WOMEN EDUCATION IN INDIA

Dr. V.K. Maheshwari Varsha Maheshwari
M.A, M.Ed, Ph.D B. Tech
Roorkee, India Noida, India

There is no chance of the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing.”

- Swami Vivekananda

The evolution of Indian women’s education has been spread over centuries. Its history is as old as the history of India.

HISTORICAL RETROSPECT-

Women in ancient India before 200BC were very fortunate because they were treated on a par with men. The Vedic initiation and wearing of the sacred thread was for both girls and boys. Women were eligible to learn and recite the Vedas and other religious texts, just like the men perform sacrifices and yagnas, choose to remain unwed if they wished to pursue studies (in fact the Atharva Veda said that a maiden was not to marry until she had completed her students life) and above all they could choose their partners in life. Many women had attained knowledge in the Brahman, the Supreme Being and were called Brahmavadini. Similarly there were the Mantranids who specialized in the Mantras and Vedas (such as Kausalya, mother of Rama and many others like Atreyi) and the Panditas who were scholars (such as Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharata). Theology, religion, philosophy and teaching were some of the favourite subjects of study for women. Some Vedic hymns are supposed to have been written by women. According to Panini, the famous Sanskrit grammarian of later times, there were boarding houses in the Vedic times, for women students. There were poetesses too in that period showing how conducive the ambience for learning and being creative was, for women. All this was in the period prior to 200 BC.

. The great images of Brahmavadinis like Maitreyi andGargi of the Upanishad age, and women missionaries like Sanghamitra carryingBuddha’s message to Syria and Macedonia, all were laying buried deep due tomillennium of foreign domination. The mid-nineteenth century India sawwomen, the great mother – power shackled and degenerated to mere “childproducing machines” as Vivekananda saw it.In the period of degradation, when the priests made the other castes incompetent tostudy the Vedas, they deprived the women also of all their rights. You will find inthe Vedic and Upanishadic age Maitreyi, Gargi and other ladies of revered memoryhave taken the place of Rishis.In an assembly of a thousand Brahmanas who wereall erudite in the Vedas, Gargi boldly challenged Yajnavalkya in a discussion aboutBrahman

Between 200BC and 1200AD the damage in women’s position and therefore to their chances for getting educated, was becoming more and more evident, because the thinking relating to a women’s role was first changing, in ways which were adverse to women and their progress. They gradually began to lose the privileges for religious participations and for the education, and were treated like the sudras, of interior caste. A few girls in rich and aristocratic families did indeed study Sanskrit and Prakrit and household art, song of dance- it is said that there were poetesses in Prakrit and specialist in Vedanta and Sanskrit literature. Some women even started learning medicine. But these were the exceptions. For Manu’s code engulfed the thinking of the times, by which by a young girl, by a young women, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in own house. Already, early marriages become customary. Manu further said: Let the husband employ his wife in the collection and expenditure of his wealth, In keeping everything clean, in the fulfillment of religious duties in the preparation of food and in looking after the household utensils. Perhaps the luckiest girls, as far as opportunities for education went, were temple dancers and the prostitutes, who could “stoop” to learn anything with no objections from any quarter!

In the era of Buddhism and Jainism (Roughly 300 BC to 800 AD) which emerged largely as reaction to the dominance of Brahminic thinking and rituals of the Vedic times, there seemed to be a free air for women. They could become Bhikkunis or Monks, even though they were considered subordinate in status to the male monks or Bhikkus. During this period, marriage for girls was not a rigid must and the birth of a girl baby was as welcome as a boy’s. Widowhood was not frowned upon. These factors had a great influence on women taking to education. Women were highly regarded in Jain society and many of them took to religious education and become monks.

WOMEN EDUCATION DURING THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD –

The invasion of India by Mahmud of Ghazni from about AD 1000 to 1026 and the beginning of Muslim rule in India spelt disaster for the position of women. Even through prophet Mohammed had emphasized the importance of the education for men and women; there was a sharp decline in women’s education during this period. There were no separate schools for girls. A few Bengali Zamindari and Rajput women were however well educated by studying within the home. In this period which is referred to as the medieval period, AD (1200 to 1800) the kind of education imparted was quite different from what was earlier that is through master to the discipline, mostly oral, in the gurukula tradition of the Hindus. Muslim boys were taught through Madrasas and Maktabs attached to the Mosques. The purdah system operated of Muslim girls. A view seemed to be gaining ground amongst the Hindu that if girls were given education they would become widows. It is said that the decline of education among females in general was so sharp during the medieval period that by the beginning of the nineteenth century, only one of the hundred women could read and write. Amongst the Nayar community in the south of India, the literacy rate was much higher, but that was the case only in small pockets. There were also a few expectations of girls studying along with boys and of some outstanding scholars like Chandravati who crated a Bangals version of the Ramayana. Among the Muslim aristocratic families, such names as Sultana Razziya, in the thirteenth century, have become famous for their learning and erudition as well as for their attaining competence in horse riding and the use of arms in war. There were many others, reputedly well- read, who could manage affairs of the State. Among the royalty and the families of nobles, education of girls was held in high esteem such that they take part in matters of the States, outsides their private domain as wives and mothers. Some of the rules had established schools for the girls, such as enlighten Akber and the lesser known Sultans such as Jalaluddin and Gyasud-din- Khilji, Who opened a madrasa for women where arts and crafts were taught. One Hindu woman, whose statesmanship and courage come to light at this time, was Durgavati, who acted as Regent for her son and ruled Garha, with authority. But ultimately, as she realized that she was going to be beaten in war in 1564 she killed herself so as to die with honors. Girls in ruling families received military and administrative education and training.

However, education for girls from ordinary families did not have the environment in which to develop and flourish during the medieval period. The decline was so marked that in 1826 “hardly one woman in a hundred could read in Madras and Malwa, and in Madras Province, there were 1023 girls attending schools against 1,57,664 boys, and the number of girls receiving education was 0.5 per cent of the population of the presidency.

Women Education during British Period and Post Independence Period

In Wood’s Despatch,( 1833) much emphasis was given upon women education. The Despatch recommended that the education ladder would be incomplete without women education. It appreciated the work of enlightened Indians engaged in this sacred job The Despatch recommended that the government should always support education for women. The wood’s Despatch stated, “The importance of female education in India cannot be over rated; and we have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give a good education to their daughters. By this means a far greater proportional impulse is imparted to the educational and moral tone of the people than by the education of men”. The Despatch also encouraged the private enterprises to promote women education.The schools for girls were to be included among those to which grants-in-aid would be given.

Hunter Commission(1982) was pained at the pitiable condition of the women education of the time. It gave out the following recommendations for overall development and expansion of the women education:

Arrangements of Public Funds.
Appointment of lady teachers.
Appointment of lady inspectresses.
Free education for women.
Different curriculum for girls.
Decent arrangement of hostels for girls.
Liberal Grant-in-aid for girl education.
Special arrangement for education of ‘Pardah’ observing ladies.
Arrangements for Secondary Education.

The Hartog committee(1929) observed that vast discrepancy exists between the education of boys and that of the girls. The condition of women education was deplorable. The committee recommended that—

i) The education of girls should be given as much importance as the education of boys and equal amount of money should be spent on both.

ii) In every province, experienced and educated ladies should be appointed to draw up plan for the expansion of women education.

iii) Representation should be given to ladies in all local and educational bodies.

iv) More primary school for girls should be established in rural areas and wherever possible girls should be made to study in boy‘s schools.

v) Arrangements for higher education for girls should be made in village and towns.

vi) Secondary school curriculum for girls should be different form that of boys Home science, Hygiene, Music etc. for girls should be included in curriculum.

vii) Girls should be encouraged to take higher vocational and technical courses.

viii) Women teachers should be encouraged and they should be given course Teacher training.

ix) Lady inspecting staff should be appointed in greater number to inspect girl‘s school particularly.

x) Education for girls at the primary level should be made compulsory

Regarding the women education, RADHAKRISHNAN COMMISSION 1948 suggested for providing the same facilities to the women colleges and universities as provided to men’s colleges and universities. The curriculum should also be prepared for them, considering them as both women and citizens.

On the importance of women education the commission observed, there cannot be an educated people without education of women. If general education had to be limited to man or women then opportunity should be given to women, from them it would more surely be passed to the next generation, the commission further observed, it is time to realize that the finest family relations result from the association of a man and woman who have had much relations result from the association of a man and woman who have had much of their education in common but each of the whom has developed according to his or her own nature and not in imitation. A woman should be a made familiar with the problems of home management and the skills developed in meeting these. They should be provided laboratory experience in a baby home and nursery school etc. Special courses of study for women: These are home economics, nursing teaching fine arts. Women students in general should be helped to see their normal place in a normal society both as citizens and as women and to prepare for it. College programmes should be so designed that it will be possible for them to do so. Standards for courtesy and social responsibility should be emphasized on the part of men in college.

NATIONAL POLICY OF EDUCATION 1986 recommended that

“4.2 Education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of woman. In order to neutralize the accumulated distortions of the past, there will be a well-conceived edge in favour of women. The National Education System will play a positive, interventionist role in the empowerment of women. It will foster the development of new values through redesigned curricula, textbooks, the training and orientation of teachers, decision-makers and administrators, and the active involvement of educational institutions. This will be an act of faith and social engineering. Womens studies will be promoted as a part of various courses and educational institutions encouraged to take up active programmes to further womens development.

4.3 The removal of womens illiteracy and obstacles inhibiting their access to, and retention in, elementary education will receive overriding priority, through provision of special support services, setting of time targets, and effective monitoring. Major emphasis will be laid on women#s participation in vocational, technical and professional education at different levels. The policy of non-discrimination will be pursued vigorously to eliminate sex stereo-typing in vocational and professional courses and to promote women’s participation in non-traditional occupations, as well as in existing and emergent technologies.”

THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA AND WOMEN EDUCATION –

The constitution of India, adopted in 1950, with its many measures for social reforms, contained several provisions by which there was guarantee of equality before the law as well as clauses for equality of opportunity to all in many spheres such as the matters relating to employment. Above all there is an affirmative action clause in the constitution, which states that nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision for women and children [article15(3)]. Many laws have been passed to improved women’s position in pursuance of the constitution ideals. While the de jure position is enviable the de facto position of women is at variance with it in the educational, social, economic and political field where they are under- represented or invisible .the constitution also included the achievement of free and compulsory universal primary education as directive principal within ten years.

Women Education during British Period and Post Independence Period

Arrangements of Public Funds.
Appointment of lady teachers.
Appointment of lady inspectresses.
Free education for women.
Different curriculum for girls.
Decent arrangement of hostels for girls.
Liberal Grant-in-aid for girl education.
Special arrangement for education of ‘Pardah’ observing ladies.
Arrangements for Secondary Education.