Background paper prepared for

Education for All Global Monitoring Re

Gender and Education for All: The Lea

Gender equality in eduCommunity based initiativ

Sharada Jain 2003

This paper was commissioned by the Education for All Global Moinformation to assist in drafting the 2003/4 report. It has not been and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) andEFA Global Monitoring Report or to UNESCO. The papers careference: “Paper commissioned for the EFA Global MonitoringEquality”. For further information, please contact efareport@unes

2004/ED/EFA/MRT/PI/28

the

port 2003/4

p to Equality

cation. es in India.

nitoring Report as background edited by the team. The views should not be attributed to the n be cited with the following Report 2003/4, The Leap to co.org

Contents Background

I. The context

II. Innovative Programmes Shiksha Karmi Project

Going further: Creating a new cadre Mahila Prasikshan Kendras (Training Centres for Women)

Mopping operations Angan Pathshala (Courtyard Schools)

Countering vulnerability Mahila Sahyogi (Woman Helper/Escort)

Supportive group Mahila Task Force (Women's Task Force)

Mahila Samakhya

Forming women’s collectives

Alternative Educational Programme for Adolescent girls

Lok Jumbish

Women’s groups and Field Centres Adhyapika Manch (Women Teachers' Forum)

Women’s Residential Institute

Residential Camps for Adolescent Girls (Balika Shikshan Shivir)

III Gender and Education Some Insights

Acknowledgement

This paper has relied upon a good deal of work that has been done on education

and gender issues at the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur over the past

two decades. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Kanchan Mathur and Dr. Shobhita

Rajagopal for their invaluable contribution in analysing the experiences of the

three projects discussed in this study. They have helped in checking various

records / reports for validating the conclusions drawn from them.

Thanks are due to Dr. Alok Kumar Mathur from Sandhan for his untiring help at

various stages of putting this paper together.

I thank Shri S.K. Gupta for his computer work, stretching over almost a month.

Without his help it was not possible to complete the work within the given time-

frame.

Sharada Jain

May 5, 2003

Background

Over the years, gender equality has emerged as a central concern in developmental discourse. More recently, there is significant policy pressure to incorporate it in planned interventions. A necessary implication has been in terms of evaluation indicators woven around gender equality. While most programmes have incorporated this agenda in their plans, operational confusion prevails at multiple levels. It is a widely shared impression that this confusion stems from a deeper discomfort at the theoretical level. Is gender equality a central ‘objective’ or just a ‘strategy’ for better implementation of a sectoral objective? The former would place it as an intrinsic value that is essentially luminous in character – not needing any further justification. In this sense, it would derive its strength from a human rights framework. The latter position would make it an instrumentality for effective management of a sectoral initiative. In which case it would basically affirm the need to involve women and men equally in various stages of the implementation of an announced objective, be it health, education or economic activity.

There have been attempts to shelve this kind of questioning as trivial or treat it as merely a semantic issue, not causing any serious problem in the nitty-gritty of operational procedures. However, it is the contention of this paper that this question is only the tip of the iceberg. It points to a basic conceptual tension, which has far-reaching effects in the real life situation of a program. It is at the root of many operational dilemmas. And, there can be no external guidelines for addressing them except by taking a position with respect to the value-weightage given to gender equality.

The main claim of this article is that gender discrimination in India – as also in

most South Asian countries – is situated within the deeply ingrained systems of

patriarchy, which limit and confine women to subordinate roles. Discrimination

against South Asian women begins at, or even before, birth. This further

manifests itself in discriminatory investments in nutrition, education and mobility,

the three essential inputs in access to employment as an 'equal’ member of

society. Consequently, the perceptible scenario is not just of inequality but

systemic subordination. Redressal of this situation demands shedding the

reluctance to go to the roots of the problem, analysing the social construction of

femininity and masculinity and bringing these issues centre stage in the debate

on national development and educational planning.

The present paper attempts to distil some lessons in this regard from three

innovative educational projects designed for the most marginalised groups in

India∗. All three are now seen as ‘basic’ models to inform national policy. They

have the following commonalties:

• Acceptance of a framework which places community involvement as a key

component at all stages of the project, by taking people’s perceptions as

critical in need assessment, resource identification and process evaluation.

• Focus on unserved groups, viz., the poor (class), socially excluded (caste),

geographically disadvantaged (remote) and girls/women, who are

discriminated on account of their gender.

• Acceptance of a need to ‘experiment’, not just at the beginning but as an

ongoing need in project management for revised perspectives.

• Beginning small and gradually scaling up in outreach as well as in content-

components.

All the three initiatives have demonstrated that even among the most

disadvantaged communities, there is a keen desire to learn and to educate

children. Given the right environment, even education of girls has been taken up

with enthusiasm, with illiterate mothers demanding education for their daughters.

Parents and communities have shown a willingness to cooperate in assessing

local educational needs, in monitoring educational provision and performance, in

contributing to school upkeep and in making great sacrifices to send their

children to school. The questions that arise from these experiences are :

∗ Shiksha Karmi Programme (A basic model for ‘parateacher’ concept in educational management) Mahila Samakhya (All India) Lok Jumbish (Rajasthan)

• How have these initiatives interpreted gender equality as a concern in their program?

• How has that concern informed the strategic choices in these programmes? Have there been any major shifts in the position taken by them over the years?

• What are the lessons learnt from the innovative initiatives? Can we make some informed choices for future interventions?

This paper attempts to address these questions. It is divided into three

sections.

The first, short section presents the context within which the concept of

gender equality can be understood in a meaningful way.

The second section draws upon three significant community-based

initiatives in India, which can be termed as 'path-breaking' in educational

management. They have their roots in non-governmental contexts and

have subsequently influenced state-managed programs. Each of these

initiatives has interpreted gender euqality in its own way, with different

textures of outcomes.

The third section pulls together the analysis of these initiatives to identify

causal linkages between the choice of interpretation and manifest

outcomes. A short 'conclusion' lists out some recommendations for

managers of education and could help move towards gender equality in a

coherent framework.

I

The context

The Indian situation, with respect to gender equality, presents a situation of sharp

contrast between what is on paper and what actually obtains on the ground. If

one looks at the constitutional guarantees, a strong affirmation of non-

discrimination is clearly on record.

The Constitution of India (1951) not only grants equality to women and forbids

any discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, but also

empowers the state to practice protective discrimination in favour of women.

Under the protective discrimination clause, the State has passed several social

and labour legislations and drawn up special programmes and schemes for the

welfare and development of women and children. Additionally, women have

reservation in many educational and training institutions, development schemes,

local bodies and in certain categories of government jobs.

The ground situation however, is quite the reverse of the above proclaimed

position. Sex ratio does not favour women in India and a majority of women go

through life in a state of chronic stress, even facing nutritional discrimination

within the family. Fewer girls than boys attend school. Even when enrolled, fewer

girls manage to stay in school and complete schooling. Most girls who drop out of

school are working in homes and fields of their parental or marital families.

Women’s work is undervalued and unrecognised and women generally earn a far

lower wage than men inspite of doing identical work. Most women do not own

property. The growing violence against women inside and outside the family

continues to further marginalise women.

The deeply ingrained system of patriarchy describes women’s identity and role

through her (subordinated) relationship to men. She is, therefore, cast in a clearly

defined mould with expected roles / functions, even before she is born. Even as a

foetus in a womb, it is assessed whether she should be accepted or not! After

birth, she is seen as a mini-woman who has to be reared as a “temporary”

member of the family, who has finally to be groomed for marriage and be sent to

another family, involving much social and economic strain on her parental family.

Where is her childhood? Is there never to be a time to play, to learn, and to be

loved in her own right? The Child Rights framework has to contend with this culturally perpetuated bias. And, this gets its basic sanctions from religion – an area where questioning and dialogue is forbidden.

‘”Towards Equality”, the Report of the Committee on Status of Women in India (CSWI) 1974, marked the first official attempt in contemporary times to study the status of Indian women and recommend changes to improve their situation. The CSWI documented with official data, the process of marginalisation of women in the economy and society and highlighted that despite constitutional guarantees, rights and participation of women in all spheres of life were limited. It stressed that the dynamics of social change and development had adversely affected a large section of women and created new imbalances and disparities such as :

• declining sex-ratio

• lower life expectancy

• higher infant and maternal mortality

• illiteracy

• declining work participation, and

• rising migration.

It clearly indicated that women were deprived of basic needs of health, nutrition, education and employment and were in a situation of total powerlessness, with no share in decision making.

The CSWI report also commented upon the urban and middle class bias of educational planners and bureaucrats with regard to women's roles, needs and priorities. It also attacked the educational reinforcement of ‘traditional’ sex stereotypes that reflected middle class values.

The National Policy of Education (NPE) 1986 and its Programme of Action

(revised in 1992) gives education a mandate to work for women’s equality and

empowerment. The effort in this document attempts not only to provide equality

of educational opportunity, but to transform the entire content and process of

education for achieving gender equality and a realignment of gender roles, to

make them more equitable and harmonious.

`Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of women. In

order to neutralize the accumulated distortions of the past, there will be a well-

conceived edge in favour of women. The National Education System will play a

positive, interventionist role in the empowerment of women. It will foster the

development of new values through redesigned curricula, textbooks, the training

and orientation of teachers, decision makers and administrators, and the active

involvement of educational institutions. This will be an act of faith and social

engineering. Women’s studies will be promoted as a part of various courses and

educational institutions encouraged taking up active programmes to further

women’s development.

The removal of women’s illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their access to, and

retention in elementary education will receive overriding priority, through

provision of special support services, setting of time targets, and effective

monitoring. Major emphasis will be laid on women’s participation in vocational

technical and professional education at different levels. The policy non-

discrimination will be pursued vigorously to eliminate sex stereotyping in

vocational and professional courses and promote women’s participation in non-

traditional occupations, as well as in existing and emerging technologies’.

– National Policy on Education, 1986.

Has this policy created some shift in this scenario? The following sections

analyse some of the positive results as well as the areas of ‘non-achievement’.

II

Innovative Programmes

Shiksha Karmi Project

The Shikshakarmi Project (SKP) was started in 1987 as an innovative

educational intervention to address the factors sustaining educational

backwardness in the State of Rajasthan. The major objective of the project was

to revitalise primary education and expand its outreach to the remote villages in

the State, by addressing problems affecting primary education, i.e., teacher

absenteeism, low enrollment and high dropout rate, especially that of girls. The

programme, therefore, focussed on ensuring universal accessibility and providing

context-based education to all children in far-flung areas of Rajasthan. The

crucial innovation in the Shikshakarmi Project was identifying local women and

men (with some minimum qualifications) called Shikshakarmis (education

workers) who, after systematic training, could teach children in the defunct

primary schools and ensure that all children become a part of the educational

process.

Addressing Issues of Gender Equality in SKP

The Shikshakarmi Project document (1986) noted that “a major problem in the

universalisation of education is the enrolment of girls. To encourage enrolment of girls and to develop awareness among women, it is imperative that women are trained as Shikshakarmis in as large number as possible. In

most rural areas, particularly in remote and hard places, such women workers

are not at all available. The literacy rate is so low and the indifference towards

girls' education is so great that unless some remedial action is taken, the problem

of girls' education will remain unsolved. The project shall therefore establish

special training centres for women” (GOR 1986: 14). Preparing Mahila (women)

Shikshakarmis, therefore became a priority in the project.

Appointment of Mahila Shikshakarmis (MSK - Women Teachers)

The appointment of women teachers has been an important part of the

educational discourse, especially in the context of girls' education in India as a

whole, and in Rajasthan in particular. In a State where segregation of men and

women is strictly practiced and purdah (the system of screening women from

men and strangers by means of a veil or curtain) enforced, one of the major

constraints identified in low enrolment of girls in schools has been the absence of

women teachers in schools located in remote areas.

There were no women teachers identified in the Shikshakarmi Pilot Project

implemented in l984. The initial document clearly stated the principle of two

Shikshakarmis, one man and one woman in each village. It was felt that the

presence of women Shikshakarmis in the village could help create an

environment that would be more conducive and encouraging to girls who were

expected to enroll in the schools. However, identifying women teachers and retaining them in the educational process continues to be a socially challenging task, requiring sensitive handling. There are a series of problems faced by women Shikshakarmis, some of which are of a serious nature.

Teaching is a not a traditional occupation for women in rural Rajasthan, unlike in

the urban areas. The Mahila Shikshakarmis have had to struggle hard to

negotiate spaces available to them, establish themselves as teachers while

simultaneously attaining approval from the family and village elders for taking on

this role. The fact that the women teachers are required to travel outside their

villages for training/workshop meetings and to interact with male members and

children from different castes has necessitated a change in the rules, practices

and norms governing households, community and to some extent, the school

environment. In the general context, where a daughter-in-law is expected to

cover her face and observe purdah in the presence of ‘elders’ and community

men, the woman Shikshakarmi’s role is a step forward towards equality. It is also

evident that the new role has enhanced her personal status, and given her a

sense of freedom.

Going further: Creating a new cadre Mahila Prasikshan Kendras (Training Centres for Women)

The Mahila Prasikshan Kendras were visualised as an intervention for increasing

the number of women teachers and through them, affecting an increase in the

enrollment of girls in the project schools. The principal objective of these Training

Centres has been to provide to rural women an opportunity for learning in a short

period together with creating a pool of trained women, who can work within the

programme.

The functioning of the Mahila Prasikshan Kendras has validated that given a

supportive environment, women can be motivated to become learners. The first

internal evaluation carried out by Shikshakarmi Board in 1992 indicated that most

women had joined the Kendra as they saw this as an opportunity to study and

become self-reliant.

However, observation during the field visits indicated that rural women’s modes

of expression and strengths had, by and large, not been accepted within the

framework and formal curriculum of the Kendras. The educational process in the

Mahila Prasikshan Kendras did not take into account and integrate women’s

existing knowledge, experience and skills. Hence, their self-worth was not

developed in proportion to the expectations raised by the evaluators.

Mopping operations Angan Pathshala (Courtyard Schools)

The Aangan Pathshala (AP) is an additional initiative to provide easy access of

girls to primary education, within a reasonable distance from their homes.

In many of the Aangan Pathshala villages, the community members have

contributed money, time and labor for various activities in the Pathshala (school).

In other villages, the community members have donated various items like

chairs, doors and clocks, besides construction material to improve the facilities in

the Pathshalas. It is interesting to note that these Aangan Pathshalas eventually

included enrollment of boys.

It is also evident most of the community members view the AP as a formal school

where children can come and participate in an educational activity.

Countering vulnerability Mahila Sahyogi (Woman Helper/Escort)

Mahila Sahyogis are appointed in the Shikshakarmi Project to enable young girls

– especially those who cannot attend day schools/night centres, as they have to

take care of their siblings – to attend school. The Mahila Sahyogi is a local

woman, who collects these children from their homes, and escorts them to the

school and back. She also provides childcare during school hours. Official

reports indicated that with this additional support, girls’ attendance went up in

Prehar Pathshalas (schools at convenient timings).

Supportive group Mahila Task Force (Women's Task Force)

A Mahila Task Force has been set up at the State level to provide regular support

to the women Shikshakarmis, Mahila Prashikshan Kendras and Aangan

Pathshalas. Members of the task force also provide the link between the field and

the state-level functionaries.

The creation of the Women's Task Force was recommended in the bi-annual

review of the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), carried out in

the year 1994. Concerned with the disproportionately low percentage of women

teachers, women trainers and girls’ enrolment in day schools and Prehar

Pathshalas, the review mentioned the need for greater gender sensitisation in the

entire Shikshakarmi Project. The initial recommendation was for a task force of

five women, to create an environment for heightened gender awareness.

However, discussion with the Task Force members revealed that many officials

at the field level are not gender sensitive and do not `value’ their ideas and

opinions. Some women felt that even state-level functionaries of the

Shikshakarmi Project marginalised their views, in the Regional Review Meetings.

Another problem related to the Task Force is confusion regarding their own

identity, within the larger structure of the Shikshakarmi Project (Rajagopal: 2000).

Conclusion

The Shiksha Karmi experience represents a movement towards gender sensitive

outcomes within an educational enterprise. Though a gap continues to exist

between the enrollment of boys and girls in the Shikshakarmi day schools in all

regions and a greater proportion of girls drop out before reaching Grade V,

nevertheless, a considerable proportion of villages have achieved near complete

enrollment of girls.

Notwithstanding the efforts made to address gender imbalances, the Shiksha

Karmi Project did not succeed in making a major dent in the hierarchical pattern

in gender relationship. This was pointed out in successive bilateral reviews/

evaluations. Given that an overwhelming proportion of children who are not in

school are girls, the project could have made girls' participation the top most

priority, thereby striking at the roots of the problem.

Another area of concern has been the lack of a gender perspective among the

Shikshakarmi Project functionaries. Though it is recognised by many within the

project that women have to be 'integrated' into all processes of Shikshakarmi

Project, the attitude of various functionaries within Shikshakarmi Project towards

women continues to be stereotypical and insensitive to women's needs. They

continue to see girls/women as 'welfare' recipients and find it difficult to

'deconstruct' existing notions about girls/boys and women/men and their

respective roles in society. Hence, the need for representation of women at every

level of the project – preparation, planning, implementation and evaluation –

seems necessary. Creating a gender sensitive educational system in order to

ensure equal educational and training opportunities would necessitate

participation of women in educational administration, policy and decision making.

Mahila Samakhya

The Mahila Samakhya (MS) programme, started by the Government of India,

Ministry of Human Resource Development in 1989, was initiated to translate the

goals of the National Policy on Education into a concrete programme for the

education and empowerment of women in rural areas, particularly those from

socially and economically marginalised groups. It was initially implemented in

three States – Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. (See Annexure).

Reaching out to the most disadvantaged in rural areas, the programme has

mobilised women into sanghas or women’s collectives. In this process, women

have been enabled to move from a passive state, where they accept their

predicament and relate to the world around as recipients of welfare, to one where

they become active agents in their own transformation.

The Mahila Samakhya Programme represents a radical policy departure, as it

shifts the focus from delivery design to conditions that make education possible

for poor rural women. The assumption in the design of the project was that women should first question gender stereotypes seriously and the solutions accepted by the community. That alone would counter the reason for women’s non-access to the world of education. Facilitating access through questioning was the first step. Mahila Sanghas as forums for such a questioning emerged as a strategic choice in the programme.

Its objectives were delineated by the National Policy of Education and its

Programme for Action and initiated under the banner of “Education for Women’s

Equality” (Mahila Samakhya 1988). The narrow sense of literacy was de-

emphasised as the possible means of allowing women to participate as equal

citizens. In fact, women were encouraged to “plan and monitor their own

education, to reach out to a new body of knowledge”. (Mahila Samakhya 1988).

The objectives of the programme are : • To initiate a process where women will perceive the need to move from a

state of passive acceptance of their life situation to one of active self determination of their lives and their immediate environment.

• To draw on the credibility that non-government agencies have developed with women and the creative work they have done in the field of education. The programme would gain their support through a mutually supportive system of management.

• To adopt an area intensive approach to integrate the existing efforts to provide formal and non-formal schooling, adult education, vocational training, and upgradation of educational qualification through condensed courses. These will be revitalised by linking them to aspirations voiced by women in the Mahila Sanghas.

• To revitalise the village schools, non-formal and adult education centres through training and resource support in the form of educational material. This programme will involve education workers in a network of mutual support and information sharing.

• To design training as a regular activity at all levels and for all functionaries in the programme. This will slowly affect old attitude towards women and help develop a new set of values that foster their equal participation in society.

• To create a system of accountability of the education system to the village community, particularly, Mahila Sanghas and the parents.

• To address itself to the problems of childcare, drinking water, fuel, fodder, etc. This programme will initiate a process whereby women address themselves to their problems and initiate collective action to surmount them.

• The programme endeavours to set in motion a process where women actively seek knowledge and education. It creates through a participatory planning process, institutions and activity centres that actively support women in this process.

Source: Mahila Samakhya Project Document, GOI, October 1988...

From the original plan document, which dubbed Mahila Samakhya as women’s education for equality, the programme has now come full circle: viewing the struggle for equality as a necessary condition for women’s education. The demand for information, knowledge and education is seen as the natural outcome of collective reflection and resistance against gender subordination. This revised theme can be termed as `women’s equality for education’.

Mahila Samakhya understands `education’ in the broadest sense of the term; `to draw-out; to lead forth; to realise potential; to discover ones inner resources'. Education in the Mahila Samakhya context spells out as:

• Acquiring self-confidence and esteem;

• Acquiring ability to deal with authority in the home, in the community, in Government offices;

• Knowing about one's own body, about health problems and remedies; and being able to apply this knowledge in daily life;

• Learning vocational skills;

• Knowledge of the law and being able to articulate with the legal system to redress wrongs;

• And again, reading and writing: literacy as a part of education.

Forming women’s collectives (Mahila Sangha)

MS was initially implemented in ten districts of three States of India – Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Two broad patterns of Sangha formation can be discerned in all these districts, viz., one through existing activities of NGOs and the other through direct involvement. An alternative route to group formation has also been through the Sahyoginis (helpers/escorts), who function as the chief link between the District Implementation Unit and the Mahila Sangha.

From the very outset, violence against women emerged as a truly universal issue in Mahila Samakhya. It was recognized as a non-negotiable point around which Sangha women thought it necessary to reflect and act. It is a recorded fact that women’s groups in every Taluka/block of all MS Districts have, at some point or other, demonstrated strongly against violence on women and on many occasions managed a `success story’, in as much as the culprits have been punished. Yet it

is equally true that no intrinsic barrier for committing violence against women has been created. The intricacies and delays of the legal system are proverbial. And for poor rural women, the route to legal justice is even more exhausting and impoverishing. Cases of rape, murder and battering continue to occur despite all resistance. This appears to be the hardest ground to break. However, a steady, positive shift is visible which can be taken as a serious indicator of maturity and understanding in the responses of Sangha women to issues of violence. Moving towards a deeper understanding of what `hurts’ and humiliates a woman, Sangha women have also responded to `violence’ at the basic human level, i.e. humiliation and injury to the person-hood of all subordinated groups. This has included reacting to caste discrimination that violates the dignity of persons.

Mahila Samakhya organised a legal course for women to strengthen the `Nari Adalat’ (Women's Court) concept. This had two broad objectives: firstly, facilitating women to develop their power of analysis and think seriously before coming to a judgement and secondly, acquire an understanding of the relationship between feminist ideology and an alternative legal system. (Nari Adalat)

The aggregated list of issues emerging from meetings held with sangha women and sahayogins is as follows:

wife beating, rape,

mental torture (forcing women to obey and accept in an unquestioning manner, humiliating treatment of infertile women and calling them ‘barren’),

the devadasi (women who are dedicated to the goddess; they do not get married and can co-habit with anyone) tradition,

inhuman treatment of widows (isolation and segregation),

labelling defiant non-conforming women as ‘dayan’ (witch),

eve-teasing,

forced abortions and female infanticide, and

humiliation of wives when they do not please their husbands.

Taking up issues of violence and exploitation has led to women sitting out in

open places and talking about themselves, which in itself a matter of significance

and a cause for astonishment within the village community. Now, women have

acquired this public space for themselves. Because the venue of Nari Adalat is

the office of the Block Panchayat (traditional local governance institution

formalized via the 73rd. Amendment to the Indian Constitution), it has resulted in

considerable impact on Government workers.

Similar forums are coming up in almost all districts of Mahila Samakhya. They

are not well defined, but functionally operative whenever a noteworthy case

comes up. The very fact that such forums function publicly, with an ever-growing

number of cases, points to:

• A shift from private to public. Families are making public that which was

previously kept strictly under wraps. Women are now no longer always

blamed for rape, harassment etc. It is now recognised that there is a

perpetrator of violence who can be apportioned blame for the misdeed.

• By the very act of taking part in judging the misdeed, the community by way of the gram panchayat (a body of elected representatives from a few villages) is acknowledging that many of the ways of harassing women are indeed wrong/condemnable, calling for punishment of the

perpetrators of the violence.

Today, Sangha women do not take insults quietly. It has become apparent that

they can exercise their own judgement, which rests on a sensitive understanding

of justice. They resist all forms of injustice, in which personal violence is one sub-

set.

Alternative Educational Programme for Adolescent girls

This initiative was started in various States to enable girls to have more choices,

greater control over their lives and greater opportunity for exercising their rights

as citizens. The focus of the alternative education centres includes literacy

camps, preparation for Grade V examinations and empowerment of women in

the area of health, hygiene issues and life skills.

Recent studies have pointed out that major academic achievements were

recognised clearly by the teachers, parents and the girls themselves. While all of

them could read and write, some also showed excellence in mathematical skills.

The girls also gained confidence in themselves and showed changing aspirations

– a desire to be a teacher, a doctor or a government official. The success of

these girls and their future aspirations is also reflected in their demand for

academic inputs along with vocational training in the centres.

The focus of the Mahila Samakhya is empowerment of women and children in

respect of education, health, medicine, economic activities and legal assistance.

Its alternative learning centres include literacy camps, Bal Kendras (children’s

literacy centres), Kishori Kendras (study centres for teenage girls), and Mahila

Shikshan Kendras (women’s residential education centres). The centres provide

a supportive environment for the needs of girls and women.

Conclusion

Under Mahila Samakhya, all forms of educational initiatives establish a definite perspective in terms of curriculum, teaching materials, and pedagogy. For the programme, education in the broad sense means giving importance to women’s past knowledge and experiences and providing an alternative place of learning to children who could not attend school. The programme has been very flexible in educating girls and women.

It is apparent that the Mahila Samakhya Programme has succeeded in achieving its objectives relating to women’s empowerment through education and providing space to women to “plan and monitor their own education, to reach out to a new body of knowledge”. However, the opportunities for sustaining the education process and the manner in which girls reconcile the experience in the centres/camps with their life situation, which has not changed to the same extent, is important for gauging the long-term impact of the programme. The tension between ‘mainstream’ education and education for women’s equality continues.

Lok Jumbish

Lok Jumbish (people's movement) was founded in 1992 on the principles of autonomy, decentralisation and gender sensitivity. Its design reflects an internalisation of the lessons learned over the years from many experimental initiatives in educational management, across the country. It is an area-based approach, addressing the learning needs of rural children in Rajasthan, with a discipline of the detail. For Lok Jumbish (LJ), every single child in the village is important; and the ones who have been marginalised for centuries are the first priority. Girls of deprived groups, therefore, emerge centre-stage in a clear focus.

The basic approach in LJ can be described as follows:

• Community mobilisation for educational planning, treating local women and men as partners in building an authentic information base with respect to educational opportunities.

• Seeing women’s groups as the critical agents for initiating and nurturing ‘change’ in the management of educational delivery.

• Creation of a wide network of converging initiatives/researchers, which would inform decision making at all levels of project management.

The uniqueness of LJ design consists in creating space for experimentation and contextually relevant planning, not only in different geographical regions of Rajasthan but also in each component of elementary education, viz., formal schools, non-formal learning centres including special camp-based education and school-building-construction programmes. Cutting across all these is the issue of focussing on girls as a priority and on equal participation of women at all levels of decision making.

The various steps in this regard can be seen at the State, Block and Cluster levels – planning, operationalising and revising strategies is an ongoing exercise.

At the state level, LJ has created a forum ‘Samvadika’ for ensuring focus on girls, women’s participation and making informed decisions on operational issues of the project with gender sensitivity. The group, consisting of field functionaries

as well as gender experts, is expected to meet regularly. In a sense, this group has a mandate to deliberate, critique, and advise the project management. The objective is ‘education’ as an agent of basic change in the status of women and is central to the exercise.

At the operational level of this gender focussed approach are the following steps:

Women’s groups and Field Centres

The assumption running through LJ management is that shifts in gender attitudes have to be created and nurtured at all levels of the planned intervention. At the ground level, this shift has to be rooted in the activities initiated by women’s groups. To help the formation of these groups, a team of three women has been placed at the cluster-level (15-20 villages). This team provides the necessary training and support for the processes generated by them. Sufficient weightage is also given to their perceptions, in all review meetings. The field centre, placed at the cluster-level, acts as a nodal support structure with a predictable presence of trained women to ensure that women’s groups are respected. Women’s groups, in turn, work at the village level promoting girls' access to schooling, monitoring the regularity of educational transaction, active participation in school-building/improvement programmes and providing necessary inputs in planning for education of such children who slip out of the educational net due to their continued marginalisation.

At the middle level, LJ has created Adhyapika Manch (Women Teachers' Forum): a collective of women school teachers in each block.

Adhyapika Manch activities were initiated in 1994 on an experimental basis, with the purpose of enhancing women teachers’ participation in residential teacher training camps and to encourage them to develop themselves as trainers. Over the years, these forums have become an important activity to break their isolation and assert their identities. These forums have also become rallying points for women teachers to develop themselves as creative and articulate professionals.

For addressing the learning needs of rural (oppressed) women and girls who have not been able to access education, two freshly designed innovative programmes have been initiated. They are the Women’s Residential Institute

for Training and Education (WRITE) and Residential Camps for Adolescent Girls.

WRITE was established with the objective of providing necessary training and education upto class VIII to young women coming from difficult situations (belonging to backward communities and separated, divorced or deserted by husbands). Its purpose was to create activist cadres for bringing about social change and to increase availability of trained women workers for effective implementation of projects of education and social development at the village level.

In WRITE, in addition to scholastic education, opportunities are provided to build self-confidence among women. There is a great deal of mutual help and support and they also learn cycling and judo.

Residential Camps for Adolescent Girls (Balika Shikshan Shivir)

These are short term residential camps for adolescent girls, many of whom are married and have missed the opportunity of schooling at the normal age of school entry, due to lack of access and family compulsions. Lok Jumbish had first experimented in 1997, with spectacular results, this alternative mode of providing primary education to these girls who had just ‘missed the bus’ to receive formal education. Encouraged by the overwhelming success of the four experimental camps, 14 more camps, spread over most of the educationally backward areas of Rajasthan, were organised. In the year 2002, 98 Balika Shivirs were run in 13 LJ districts and around 9000 girls studied in them.

Overwhelming community response and sterling academic performance by girls has established beyond doubt that the camps have been successful in creating a positive environment for girls’ education and hold a solution to the problem of education of adolescent girls across the state.

Source: Lok Jumbish, The 10th Report, 2002.

The residential camps have been acclaimed as a great success-story. And what

initially appeared as an experiment, for which a great struggle to justify costs was

required, has now become an internalised strategy for girl’s education by the

State.

Conclusion

LJ as a design of educational intervention has had significant validation with

respect to gender issues. It has seriously attempted to keep a balance between

treating gender equality as a goal as well as a strategy. This has had its

difficulties∗. It has, however, created many ‘soft-spots’, which need to be flagged;

particularly with respect to the camps.

Firstly, the girls' brothers have not welcomed the altered self-image of the girls,

who emerged far more lively from the processes followed in camps. While most

parents feel very satisfied with their daughters, their sons have felt a strange

discomfort in their relationship, which has traditionally been one of domination.

There have been reports of some cases of violence in families where girls have

emerged stronger and bolder than what the boys found acceptable.

Secondly, the follow-up of girls' education, particularly those who are a little older and cannot join Grade V or VI in regular schools, has become a major issue with the communities, who put great pressure on LJ functionaries to ‘continue’ camps for further education. This demand has been mounting at the block level. Unfortunately that seems to be beyond the planned set of activities for LJ.

It needs to be mentioned that a small attempt at working with boys and girls in schools was also made at an experimental level in 1997. In this, a process of questioning gender stereotypes was central.

During this experiment, a large number of problems being faced by girls in the

school situation were identified. One of the major problems faced by them was

the indiscreet and untoward behaviour of boys, and their habit of ridiculing girls.

∗ Fuller analysis is attempted in Section III.

To counter this situation, it was felt that special residential training camps needed

to be organised for girls and boys, with the following objectives:

• To create an understanding of the predicament of women and girls in the current reality of society;

• To generate awareness of the negative attitude towards women, its causes and consequences in terms of dowry deaths, wife abuse, discrimination between boys and girls in providing health care, education, food etc.;

• To start dialogue with girls; and

• To help develop positive attitudes towards co-learners, so that roots of a positive relationship between boys and girls could be formed right from the start.

A few camps were organised with these objectives, with very encouraging

results. After the success of these camps, the programme was to be extended on

a larger scale. This small-scale initiative effectively addressed gender issues

directly; however, this process could not gather an escalating momentum – LJ’s managers did not see it as a necessary component of the organisation's announced agenda of universalisation of elementary education.

The unmet need for working with boys, and evolving follow up programmes for girls coming out of residential camps, points to the basic problem of reconciling an ambitious educational agenda with a limited project approach. The Lok Jumbish vision goes much beyond the announced project. And when the project refuses to grow, but only continues nurturing what is already functioning, then, inspite of excellent efforts it can only stagnate or regress. In an educational intervention of this kind, the need to continuously revise, diversify and follow the logical directions from outcomes of initiatives for change is paramount. The Lok Jumbish Project management has not been able to keep pace with the demands emerging from its own initiatives.

III Gender and Education

Some Insights

Rights can be declared and policies can be formulated to express our collective liberal and humanistic concern, but unless the real life of the girl child in her family and community is touched by tangible efforts and actions, nothing can be achieved. Therefore, a climate has to be created in which she can exercise her rights freely and fearlessly. One has to work for the transformation of those social and cultural values that shackle and constrict the girl child and mould her into stereotypical roles. For this, every forum and every platform should be used to create awareness and stimulate positive action. Along with this, effective implementation of the laws for protecting her and provision of opportunities for her to benefit from them has to be insured∗.

The issue of addressing gender subordination in society through educational

processes has been one of the most complex challenges for educational

management. The approach taken over the past two decades falls into three

categories, broadly represented by the three community-based educational

initiatives focussed in this article.

1. The first set treats the ostensive asymmetry in educational access for girls and boys as the starting point: Identify the problems in girls' schooling

systematically and provide special inputs to solve them. The Shikshakarmi

Project approach can be seen as falling in this category. If parents feel more

secure in sending their girls to school where there is a woman teacher, then

∗ Source : National Plan of Action for SAARC Decade of the Girl Child 1999-2000 A.D.

try and recruit more women (Mahila Shikshakarmis). If they are not available,

open training centres to train them (Mahila Prashikshan Kendras). If they do

not join these centres, get a Women’s Task Force to persuade more women

to join a residential course. If the girls need an escort, provide a woman

escort to help them (Mahila Sahyogis). If the girls have work at home and

cannot attend regular day school then organise learning centres at convenient

timings (Prehar Pathshalas).

All this has produced results, in as much as many more girls have been able

to get an opportunity to access basic education than what could ever have

been possible if the Shikshakarmi Project did not exist. But the issue of gender subordination in society, of patriarchal values controlling social relationships and status of women has not been addressed in any real sense. The Mahila Shikshakarmis in most cases continue to see themselves

as subordinates to male Shikshakarmis in schools, doing jobs considered

`lower' in hierarchy by the school system, like teaching lower classes etc.

They are seldom considered competent to handle subjects such as

Mathematics and Science – generally accepted as male domains. Girls

attending the school seldom question their status in the family as a basic

issue. Boys too, have yet to enter into a reexamination of their understanding

of masculinity.

The Mahila Prashikshan Kendras have concentrated on women qualifying for

Grade VIII exams, as per the State curriculum. Hence, issues relating to their

bodies and social relationships have often been treated as ‘personal’ – to be

handled individually – and not as a systemic phenomena, to be brought

centre-stage in education.

The reasons for shelving fundamental questioning in the Shikshakarmi

Project management are easy to comprehend. At one level, it is clear to most

people that gender issues have deep roots in the cultural psyche of men and

women in society and it is difficult to shake them. At another level, the state-

managed educational programme does not see gender equality as its direct

agenda. The goal for any educational initiative is seen as that of achieving a

cent per cent enrolment in school for children in the 6 to 11 year group to

begin with and attempt increased retention. Besides which, the achievement

testing has no indicator that could assess gender attitudes in children (and

teachers?).

2. The second set refers to the approach that chooses to begin at the very root

of the problem of asymmetrical patterns in gender relations. The strategy

chosen by this group, therefore, looks at women’s empowerment as the key

to addressing the issue of gender emancipation. It is believed that

empowerment would increase women’s visibility, give more bargaining power

to them within the household and, thereby, basically reformulate girls'

candidature for accessing education. It would also throw up new role models

for girls and boys, paving the way for a more humane society.

This perspective clearly accepts that education has a central role to play in

breaking the cycle of female disadvantage. Education must provide skills to

enhance capabilities and education must also serve as a catalyst for

emancipatory struggles. It should simultaneously prepare boys to accept girls

as equals.

This approach has been informed by the causal analysis on the issue, arrived

at by Women’s Development Project in Rajasthan (1984). This can be

summarised as follows:

• Subordination of women has been perpetuated because they have

accepted it and internalised its legitimacy. Had it not been so, it was

impossible to subjugate half the population in society over centuries.

• Women see their subordinated status in society as their natural destiny…

‘If you are a woman, you must accept the role laid out for you by society.’

Social laws are a non-negotiable ‘given’, to be gracefully accepted.

• Women have not had any acceptable alternative to help them to think

differently.

• No leadership has emerged from among them to steer clear of this

situation, in a manner that is finally also accepted by men.

Mahila Samakhya as an educational programme for women has followed this

basic analysis. Initiative, it is felt, must begin by systematically and continually countering each of these propositions. For this, a collective of women offers the required opportunity and space to rethink, analyse and draw conclusions for action. Mahila Samakhya’s educational intervention,

therefore, focuses on creation and support to Mahila Sanghas (Women’s

Groups) on the assumption that it would necessarily lead to contextually rooted

initiatives for gender-equality.

Outcomes of this programme have varied in texture in different States of India.

However, there is a widely shared belief that it has created a supportive/

nurturing climate for girls' rights, led to struggles for accepting a just treatment for

women in society and opened up many non-stereotypical avenues of work/

employment. Most important, it has brought up the issue of confidence building

and self-esteem as a key indicator for meaningful education for all marginalised

groups – girls as a whole being a significant one.

The fact that the mainstream schools did not seriously build on this approach and incorporate these messages in their curriculum, teaching methods and evaluation is responsible for the disproportionate impact of this programme across the country.

3. The third approach to address the issue of gender-equality accepts both the

above positions and weaves them into a more comprehensive, coherent and

flexible management system. This approach is exemplified by the Lok

Jumbish design, which clearly announces a two-fold objective –

universalisation of elementary education and gender equality. Such a stand implies that universalisation of an educational pattern which does not create a situation of equality between girls and boys, women and men, is not the kind of universalisation that LJ is aiming for.

Equal enrolment, retention and scholastic achievement of girls and boys is

necessary, but not a sufficient description of what an educational initiative should

be aiming at. The Lok Jumbish strategy, therefore, can be described as

designing and facilitating multiple initiatives, with simultaneity and convergence,

to ensure a fuller goal of education for all, in a meaningful manner. This position

was maintained at all levels:

• Recruitment of functionaries: equal number of women and men as far as

possible – and more women at the field centre, as a policy decision.

• Orientation programmes to internalise the larger challenge of gender-equality.

• Placing women’s collectives as a key concept in school mapping, micro-

planning, monitoring schools, building construction, both at village level and

also among teachers.

• Evolving residential educational camps as an ongoing programme for

addressing marginalised girls’ learning needs.

• Treating sexual exploitation at the work place as a very serious offense, with

a non-negotiable rejection/punishment.

However, the cumulative results of these and similar strategies required greater

time and energy investment than the quick and measurable results demanded by

political leaders as well as donor agencies. Another set of factors that led to

tensions in implementing this approach was as follows:

• As the project expanded, a continuous induction of new functionaries was

necessitated. Not all functionaries were able to internalise the significance of

treating gender-equality as an ‘objective’; for most of the people involved in

the implementation of LJ, gender equality inputs were essentially ‘strategies’

for bringing all girls into the school system and ensuring their retention.

• Hence, the centrality of gender-equality was shelved in favour of viewing

women’s groups as ‘useful’ for their help in enrolment and retention of girls.

The training in sectoral management (over the years) makes it difficult for them to understand a cross cutting agenda. There have been oft-

repeated discomforts on ‘sustaining’ women’s groups – how to do it? through

what activities? for what? (see Annexure)

A very common experience situation can explain the problem.

If a women’s group in the village reports a case of gender-based violence and if that group seeks active support from LJ functionaries, they get very confused. ‘Are we educational workers or social activists?’ And, mostly the issues arise in an asymmetrical power equation. If a case of sexual exploitation is reported where the victim is from the ‘weaker’ section (in terms of caste, class or political power), then the project functionaries get even more alarmed. ‘Is it our work to enter into such disputes? Should we not give priority to our own MIS, cluster meetings, trainings etc. or get into this mess?’

From the point of view of women, the whole situation exposes a lip service to gender-equality as a goal.

The essential dilemma for any serious attempt at operationalising a program for

gender equality arises from the ‘evaluation’ approach. If Lok Jumbish has to be

evaluated strictly by the number of children in the educational process and

completion of Grade V tests, and if the figures are more or less equal for girls

and boys, then getting into complexities of questioning cultural practices

becomes unimportant.

Conclusion

Given the broad framework of gender equality and a ground situation of

patriarchy with all its complexities, it appears that redressal of the problem of

gender bias necessitates multiple level interventions that include policy and

implementation. They can be summarised as follows:

Firstly, there must be sufficient and intense policy pressure for treating girls and

boys as equals. This policy must effectively address the situation in schools and

in community forums.

Secondly, women’s empowerment for improved participation in all spheres must

be emphasised and facilitated, not as a part of sectoral agenda but as a cross

cutting development commitment for improving the quality of life. Women’s ability

to control their fertility and sexuality would serve as a landmark for any effort to

reduce gender inequality. It would have its necessary implications for content and

process of education for both girls and boys.

Thirdly, there is need for social recognition that girls are as competent as boys

are. Consequently, the candidature of girls in as many diverse fields as are

available in society must be reinforced and need for necessary investments in

their education must be recognised. These initiatives would eventually change

the overall scenario in women’s employment opportunities, which, in turn, would

feed into the motivation of parents/community for support to girls' education in a

fuller manner.

Breaking the cycle of female disadvantage entails new forms of realisation and

mobilisation of not merely resources, but communities too. For this, there have to

be major attitude shifts in society, facilitated by policy and reinforced by freshly

designed development indicators to break out of a culture of patriarchy. This

would require facilitation and ongoing support for re-negotiation of women’s roles

within the family and community. All serious attempts to initiate and support

gender equality would have to help women understand the importance of change

and to break out of a mode of dependence and realise their self-worth.

Finally, there is also a growing realisation for the need to reinterpret roles and

expectations of boys and men and elicit their active participation in altering the

prevailing stereotypical understanding of feminity and masculinity at societal

level. This issue must be addressed with its implications for new interventions

designed for meaningful education for all, which works within a framework of

human rights, ensuring gender equality.

Annexure-I

Defining Gender and Gender Mainstreaming in Development

The early attempts at integrating women in development took the form of `Women In Development' (WID) approaches. What and which women were to be integrated into, varies according to what the mainstream agenda was, i.e., welfare, equality, anti-poverty or efficiency. While WID identified women’s lack of access to resources as a key to their subordination, it did not question or challenge the social relations of gender. It was based on the assumption that gender relations would change once women become full partners in development (Rathgeber 1990, Kabeer 1994, Razavi and Miller 1995).

The Gender and Development (GAD) approach emerged in the 1980s as an alternative to WID focus. The GAD approach goes further than WID, in questioning the underlying assumptions of current social, economic and political structures and strategies. The approach does not just lead to the design of interventions and affirmative action strategies to ensure that women are better integrated and they benefit from ongoing development efforts; it also calls for fundamental re-examination of social structures and institutions which promote and sustain gender-based inequality (Young 1993, Kabeer 1999).

Definitions of gender and development concepts

Sex and Gender: While `sex' refers to the biological state of being male or female, `gender' refers to the social meanings given to being either men or women in a given society and to normative expectations held as characteristics, aptitudes and likely behavior of men and women. As such, it involves both ideology and material practices. What is biological is fixed and unchangeable but what is social is subject to change.

Gender Relations: are those socially constituted relations between women and men, which are shaped and sanctioned by norm and values. Central to these relations are culturally specific notions of masculinity and

femininity and around these, appropriate behaviors for each of the genders are socially constructed.

Annexure-II

The Shikshakarmi Project (SKP)

SKP was started in 1987 as a joint venture between Government of India, Government of Rajasthan (GOR) and the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).

The origin of the Shikshakarmi concept can be traced to the Social Work Research Centre (SWRC), Tilonia, Ajmer, one of the oldest groups involved in voluntary action in Rajasthan. SWRC set up night schools for children of school-going age who were not in schools but instead working on the farm or the homestead. A person from the same village with education up to standard VII or VIII was hired and training inputs were provided to the teachers. Experts assisted in designing a curriculum that was meaningful and appropriate for the learning group. In the process, it was established that children were excited about learning and developing their cognitive skills. An evaluation comparing children from the night schools to those from regular primary schools reported comparable levels of achievement. This experiment formed the basis of the Shiksha Karmi Project.

The concept of the Shiksha Karmi is based on the premise that a change agent, especially in the field of education, can work effectively if he/she belongs to the same locality. The concept is particularly important for remote and backward villages (with non-existent or non-functioning educational facilities) where it is difficult for an outsider to stay or be accepted. In such conditions, educational qualifications appear to be of less importance than the teacher’s willingness and ability to function as a social worker. The stress has been on building local potential and on developing the internal human resources of the village and long term sustainability of development inputs.

At the core of the project lie two beliefs:

1. There exists significant unmet demand for education, even though the situation differs by caste/class/community/gender and location.

2. If the educational services offered enjoy community support, if given opportunity, training and support, even ‘ordinary’ persons (not having the requisite formal qualifications) can rise to a high level of performance and contribute to social development in a significant manner.

A significant aspect of the SKP has been to make communities feel responsible for education, through transferring the feeling of ownership of educational processes and institutions to the community level in order to consolidate the notion of partnership between the state and communities. Community participation was initiated by official acceptance of the problem of dysfunctional schools and the need for an alternative means of creating and running a functional school. Community involvement was sought in selection of Shiksha Karmis, providing support in enrolling children (focus on girls evident), day-to-day support and monitoring.

Present Status

As of January 2003, the Shikshakarmi Programme is being implemented in 31 districts of the state. There are a total of 3692 schools functioning in 150 blocks within the programme (including Angan Pathshalas). The total enrolment of children in the day schools and evening centres is 260149 (145640 boys and 114509 girls). The total number of Shikshakarmis working in the programme are 8756 (6863 men and 1893 women). There are 10 Mahila Prashikshan Kendras functioning within the project. (Shiksha Karmi Board, 2003)

Annexure-III

Mahila Samakhya

The Mahila Samakhya programme, started by the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development in 1989, was born out of the emphasis given to the need for education programmes to play a ‘positive, interventionist role’ in bringing about women's equality, in the New Education Policy of 1986. The programme was initially operationlised in ten districts of three states of India –Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. The programme is currently being implemented in over 9000 villages in 54 districts in 10 states.

Programme strategies include:

• Mahila Sanghas or women’s activity centres at the village level.

• Sahyogini functions as the chief link between District Implementation Unit and the Mahila Sangha.

• Adult and Non-Formal Education Centres function in close coordination and association with the Mahila Sanghas.

The programme implementation structure varies from state to state but includes some/all of the following components;

• A Mahila Samakhya Society, which is registered in every state to administer the programme. This consists of a General Council and an Executive Committee

• A State Information Training and Resource Agency (SITARA) is constituted for the purpose of continuous evaluation.

• A District Resource Group is constituted in every district, in consultation with the National Resource Group, to advise and guide the programme.

• A District Implementation Unit coordinates with the State Programme Coordinator and the National Resource Group in order to draw upon their resources, as and when the need arises.

• A District Resource Unit for Adult and Non-Formal Education, in the District Implementation Unit.

• A National Resource Group comprising of educationists, social workers, women activists, etc., has been set up in the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, as an apex body to direct, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programme.

Annexure-IV

Lok Jumbish

Lok Jumbish (LJ) – the Education for All (EFA) project – was launched in order to

make education of satisfactory quality available in Rajasthan for Grade level I to

VIII for the age group 5 to 14. The literal meaning of Lok Jumbish is ‘people’s

movement’, which signifies both the spirit and mode of universalisation of

elementary education of LJ. The project was jointly formulated by the

Government of India (GOI) and the Government of Rajasthan (GOR), in wake of

the National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986). The Swedish International

Development Authority (SIDA) agreed to provide the funds, with a funding pattern

of SIDA, GOI and GOR in the ratio of 3:2:1.

From 1992 to 1999, the project was implemented in a process-oriented and

evolutionary mode to experiment in a phased manner with people-participatory

processes and consolidate them, before their universalisation.

The third Phase (1999-2004) is being supported by DFID along with the GOI and

GOR, on the sharing pattern of 3:2:1. A provision of Rs.400 crore has been kept,

to fully cover 102 blocks in 13 districts of the total 32 districts of Rajasthan.

The current approach is to sustain an emphasis on participatory processes while

gradually moving towards the `Education for All' framework.

References

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Jain S. and A.K. Mathur (1996), ‘Shiksha Karmi Project: Attempting Non-formalisation of Formal Education’, Sandhan Research Centre, Jaipur.

Jain S. and S. Anandalakshmy (1997), ‘Shikshakarmi: A Paradigm Shift in the Delivery of Primary Education’, Sandhan Research Centre, Jaipur.

Rajagopal, S., ( 2000) ‘Designing Interventions for Girls Education: A Case From Rajasthan’ unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.

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