‘Literacy rate among female students in J&K’s rural areas below national average’

New Delhi, Nov 29: In Jammu and Kashmir, the literacy rate among the girl students in rural areas is below the national average.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State (MoS) for education said, “To reduce the dropout of Girls at all levels of school education, under Samagra Shiksha, there is a provision of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) in the Educationally Backward Blocks where rural female literacy rate is below the national average.”
KGBVs are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL).
Besides, the MoS informed the house that there has been over ten percent of drop rate among the girl students of both elementary and secondary levels till 2021-22.
It said that in the academic year 2018-19 there has been a dropout rate of 6.9 percent at elementary level and 17.7 percent at secondary level followed by 5.8 percent and 18.6 percent in 2019-20.
It also said that there has been a dropout rate of 4.2 percent at elementary level and 4.6 percent at secondary level in the year 2020-21 followed by 3.8 percent and 6.3 percent in the year 2021-22.
“Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing the scheme of Samagra Shiksha for universalization of quality education throughout the country in coordination with the States and UTs including Jammu & Kashmir,” reads the written reply
The MoS said that in order to bridge the gender and social gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the Samagra Shiksha. “Under Samagra Shiksha, various facilities are being provided for promoting girls education.”
“It includes opening of schools in the neighborhood as defined by the State, free uniform and text-books to girls up to Class VIII, provision of gender segregated toilets in all schools, provision of self-defence training to girls from classes VI to XII, stipend to CWSN girls from class I to Class XII, among others, special State specific projects for equity such as life skills, awareness programmes, incinerators, sanitary pad vending machines etc., and vocationalization of secondary education,” it reads. (KNO)