Gender gap in education persists in Rajasthan's Gambhira village amid deep-rooted patriarchy

Hindustan Times

15-05-2025

Malarna Doongar (Sawai Madhopur) 'My both sons will get good jobs which will help our household while my wife would get a helping hand in house chores with two daughters,' said Sarita and Vinita's father, one of the residents of Gambhira which is one of the 77 villages in Malarna Doongar tehsil that reported the largest literacy gap between men and women in the 2011 census.
While both sisters passed the school final with Arts stream from the local government senior secondary school after which they were never pushed for higher education, Kamlesh Meena's sons finished their schooling in Science stream from a prominent private school in Gambhira village. Vinod (25) is preparing for a government job and Deepak (16) is preparing for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) in the Sawai Madhopur city.
'Dono beta achha kaam karega to ghar pe mera madat ho jayga. Par ladkiyon se keya ? Unki to shaadi karwana hi padega. Ab thodi padi-leekhi nahi hogi to ajkaal shaadi bhi nahi hoti hai !!' Kamlesh says whose elder daughter Vinita (22) is being married off to a government job aspirant next month while he is also finding a good match for the younger one, Sarita (21).
'I wanted them to study further. But, they were not much interested in study. We are not so rich that would send all the four children to private schools, and afford their higher education in the city. Yes, the private schools here are better and I sent my sons there. They would be able to earn good while my wife would get a helping hand in house chores with two daughters,' says Sarita and Vinita's father sitting at the front-step of his house wearing a white vest with reddish hair, hands on knee smiling like the most important man of the house.
Gambhira is one of the 77 villages under the Malarna Doongar tehsil in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur. Data from the 2011 Census pegs this particular tehsil as the one in India that has the largest literacy gap between men and women.
The average literacy is 60.79%. But 78.79% of the males are literate, with only 41.03% for women, a difference of 37.75 percentage points. In fact, an analysis of the top 5 tehsils with such a difference in India shows that all five are in Rajasthan, with three in Sawai Madhopur district alone. To be sure, there are districts with considerably lower literacy percentages for women, but those typically --some are tribal districts in Chhattisgarh -- have correspondingly low percentages for male literacy as well.
In terms of districts with such a large difference in literacy rates between men and women, it is also clear that Rajasthan has a problem. Eight of the top 10 districts (with Sawai Madhopur the highest) are in the state. The only two exceptions in the top 10 are Ramban in Jammu, and Nuh in Haryana.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan's overall gap between male and female literacy rate was 27.07% with the former having 79.19% and the latter having 52.12%, as per the Census 2011.
Though the latest sex ratio of literacy is yet not available due to lack of a further census, the number of girls going to the schools have been increased consistently over the years, indicating a possible growth in women's literacy rate as well, as per the ASER report analysis over the last few years.
But the rising trend of the Indian parents preferring to send boys to private schools for a better education and choosing government schools for girls who 'should be married off by 20s' makes it clear that there is a long road to emancipation.
It also raises questions on the quality of education and other facilities being provided in the government institutions over the years- particularly the ones in the rural areas- where the schools lack some basic facilities such as sufficient classrooms, teaching staff, and science faculty and labs.
Gambhira government senior secondary school (which is also the only school in the village) where Vinita and Sarita studied from has currently 157 girls and 86 boys. On the other hand, the private school, Rising Star English School, located in Bhadoti, two kilometres from the village, from where their brothers have finished their education has 249 boys and 151 girls.
'There are about 15 to 20 such private schools in our vicinity where most of the children from Gambhira and five to six nearby villages take admission. The fees is pretty high which goes around ₹40,000 to ₹50,000 yearly. But a good education is worth it. Governemnt school mere beton ko manners nahi seekha sakta hai, science nahi pada sakta hai,' says Pappulal Meena, a local farmer, who took some loans to afford his sons- Anuj (8) and Jemal (9)'s education.
'Look at the children in the cities. Why are they so smart ? Because, they studied in the private English medium schools. Even the government schools in the cities are way better than the ones in the villages. If you want your sons to do something well in their life, have to ensure they get a similar quality of education,' Pappulal pats Anuj's back to encourage him.
For the two little boys, their cousin, Uday (21), is an idol who has not only finished his education from another local private school, Shreeram Vidyapeeth, with Science stream, but later also left for Jaipur to pursue a Bachelor of Sceinces in Nursing.
However, Pappulal has planned to send his elder daughter Puja (17) to a government college in Sawai Madhopur after her upcoming board exam and then get her married off by the time she turns 20. 'If she wants to do any job, that's good. But there is norm in the village that the girls should be married off by 20s,' he says.
Puja, too, studied in the same private school, where Uday studied, till Class IV but later was admitted to the government school as her father was not able to afford private school education for all his children. So, Papulal chose his sons to continue in private schools while Puja was transferred to the government one.
She did not answer any question about her ambition about her future, whether she likes to study, or is willing to marry after graduation. Only, a shy smile was visible on her face.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, which covered 26 states and 2 union territories of India comprising 605 rural districts with 17,997 villages, and 649,491 school-going children, recorded that the girls, at every level (Primary, Secondary, and Senior Secondary), dominated the enrolment in government schools more than boys while the fact is vice versa in private schools.
For age 7-10 years, against 70.7% girls enrolled in government schools, there were only 64.3% boys. This was just opposite in private institutions where against 33.8% boys there were 27.4% girls for the children of same age. Similarly, for age 11 to 14 years, some 69.6% girls were enrolled in government schools against 63.4% boys.
Whereas in private schools 34.1% boys go to private schools against 27.5% girls indicating that parents prefer private school for boys and government schools for their daughters.
The corresponding figure for the 15 to 16 years age group is 62.4% girls in government schools against 57.9% boys and 33.8% boys in private schools against only 28.9% girls.
A further classification of the ASER data for particularly Rajasthan showed that 62.5% girls of 7 to 10 years age against 52.4% boys, 68.3% girls of 11 to 14 years of age against 56.6% boys, and 65.7% girls of 15 to 16 years of age against 58.2% boys were enrolled to the government schools in 2023-24 session.
The corresponding gender-comparison of the enrolment across the state's private schools were only 35.4% girls of 7 to 10 years of age against 46.4% boys, 27.9% girls of 11 to 14 years of age against 41.5% boys, and 21.7% girls of 15 to 16 years of age against 31.9% boys.
'Government school here is not bad though. We all studied there since our childhood. I also firmly believe that she should complete her graduation. But neither I could afford all my children's education in the private school nor she wasn't interested in Science that it was a compulsion,' Pappulal says.
But interest in Sciences for the girls students also does not mean that they would be sent to the private schools or be allowed to make a career before getting married.
'Mathematics is my favourite subject. But, my school doesn't have sciences facility. My parents won't send me to private school. They said, it's not safe for me to travel so far daily,' Seema (14) smiles, who is studying in Class VIII in Government Senior Secondary School in Jolanda, another village under Malarna Doongar. A total 130 girls study in this school against only 87 boys.
Seema's elder cousin, Kuldeep, however, goes to Shreeram Vidyapith despite study with Arts subjects. This school has 115 boys against only 45 boys.
Science stream remains elusive to students in all the senior secondary schools across the panchayats under Malarna Doongar tehsil in Sawai Madhopur district. In many secondary schools, art teachers are assigned to science subjects in junior classes, thereby depriving the girl students of quality education. Despite high enrolment rate in these government schools, lack of adequate faculty strength continues to plague the education system in the area.
The sorry state of affairs was further confirmed when the state government recently said in the assembly that students prefer private schools than government institutions due to faculty crisis in science and commerce streams.
On February 6, in response to a question by BJP MLA Lalit Meena, the education department said, 'The science and commerce departments are not available in the government higher secondary schools in at least 11,304 panchayats across the state, while the science subject is available in 2,394 private higher secondary schools and commerce in another 1,189 such private schools in the same panchayats.'
'In view of such situation, the students seem to be pursuing admission in the private ones instead of the government schools - particularly in higher classes,' the response added.
And surveys have already showed that a major chunk of these 'students' are only boys, not girls.
The famous private institute in these villages, Rising Star English School, which was founded in 2018 only, boasts 28 classrooms, at least 40 teachers, a large science lab, and a regular school bus facilities. They also run a monthly home-to-home outreach programme for the parents to apprise them about the significance of their children's education.
Admitting the factors, principal of Jolanda Government Senior Secondary School Prabhu Lal Meena said, 'These challenges might not be a barrier to provide good education, but makes a huge gap between the government schools and private schools. The villagers, yet view the girls as the families' burden and don't want to spend much on their education. Hence, they are sent to the government set-ups for free education. But the boys are considered assets of the family and they are sent to private schools that cost a substantial annual fee. It's true that most of these girls never pursue any higher education after completing school and are often married off in a few years.'
However, Laxmi Chand Meena, principal of the Rising Star English School, said that they reach out to parents of girl students as well but it only depends on the villagers' mindset.
'Our fees structure is precisely unlike the government schools and parents usually don't want to spend much on girls. But, we have yet a very small number of students despite the enrolment rate increasing every year. It is not possible for us to come up with any special programme to enrol more girls or run a complete girls' school. But we definitely want the girls to come to our schools in larger number to pursue quality education, which is mandatory for their future, and which the government schools are unable to provide,' he added.
Commenting on the development, the chief block education officer (CBEO) of Malarna Doongar, Muhammed Zakir, said, 'This trend have been prevalent in the area for the last seven to 10 years that the parents prefer to send the boys to private schools. But, they need to understand that the private schools only focus on the academics while the government schools provide a comprehensive education. As girls' enrolment is more in government schools, we also organise several programmes targeting girls such as self-defence classes at the police stations and library set-ups at the panchayats, and also a book discussion session every fortnight.'
However, he confessed that the lack of teaching staff and proper infrastructure are the major reasons that fail to provide a similar environment and education to girls as the boys get in private schools.
'Seven years ago, science stream was approved in two schools under Malarna Doongar. However, they are yet to get started as the faculty and funds for the lab facilities and books were not alloted. The government is considering it again, but so far it was not listed in the budget,' Zakir said.
He added, 'Yet, we think, the situation is slowly getting better. The parents who never used to consider to send the girls to schools, are at least planning to get their school final completed before their marriage. Some of them are also sending them to the college. We are constantly doing a lot awareness programme and hopefully, this mindset and reservation about the girls' education will change more in near future.'