Girls once again outshone boys in class XII CBSE results announced on Monday, which recorded a pass percentage of 80.19 at the national level. Girls have performed better than boys with a pass percentage of 86.21 as compared to 75.80 per cent of the boys who passed across the country. The class XII CBSE examination results replay a data which everyone who has been through school has experienced – girls outshine boys in performance, this year, even more substantially. Although the official statistic for Sikkim is not at hand, in all probability, it will mimic the national trend. If it does not, then gender issues demand a relook in Sikkim because the womenfolk have been making strong forward strides in Sikkim in the recent past. When it comes to school examinations, one could argue that girls in our country are short-changed when it comes to accessing education and only the more academically consistent of them reach the class X and XII levels and hence a higher percentage of them get through. This would however be a superficial reading of the situation because girls outperforming boys has been a trend which has been consistent for a while now. What has, however, not been consistent is the access this academically more perseverant section receives in later years. In less than half a decade since the girls trump boys in class X and XII exams, they start fading away in the years when their education should be in its strongest expression and reinforcing their presence in careers and research. Centuries of societal discomfort with a women-on-top scenario starts manifesting more strongly in these years and discourage women away from ambition. The society suffers as a result, when the section which has consistently been more responsible [like learning well when in school] is pressured away from the responsibilities of policy-making and programme delivery. Male domination of these sectors has been instituted by the historic oppression of women in our country. Our major religions, Hinduism and Islam, are in scriptural and practical terms deeply inhospitable to the emancipation of women. They fool us with the celebration of women as the mother and the homemaker, but prescribe strongly against individualism and independent women. In Sikkim’s case, the experience with Buddhism has not been much better because at heart even this faith is not gender neutral as is made obvious by the preponderance of male reincarnates against the extremely few women who return as Rinpoches. The Dalai Lama appears to have noticed this imbalance and has in the past even commented that he could even return as a girl. While this might not mean that he will in fact do so, what it highlights is that it is time for faith to become gender-neutral if not pro-women. There is a staggering baggage of historic oppression and its attendant prejudices that women have to negotiate in our country, which is why their outshining males in education [for long dominated by men] should be celebrated every time it happens, even if it has become routine...
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Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Editorial:Congratulations, Ladies!
Girls once again outshone boys in class XII CBSE results announced on Monday, which recorded a pass percentage of 80.19 at the national level. Girls have performed better than boys with a pass percentage of 86.21 as compared to 75.80 per cent of the boys who passed across the country. The class XII CBSE examination results replay a data which everyone who has been through school has experienced – girls outshine boys in performance, this year, even more substantially. Although the official statistic for Sikkim is not at hand, in all probability, it will mimic the national trend. If it does not, then gender issues demand a relook in Sikkim because the womenfolk have been making strong forward strides in Sikkim in the recent past. When it comes to school examinations, one could argue that girls in our country are short-changed when it comes to accessing education and only the more academically consistent of them reach the class X and XII levels and hence a higher percentage of them get through. This would however be a superficial reading of the situation because girls outperforming boys has been a trend which has been consistent for a while now. What has, however, not been consistent is the access this academically more perseverant section receives in later years. In less than half a decade since the girls trump boys in class X and XII exams, they start fading away in the years when their education should be in its strongest expression and reinforcing their presence in careers and research. Centuries of societal discomfort with a women-on-top scenario starts manifesting more strongly in these years and discourage women away from ambition. The society suffers as a result, when the section which has consistently been more responsible [like learning well when in school] is pressured away from the responsibilities of policy-making and programme delivery. Male domination of these sectors has been instituted by the historic oppression of women in our country. Our major religions, Hinduism and Islam, are in scriptural and practical terms deeply inhospitable to the emancipation of women. They fool us with the celebration of women as the mother and the homemaker, but prescribe strongly against individualism and independent women. In Sikkim’s case, the experience with Buddhism has not been much better because at heart even this faith is not gender neutral as is made obvious by the preponderance of male reincarnates against the extremely few women who return as Rinpoches. The Dalai Lama appears to have noticed this imbalance and has in the past even commented that he could even return as a girl. While this might not mean that he will in fact do so, what it highlights is that it is time for faith to become gender-neutral if not pro-women. There is a staggering baggage of historic oppression and its attendant prejudices that women have to negotiate in our country, which is why their outshining males in education [for long dominated by men] should be celebrated every time it happens, even if it has become routine...
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Besides the Dalai Lama, the incumbent CM of Sikkim also seems to have noticed this 'imbalance' a few years back when he suggested that the next CM of Sikkim should be a woman.
ReplyDeleteOf course no marks for guessing who must have been on his mind.
Jokes apart I think this gender wise breakdown of the performance will be meaningful only if the analysis was made across communities and geographies. The macro picture as usual doesn't tell much.
It could also be a reflection of the examination system that awards rote learning. Girls after all tend to take less part in extra-curricular activities (both of the useful and the not so useful kind), are more subservient and perhaps have more to prove.
Perhaps this explains the very pertinent observation that the editorial makes. The apparent success of women in the board exams do not translate (at least for the time being) into greater upward mobility of women as far as professional courses and careers are concerned. It is well understood that people become successful in spite of their school education. In fact much that students have picked up when at school - rote learning, exam oriented study etc have to be unlearned. They need to be taught to use their creativity and imagination. Their leadership skills, the ability to think on their feet have to be honed.
At the moment the only thing this statistic is telling us is that girls are scoring higher marks than boys.
Does that mean they are getting better educated?
The jury is out on this one.