With a crying toddler in her arm and managing the stove with another one, one might take pride in seeing this kind of responsibility being carried out by a girl, still not in her teens. Still, the same scene provokes a sense of pity in people- so young yet carrying the weight of so many responsibilities.
The scene is quite familiar to people, having their houses close to temporary colonies of migrant labourers and the down-on-luck and privilege lot of their region, but it is increasing at an alarming rate in these covid times. But the question is, would girls like her ever get the opportunity to find solace in the realms of education?
To tackle this, the Indian government came up with the National Education Policy of 2020, which aimed to bridge gender and social gaps. However, its implementation has still not taken place in a full-fledged way.
While India is struggling in this pandemic along with the world, will the education of female children be put in the backseat of a car that is almost doomed for destruction because our policymakers were so short-sighted that they did not even consider that a pandemic might take place and measures to implement this policy in times like these, might come handy!
A policy, speculated to reduce gaps and bring about reforms, was finally introduced in June 2020 by the government, a month after a nationwide lockdown of 2 months. Slated to revolutionize and introduce a pedagogical way of education, the policy awaits to get implemented countrywide, the delay owing to the ongoing pandemic.
The NEP 2020 aims to replace the extant 10+2 system of education with a 5+3+3+4 structure covering the students of age 3-6, who were previously not included. It plans to introduce Anganwadi Centres at the grass-root level, which would provide quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) while also being equipped with high-quality infrastructure, play equipment and well-trained teachers.
The NEP 2020 also plans to achieve a 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) by 2030 by enrolling more and more children into schools and reducing the dropout ratio prevalent in the country by universalizing the Right to Secondary Education.
But the NEP 2020 has failed to realize the problems that people affected the most by this pandemic, the families of migrant labourers would face. And the girl child in these families will have to face the brunt trauma of it. In times like these, when a population of 26 lakh was displaced from places which they so dearly called “home”, would the education of their children be on their minds? And to support their household, would they send their daughters to school or would these daughters be the ones to rise to the occasion and take care of the household, as has been the case for years in our patriarchal society!
And how would the government ensure that this lot of unlucky vagabonds find enrollment at every place they reside for the time being? No respite has been offered in the NEP 2020 pertaining to this problem. With 1.6 million girls between the ages of 11-14 already out of schools, according to a policy brief by Right to Education Forum and a further 10 million at the risk of dropping out, the government is still in a fix on how to implement the NEP 2020.
The government needs to realize that with every minute it wastes on properly implementing this scheme, a girl child would be losing her grip on a safe and happy future. With every passing second, there might be a girl who is subjected to child marriage, child pregnancy, trafficking or violence, and the only way out for her is to get educated and be aware of her rights, which can only be possible if the government starts mapping out the implementation of NEP 2020 quickly and efficiently even in times like these.
The author is a Kaksha Correspondent as a part of writers’ training program under Kaksha Crisis.