one daughter. His wife is educated up to 7th standard and daughter is educated up to 9th standard and discontinued after that as he got her married immediately after attending maturity. Another reason for discontinuing higher studies was his unwillingness to send girl child outside the village to pursue higher studies. Among his sons, elder son as completed his B.Com and is a bank employee in Nagpur and the younger one has studied up to 9 th

standard and is looking after the farm. His elder daughter in-law has completed M.A and is working as schoolteacher in Nagpur and the second daughter in-law is educated up to intermediate and is helping her husband in farm work.

According to Bajarang a decade back due unawareness and lack of higher education facilities in rural areas literacy level in villages especially in terms of girl’s education was low. But now due to availability of high school in rural areas all the children including girls are educated at least up to 10th standard.

He stated that after realizing the importance of higher education he is putting all the possible efforts to give quality education to his grandchildren including granddaughter. It was interesting to note that in his view higher education was restricted to medicine and engineering only and agri education was the last in his priority list. According to him agriculture is not considered prestigious in the society. He stated that agricultural education is something, which his forefathers are carrying since ages and hence cannot be considered as professional as it does not require any technical knowledge. This attitude of his is mainly because he relates agricultural education to farming alone.


Bajrang informed that as his elder son is in Nagpur, his elder grand children are getting quality education compared to his younger grand children and hence is planning to send his younger grand daughter (second son’s daughter) to Nagpur with his wife to pursue her education in English medium school. Bajarang revealed that he is ready to keep his land on mortgage for his grand children’s education.

Though Bajrang is aware about agri education and existence of agricultural university is not willing does not want his grand children to pursue agricultural education According to him as agriculture is nature dependent there is no future in farming and hence none of his grandchildren want to take up agricultural education. He opined that agricultural education is not suitable for girls, as it demands field work in scattered and distant field and hence want his granddaughter take up teaching profession or any other profession, which involves only table work. According to him efforts should to be taken to improve the quality of education in rural areas specially in terms of improving English language, as it will help the rural students to fare well in competitive exams.

Case study – 4: Vishnu Pandhari Wangwade, Farmer, Mamdapur Village, Latur District

Vishnu Pandhari Wangwade is a progressive farmer of Mamdapur village of Latur district .He owes 20 acres of land and grows green gram, soyabeen, red gram and rice. He is educated upto 7th standard whereas his wife is a matriculate and is a housewife. Among his sons, elder son is pursuing 12th in arts and the younger one is in 10th standard. The reason for opting arts in intermediate was low percentage in SSC. He stated that he wanted his elder son to take up agriculture in graduation but due to poor quality of education in schools in rural areas the students fail to get admission in science courses and hence are forced to take up arts or commerce in intermediate. When enquired about the reservation in agricultural education for rural student, he opined that he came to know of this special quota only through this meeting.

According to Vishnu, education for girls in Maharashtra till graduation is free. However, the quality of school education in rural areas, specially compared to English medium schools (Missionary School and Central schools), is very poor as he compares with his brothers kin studying in Nagpur school. He stated that in government school the medium of instruction is Marathi (regional language) and hence the rural students can’t fare well in competitive exams and thus will not land up in good jobs in government sector. He opined that majority of the educated youth migrate to cities and towns in search of jobs as the rural youth who are literate till intermediate or graduation fill inferior to work in fields. Though very few get jobs in private sector, they prefer to be in city and work as laboures and this mainly because working as laboures in urban areas is considered to be prestigious than working in their own farms or other farms in rural areas.

When asked about the poor enrollment of girls in rural areas in higher education, particularly agricultural education, He stated that as agriculture is nature dependent there is no future in this sector. He opined that agricultural education is not suitable for girls,


as it demands fieldwork in scattered and distant field thus creating problem in terms of girls security. He stated that girls should prefer jobs which demands only table work and hence should opt for teachers jobs as this profession is respected and recognized in society compared to any other field based jobs. He opined that the girls who have completed their diploma in agri-education are presently working as gramsevikas, which involves traveling to scattered and distant places. This profession demands interaction with different people at grass root levels, which is not only unsafe but also is looked down by the society thus inturn creating problems in finding suitable match. When enquired about his views on female agri graduates, postgraduates and doctorates, he stated that agriculture professional of any cadre has to work in fields and hence is unsafe for girls.

Case study – 5 : Babu Rao Ambekar, Farmer, Kolpa Village, Latur District

Babu Rao Ambekar is a 51-year-old resident of Kolpa village of Latur district. He is farmer by profession and owes 32acres of land on which he grows jowar, green gram, red gram and rice. Farming is carried out both Kharif and Rabi season. He is educated upto 10+2 and his wife is matriculate. Bapu is a father of two sons. Both of them are married, of which elder son is lawyer by profession and the younger one is educated upto 10 th and is looking after farm. Among his daughter in-laws elder daughter in-law is pursuing M.A after marriage and younger one is educated upto intermediate and helps her husband in farming.

Bapu says that after realizing the importance of higher education he is putting all the possible efforts to give quality education to his daughter in-law. He proudly states that he is planning to send his grandchildren to Latur city for higher education and if required he is ready to keep his land on mortgage for giving them quality education. He states that being educated, he realizes the importance of higher education and hence is allowing his daughter in-law to pursue higher education. According to him due to poor quality of education in rural areas, students fail to get good percentage at 10 th standard and hence could not get admission in reputed college specially in science stream. Further the medium of instruction in rural areas being Marathi (Regional language), students face difficulties in understanding the science terminologies in English and thus opt for commerce-based courses at 10+2 level.

Though Bapu was aware of provision of quota for farmers in agricultural education he is not willing to send his grand children in this stream and same was the opinion of his sonsIt was interesting to note that in his view higher education is restricted to medicine and engineering only and agri education was the last in his priority list. According to him agriculture is not considered prestigious in the society. He stated that agricultural education is something, which his forefathers are carrying since ages and hence cannot be considered as professional as it does not require any technical knowledge Bapu states that to his knowledge none of the student from his village has enrolled in agricultural education and the primary reason for this is majority of the villagers


including the rural youth are not aware of existence of agricultural education though the village is just 1kms away from the agricultural university (College of agriculture)

When asked about the poor enrollment of girls from rural areas in higher education, particularly agricultural education, he opined that agricultural education is not suitable for girls.It demands fieldwork in scattered and distant field thus creating problem in terms of girls security. He stated that girls should prefer jobs which demands only table work and hence should opt for teachers jobs as this profession is respected and recognized in society compared to any other field based jobs. He opined that the girls who have completed their diploma in agri-education are presently working as gramsevikas, which involves traveling to scattered and distant places. This profession demands interaction with different people at grass root levels, which is not only unsafe but also is looked down by the society. He stated that these field trips will unknowingly involve them in village politics and inturn will create problems for their family members thus creating problems in finding suitable match.

Case study – 6: Vijay Chowda, Farmer, Gomchi Village, Raipur District

Vijay Chowda is a 47-year-old rich farmer of Gomchi village, Raipur District Chattisgarh. He is an agricultural graduate and his wife is a graduate in arts and is housewife. Mr. Chowda owes 200 acres of land and carries horticultural cultivation on the entire land .His market is extended upto Ambicapur and Jagdalpur, which is around 400 kms away from Raipur.He, has one daughter and a son. His daughter is pursing MBA in Rajasthan. He allowed his daughter to pursue higher education to make her financially independent specially at her in-laws place after marriage .His son has completed 10+2 in life science and wants to pursue graduation in agriculture in order to look after his farm.

When enquired about his views on girls enrolment in higher education with special emphasis on agricultural education. He stated that unlike a decade back rural girls are now going as far as Rajasthan to pursue higher education. This is mainly because reservations for girls in various professional courses. Mr Chowda stated that though the status of girl has improved the attitude in interiors specially among the marginal farmers is still the same. This mainly because of their poor financial status and hence government should provide special incentives exclusively for rural students in higher education.

According to him in India farmers have very low risk taking attitude and hence belong to the poor strata of the society. According to him during initial days of his career as an agriculture graduate he tried to educate the farmers of his village on the latest agricultural technologies, but none of them showed interest. He states that Indian farmers are very low attitude in adoption of innovative technologies and same is with agricultural education. Mr. Chowda states that people in India, not only in villages but also in urban areas relate agriculture to farming alone and hence is not recognized in society unlike other professional course i.e. engineering and medicine.


He informed that his forefathers were migrants of Rajasthan. During that period they owed around 5 acres of land, but due their accepting attitude for innovative technologies they gradually developed their farming, thus became landlords of the village. Mr Chowda states that it was his father who encouraged him for agricultural education. When enquired whether he would have allowed his daughter for agricultural education, he said “MBA was her choice and he would have definitely encouraged her for agricultural education if she would have opted for it.”

According to him now a day due erratic climatic conditions, agriculture has become risk hence most the marginal farmers are giving their land on lease and migrating to towns and cities for better livelihood. He stated because of his son willingness to take agricultural education he joined him in it otherwise, he could have also given his land on lease and migrated to Raipur

He opined that another reason for low enrolment in agricultural education is low employment opportunities and less scope for own entrepreneur. Mr Chowda states that government should formulate policies, which would ensure employment guarantee for agricultural graduates in government as well as private sector

Case study –7 : Mr. Ram Lalit Kuswaha, Farmer, Harpur Village, Pusa

Mr. Ram Lalit Kuswaha (42) is a small progressive farmer of Harpur village located at a distance of 4 K.M. from RAU, Pusa. Number of family member is 6. He has 3 children (Two daughters and one son and father).

Ram Lalit’s father is an illiterate. But Mr. Ram Lalit is educated upto class 7. Presently he is involved in his own farming has also worked as an agricultural labour on daily wages on other’s fields. For the last 6-7 years he has been cultivating flowers on 0.5 acre of his own land, which he realised as more profitable than paddy, wheat etc. He is willing to educate his children. Eldest daughter is studying in class XI, the second one is in class VII and his son is in class 3rd. (All children are going to school).

He fully understands the importance of education. But he thinks he won’t be able to afford the fees for his daughter’s education after 12 th class. At time of admission in class 10, he paid the fee of Rs.500/- with lots of difficulty. High school and inter-college is about 6 kms away from his village and his daughter is going to school by walking.

According to him, generally, parents are thinking about the marriage of their daughter after 10th or 12th class. If girls are highly qualified (graduate/post graduate) then parents have to look for a groom of same level in education and demand of dowry will be very high from boy’s side (Perception of villagers is that highly educated boys only belong to rich families, as a poor person can not afford the cost of higher education). The demand of dowry would be high in that case. Educated daughter will never be willing to get married with a less educated person. There is poor quality of education in govt. schools in comparison to private schools in rural areas. The private schools are better but fee structure is very high and it is also difficult to get admission in such schools.


Case study –8 : Shri M.P. Jha, Udaipur Village, Samastipur Dist, Bihar

Udaipur village located 30 KM away from RAU, Pusa. Dr. M.P. Jha (66) is a highly educated progressive farmer and one of the respectable person in his village. He is a large farmer with 25-acre farmland. He is growing different crops like wheat, rice, tobacco, rapeseeds and mustard, maize and vegetables. According to him, tobacco is the most profitable cash crop among his crops. He has a PhD in plant breeding. He is very much aware about the recommended package of practices, latest varieties and recent technological advancements in the field of agriculture. He has strong liaison with State Agricultural Universities, print media as well as electronic media. He depends on agricultural magazines, newspapers and electronic media like Radio, Television etc. for latest information on agriculture.

Mrs Jha (60) is a housewife and having education upto class 7. She has three children of which two sons and one daughter. The educational qualifications of his children are as follows:

SNo Name of the children’s Age Qualification Present Occupation

1. Dr.A.K.Jha (Son) 37 Ph.D. Service2. Akhilesh Kumar Jha (Son) 33 M.Sc. Service (Defence)3. Seema Jha (Daughter) 30 B.Sc. (Home Sc.) Service

Dr. P.M. Jha, pointed out the following reasons for low participation of rural girls in agricultural education. First and the most important is lack of awareness about agricultural education. Second important reason is the conservative society, where people do not like their daughter to stay away from the family/home. The third important reason is the poor financial condition of rural people in Bihar and fourth important point is that it is very difficult to find out suitable match for highly educated girls.

For increasing participation of rural girls in agricultural education, he suggested that the state govt. or State agricultural Universities should organise mass awareness program in rural areas through advertisement about the agricultural courses and opportunities in this area. There should be reservation in admission for rural girls. There should be provision for financial assistance like scholarship to poor rural girls. There should be counselling in schools to raise awareness among students about the agricultural courses and corresponding career options.


Case study –9 : Shri Ashok Kumar Pandey, Jorium Village, Faizabad District, UP

Sh Ashok Kumar Pandey is a 52 year old progressive farmer of Jorium village, located 3 KM away from NDUA&T, Kumarjanj, Faizabad. He has studied upto 12 th class. He owns 1.5 acres of land and grows paddy, wheat, rapeseeds and mustard, pea etc. His wife has studied upto class 5.He has two daughters and one son. Eldest daughter is married and she has studied only upto class 8. His second daughter is studying in Class 11 and his son is studying in class 9.

He knows the importance of higher education but due to poor transport facility from village to schools, inter college and degree college, girls are unable to get higher educations. High School and Inter College are 10 kms away from his village. Village is 2.5 KM away from main road, and girls find it difficult to walk daily this distance. It is possible to go by cycle if girls are in a group of 4-5. His eldest daughter stopped going to school after 8th standard due to the unfavourable environment prevailing in the villages. If a single girl is going to schools/college located outside the village, then villages can potentially create rumour that they mingle openly with the boys and after that she will face problem in getting a good alliance. This is due the conservative nature of the rural society.

However this situation is changing to some extent in recent years. Parents are currently trying to give equal opportunities for education to girls and boys. He purchased cycle for the second daughter and she is going in a group of 3-4 girls from the village. Still he doesn’t have the confidence for sending his daughter alone by cycle keeping ion view the safety and security in the village. Due to financial constraints, villagers cannot afford the cost of hostel accommodation. According to him, higher education is necessary for girls to find a suitable life partner.


Chapter - X

Abbrevations

AAU Assam Agricultural University, JorhatAAU Anand Agricultural University, AnandAAU Allahabad Agricultural University, AllahabadAGRIUNIS Agricultural Universities Information SystemAMU Aligarh Muslim University, AligarhANGRAU Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, HyderabadBCKV Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, MohanpurBAU Birsa Agricultural University ,RanchiBHU Benaras Hindu University, VaranasiBSKKV Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, DapoliCAU Central Agricultural University, ImphalCCSHAU Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agril. University, HisarCIFE Central Institute of Fisheries Education, MumbaiCSAUAT Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, KanpurCSKHPKV Ch. Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Viswavidyalaya , PalampurCU Central UniversityDARE Department of Agricultural Research and EducationDST Department of Science and TechnologyDU Deemed UniversityFAO Food and Agricultural OrganizationGATS General Agreement on Trade and ServicesGBPUAT Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, PantnagarGDP Gross Domestic ProductGMO Genetically Modified OrganismsGOI Government of IndiaIAMR Institute of Applied Manpower ResearchIARI Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New DelhiICAR Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIGKVV Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, RaipurIVRI Indian Veterinary Research Institute, IzatnagarJNKVV Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Viswavidyalaya, JabalpurJAU Junagadh Aricultural University, JunagadhNAU Navasari Aricultural University, NavasariKAU Kerala Agricultural University, ThrissurKVAFSU Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fishery Sciences University, BidarMAU Marathwada Agricultural University, ParbhaniMASFU Maharashtra Animal Science & Fisheries University, NagpurMPKV Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, RahuriMPUAT Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, UdaipurNAAS National Academy of Agricultural Sciences


NARS National Agricultural Research SystemNDRI National Dairy Research Institute, KarnalNDUAT Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, FaizabadNGO Non Governmental OrganizationNPE National Policy on EducationNRC National Research CouncilOUAT Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, BhubaneswarPAU Punjab Agricultural University, LudhianaPDKV Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, AkolaRAU-B Rajasthan Agricultural University, BikanerRAP-P Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa-SamastipurR&D Research and DevelopmentSAU State Agricultural UniversitySDAU Sardar Krushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, S.K.Nagar SBBPUAT Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, MeerutSKUAST-J Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Tech. JammuSKUAST-S Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Tech., SrinagarSVUVA Sri Venkateswara University of Veternary and Animal Sciences, APTNAU Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, CoimbatoreTANUVAS Tamil Nadu Veterinay and Animal Science University, ChennaiTV TelevisionUAS-B University of Agricultural Sciences, BangaloreUAS-D University of Agricultural Sciences, DharwadUBKVV Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Cooch BehraUNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationUPDDUPCVVVEGAS UP Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan

Vishwavidyalaya evam Go Anusandhan Sansthan, Mathura USA United States of America WBUAFS West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, CalcuttaWTA World Trade AgreementYSPUHF Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan


Documents

Chapter-I - Naarm · Web viewThis needs a deeper understanding of the historical and socio-cultural dimensions of agricultural education and internal dynamics of organizations involved