Which are the top government schemes for girl education?

Female Education has gained more velocity in the past decades. The multiple government schemes for girls’ education are a significant boon for the sustainable educational growth of girls. A considerable ratio of women nationwide can still not receive primary education due to gender stereotypes, gendered roles, patriarchal dominance, societal boundations, etc. The literacy rate of girls is not even half of that of men. Therefore, educating young girls is the need of the hour, and the government is working actively with complete consistency to expand the reach of its schemes and programs. Let us go through the government schemes designed to encourage female education.

Status of Girls in the society

The status of women in a country defines the country’s economic, social and mental condition. For generations, women have been the family’s caretaker and primary givers and catered to domestic needs. Young girls are brought up to learn to walk in the footsteps of  women in their families and conform to their gender roles. Learning to cook, clean, sew, stitch, and ration are among the many gendered tasks that girls are expected to practise and learn. In addition, girls are taught to be soft, polite, calm, spiritual, dutiful and forgiving. Only then does society deem them fit. It has been the status of girls in society for decades and continues to persist similarly in most families. Although educated women have risen to raise their voices and fight for their rights, the social condition of women remains the same in many places. The government is drafting schemes to educate every girl-child, and NGOs are raising awareness about the importance of educating girls to improve the current and future condition of women in society.

Importance of girl-child Education in the society

The post-independence era marked a turn in the status of women in the society. The revolutionaries fought for the right to educate girls and provided  them access to every opportunity that could help uplift them from the dungeons of patriarchal oppression. People need to understand that a learned woman is the forerunner of society. She can construct, grow and elevate the standards of her family and society. When girls are allowed to study, they learn and help others learn; they explore and grow both individually and collectively by educating their families and those around them. A woman has the potential to fill both gender roles; she can be a working housewife and a career-oriented professional at the same time. By encouraging young girls to study, society ensures an economically, morally, and spiritually richer future for itself.

Government Schemes for Girls’ Education

There are numerous factors challenging girl education in society. Therefore, the Indian government took the initiative of drafting and launching multiple schemes to benefit the education of girls across the country.

1. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana– It is a saving scheme by the central government under the initiative of “Beti Padhao Beti Bachao”. This scheme enables parents of girl-children to open a savings account at a minimum deposit of rupees two hundred and fifty per year to secure money for their daughter’s education. It is available for girls below ten years and is valid for deposits for the next 15 years. Parents can withdraw partially from the account once their daughter reaches 18 years old. Since the interest rate on this scheme is high, parents are encouraged to admit their girls to schools and invest in their higher education.

2. Balika Samriddhi Yojana– It is an initiative by the government for families below the poverty line in both rural and urban India. This scheme aims to cancel out the negative attitude towards the birth of girl-children and to aid their education. It is available for newly born infants, where a grant of 500 rupees is given to the family post-birth. A yearly scholarship for her education is allotted, varying according to the classes. A grant of 300 rupees annually for a girl in class I-III, 500/- per annum in class IV, 600/- per annum in class V and so on.

3. National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education- A central government initiative to promote secondary education of girls above class XIII. Since it was noted that most girls drop out of school by the time they hit puberty, under this scheme, a fixed deposit of 3000/- is made in the name of the girl-child. A minimum criterion of passing class X exams and reaching the age of 18 years is required to withdraw the matured amount from the fixed deposit.

4. Dhanalakshmi Scheme– An initiative by the central government, this scheme offers cash incentives to provide insurance covers for girls and supports their education. Parents registering under this scheme are given an immediate cash incentive of 5000/-. The newborn receives immunisation benefits of 1250/- to aid the survival of girl children in backward states. Furthermore, the scheme covers the education costs of girls, right from enrollment to class VIII by providing a total cash incentive of 5750/- divided annually. It also helps prevent child marriage by offering parents an insurance cover of 1 lakh rupees if their daughter is not married until she turns 18. 

Benefits of the government schemes for Girls’ Education

Girl-child education has always been a challenging task to accomplish. To facilitate this, the government-funded many schemes to provide incentives and insurance to promote the birth of girl-child, her immunisation, and her primary and secondary education. It also helps avoid child marriage and offers incentives if the girl remains unmarried till 18 years. These multiple initiatives from the central government encourage parents below the poverty line to prevent female infanticide and acknowledge the importance of educating their daughters. In the years since the implementation of these schemes, gender inequality is getting strangled with greater efficiency and more and more parents, especially  of  girls, are benefitting from it.

The government schemes for girl education are blessings for girls across India who would have failed to acquire proper and quality education or even a right to livelihood.

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