The Growth and Impact of Women's Education in Indian Society

The term education is derived from Latin word educare which literally means to ‘bring up’ and is connected with the verb ‘educare’ which meant ‘bring forth’. The idea of education is not merely to impart knowledge to the pupil in some subjects but to develop in him those habits and attitudes with which he may successfully face the future. Plato was of the opinion that the end of education was ‘to develop in the body and in the soul all the beauty and all the perfection of which are capable.’ It means, in short, ‘a sound mind in a sound body’. Education employs a large army of people. Sociologist are becoming more and more aware of the importance and role of educational institution in the modern industrialized societies. In recent years’ education has become the major interest of some sociologist. As a result, a new branch of sociology called Sociology of Education has become established.

There are numbers definitions of education specified by the educationists from different viewpoint. But in its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits it accumulated knowledge, skill and values from one generation to another. Education is simply stated means the process of gaining knowledge, inculcating forms of proper conduct & acquiring technical competency it involves the cultivation of an innocent mind, the instilling of values and principles in the mind of children. The synonymous words of the word “education” are: knowledge, teaching, understanding, realization, know how, experience, way of life, skill, sense, scholarship, culture, book learning, teaching, schooling, instruction, grasp, earning etc.

All meaning education should aim at the humanization of man/women, i.e. to make their own destiny. In other words, the goal of education is to make men/women to come out of every form of dehumanizing domination and oppression women and girl child education, should lead to two kinds of awareness:

• Self-awareness (awareness about the self and inner dynamics of the self)
• Social awareness (awareness about the reality outside of one’s self)

The role purpose of education is to educate all students and give everyone equal opportunity as a means to succeed in life. Through knowledge and skill, all individual can achieve greatness. Education provides pupils teaching skill that prepare there physically, mentally and socially for the world of work in late life. Education is major aspect of development of any modern society since if there is deficit of educated people then society will stop its further progress.

Every society consists of men and women, that is, individuals of both the sex. The societal principle of difference also includes sex difference. All human societies attach great importance to sex difference. Though men and women have been living together form the very inception of human history, every society differentiates its members on the basis of sex, treating man and women in different ways and that one sex should have status superior to the other, but in practice, sexual differentiation is always translated into sexual inequality. Women produce children; women are mothers and wives; women do the cooking, mending, sewing and washing; they take care of men and are subordinate to male authority; they are largely excluded from high status occupations and from positions of power. Many areas of employment were completely shut for women. They have access to resources, technology and money.

These generalizations apply, to some degree to practically every known human society. The most basic division of labor appears to be founded on sex or gender. There are man’s jobs and women’s job in the simplest hunting and gathering bands and the most complex industrial societies. In terms of the reward of prestige, wealth and power attached to gender roles, women almost invariably come off worst. In recent years, particularly with the rise of the women’s Liberation Movement, the reasons for sexually based division labour and for the inequality between male and female roles have been hotly debated. Clearly women are biologically different from men. Though there is disagreement about the exact nature and consequences of this difference; some sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists argue that it is sufficient to explain the basic sexual division labour in all societies.

As a mother, sister, daughter or wife, the role of the women in the development of human being personality in particular and the growth and progress of society in general, cannot be either denied of undervalued. But for centuries, man that is the male of the species had kept her under his thumb, allowing her own development to stagnate. He treated her own development to stagnate. He treated her like property and she lived her life under the domination of her man, ever if she was ill-treated abused or tortured. The primary reason why women are subjected to intimidation and violence is their subordinate status in a male dominated patriarchal society. The biological fact of sex has created much difference between them. The aim and objectives, desires and aspirations, duties and responsibilities, dress styles and behavioral patterns, role and statues of men and women are different. This does not mean that man and women represent two different cultures as such. They represent one way of life, one culture and one heritage. This is also true of India and Indian women. The degree of freedom and respectability given to women to move about and take part in public activities gives a good idea of the nature of the society to which they belong. The status accorded to women in society symbolizes its level of progress.

Education in Traditional Indian Society

Tradition education meant learning to read sacred literature. Among Hindus, members of the priestly castes, Brahmins, were learned in all branches of sacred knowledge, while the other twice born castes (kshatriys and vaishyas) were given a less rigorous program but also learned practical skills. Shudras and most women were not taught the sacred books but some women were taught to read. Some women form upper class Vaisnavita families learned to read puranic literature. Muslim girls were expected to learn to read Quran and some accounting skill but the strict seclusion observed by upper class families prohibited their daughters from attending schools. Consequently, what they learned about their religion they learned at home, ether from their families or through tutors. At the turn of the century there were only eleven Quran schools for girls in Bengal with 142 students. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, female literacy was extremely low in relation to male literacy. Male literacy, ranging from approximately six percent in Bengal to 20 percent in the Deccan, was also low in comparison with western nations or japan. Moreover, indigenous schools for boys were on the decline. Boy attended three kinds of school: small village school which taught elementary reading and accounting, higher school for Hindus, primarily Brahmins, which thought Sanskrit grammar, lexicography and literature, and Persian and Arabic schools for Muslims. We do not know how many of these school there were throughout India, but in Bengal there were approximately 100 traditional institutions per district with a total of 10800 students. There were 164 Hindus school in Poona in the 1820.

Western Education in India

Western Education was introduced into India because the East India Company needed clerks and translators. From 1813 the Company set aside some money for education, and after the charter of 1833 English became the official language. In 1844 Lord Hardinge announced that English educated Indians would be given preference for government appointments. Free traders voiced their support for this policy believing it would help develop an Indian population loyal to the British. The missionaries joined the chorus of approval. Eager to convert Indians from influential families, missionaries recognized how much easier it would be with English as the language of professional advancement. It was only at the end of the century that these men saw the dangerous side of education, that is, its tendency to promote nationalism and political unrest. Then, the government made attempts to control and even curtail education. Long before the government decided to sponsor English education, Indian gentlemen set up Hindu College in Calcutta. Opened in 1816, Hindu College was designed to prepare young Indian men for lucrative positions with the East India Company. In the first three decades of the twentieth century Hindu College and similar school throughout British India depended on the patronage of wealthy Indians and were in direct competition with traditional schools teaching Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic. As economic patterns changed, patronage for traditional schools disappeared. At about the same time, bright young men decided to study English.

In contrast, to support the boy’s schools, there was little interest in the education of girls. The colonial government, despite pressure exerted by missionaries and liberals, was unconcerned with female education. These missionaries were interested in female education and school for girls because, they argued, women needed to be brought into the fold to make conversions permanent. But since men made the decisions, female education was ancillary. Lard Dalhousie, Governor-General of India from 1848-1856, declared that no single change was likely to produce more important and beneficial consequences than female education. Sir Charles Wood, president of the Board of Control form 1853-1855, issued an education dispatch in 1854 that detailed a shift in government policy, form providing higher education for the elites to supports form mass education in the vernacular. This new focus on a total system of education was to include both sexes.

The final social result of a hundred years of western education may now be indicated. The lower middle class is everywhere on the increase, but only up to a point. It is not a geometrical point, but a demographic boundary, a broad and shifting. But the limit is determined, on one side, by the economic interests of the upper group which the earlier educational policy had party served. But bigger social forces have at last enlarged that original set & increased the social mobility of the middle class and where the mobility has increased, it’s found that western education strengthens the caste barrier between that expending class & the masses.

Reformed Hinduism & Female Education in Indian Society.

The breakthrough came with the establishment of government schools, such as Bethune’s and schools sponsored by reformist religious intuitions. First the Brahmo Samaj, and later the Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, and Theosophical Society all supported female education. Indians supported female education because they wanted social and religious reform, or social and financial mobility, or both. The founders of Hindu College and other early schools for boys wanted to advance the opportunities of their own class. In the case of female education, early supporters saw opportunities for social mobility as the demand for educated brides increased. Members of the Brahmo Samaj the Bengal based reform society, led the movement for female education and equality between the sexes. In North India female education was encouraged by the Arya Samaj of reformist Hindu sect which followed the teaching of Swami Dayanand Saraswati. By the end of the 19th century, progressive Araya Samajists recognized the importance of involving women in their reform efforts. The Jullundar Samaj opend the Arya Kanya Pathshala (Girls School) in 1890 with a lady principal in charge. The Kanya Mahavidyalaya (Girls Higher School) of jullundar was opened somewhat later. Both this high School and the elementary girls school, firmly established by 1892, owned their existence to the efforts of Lala Devraj. He opened his first school for girls in the family home, supported it through the sale of waste paper and staffed it with teachers who were partially compensated with food from his mother’s kitchen.

Women’s Education in Independent India

Women education in modern India took a new turn after the Independent of the country. That is, women’s education got a fillip after the country got independence in 1947 and government has taken various measures to provide education to all Indian women. The Indian Constitution declared equality a fundamental right. This document also guaranteed equal protection of the law, equal opportunities a in public employment, and prohibited discrimination in public places. As a result, women’s literacy rate has grown over the three decades and the growth of female literacy has in fact been higher than that of male literacy rate. In the present times, the Government of India has taken measures to provide education to all women of the country. As the result, women literacy rate has shown encouraging trends. The Government of India had ushered in the new millennium by declaring the year 2001 as “women’s Empowerment year” to focus on a vision ‘where women are equal partners like men’. The objective of government policy in India has been to bring about development, advancement and empowerment of women in the country through active participation of all stakeholders. Government policy has been to promote women’s participation in political, social and economic life of the nation and identical access to health care, quality education, career and vocational guidance, employment, equal remuneration, occupational health and safety, social security and public etc. The objective has been also to strengthen legal system aimed at elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and changing the societal attitude and community practices by active participation and involvement of both men and women.

Five-year plan: in the first five-year plan, the issue to provide equal status of women in India was focused. In fact, the first four five-year plan were focused on organizing various welfare activities for women’s with priority to women’s education. The fifth and sixth plans witnessed a shift in approach from welfare to entire development of women in India. The seventh plan laid stress on efforts to identity and promote beneficiary oriented programmed with the intention of extending direct benefits to women in India. The eighth plan made a significance shift from development to women’s empowerment. It recommended 30 % reservation for women at all level of government. The ninth plan ensured that a minimum 30% of benefits or funds flow to women form all ministries and departments of the government. As the result, some positive indicators of women’s development in India can be seen in the female literacy rate, which rose form 8% in 1947 to 54% in the 2001 census.

The 15th official census in India was calculated in the year 2011. In a country like India, literacy is the main foundation for social and economic growth. When the British rule ended in India in the year 1947 the literacy rate was just 12%. Over the years India has changed socially, economically, and globally after the 2011 census, literacy rate India 2011 was found to be 74.04% compared to the adult literacy rate here the youth literacy rate is about 9 % higher. The literacy rates among the various states are also varied. For instance, Kerala has the highest female literacy rate, with over 90.8% of women literacy in 2011. The state with the second highest female literacy is Mizoram, where 89.03% of women are literate. On the other hand, there are several states that have literacy rates of less than 52%, including Bihar and Uttar Pardesh, the two most populous states in the country.

Conclusion

Though the status of women in Indian society, both historically and socially, has been one of the respect and reverence, but hard truth is that even today, they struggling for their own identity, shouting for diffusion of their voices and fighting for their own esteem. The woman is a mother of Earth (Dharti Mata) who as a mother is “Supreme being and Guru”. She plays a role of mother, sister and daughter. She started women and social life. We started own human and social life from her. They are life partners and co-traveler of man in the creator of life and progress of the society. They are part of the development of the country without which the development is not possible. A family is not happy and strong until the women enacting the important role of mother, housewife or daughter are themselves not happy. They give birth to human being/beings while facing many problem, hardships and difficulties and nurture and educate them. They are first teacher of the children in the beginning of life. They are queen of the household without them the household could not be properly managed. Thus for the overall development of women, it is essential to encourage their active participation in various development programs. For this purpose, spreads of education are a must among said section of the society. Women need to be educated about merits of develop her economic status. Furthermore, employment opportunities must be created for women so that their level of earning could be improved and they could be made self-development. Therefore, in pursuit of making India a great nation, education should work towards giving women their much deserved status.

Overall, development of any country is directly linked to the education of its women. As mothers, women have the capacity to change the dynamics of the home, the child, and eventually the nation. Recent studies have shown that there is a minimum threshold level of education that must be reached because the mother’s schooling positively affects her children. At level five of six years, basically a primary education, is needed to achieve that level. In India, almost 60% of the literate women have only primary education. However, the renewed emphasis in the education sector in the 11th Five-Year Plan and increased expenditure in education can act as palliatives for the women’s education scenario in India. After Independence, Government of India took several initiatives, programs and policies, apart from constitutional and legal safeguards for the education of women in the country.