Page 26 - EW November 2025.pdf Final

Education News

are warning this directive attached to transforming into co-
will alienate religious and educational institutions. In gov-
other conservative parents, ernment-aided schools tuition and
some of whom may discon- other fees are regulated by the state
tinue the education of girl government (under the Maharashtra
children. Educational Institutions (Regulation
Ministry officials say this of Fee) Act, 2011). Therefore, they
initiative is not only a step cannot charge higher tuition fees or
towards gender equality, it development fees and may have to
will also reduce administra- depend on government funding for
tive expenditure of running infrastructure expenses..
parallel schools on the same As the deadline for implementing
campus and is aligned with this policy directive nears, the state’s
the National Education 2,469 gender segregated schools are
Policy (NEP) 2020, which Ainul Attar (centre): prior debate call actively debating its pros & cons.
mandates inclusive, egalitar- And as celebrated lawyers are being
ian education. The GR explains that minority-run and faith-based institu- consulted, a legal battle royale is
integrating boys and girls in com- tions are debating the impact the looming.
mon classrooms from early age will policy may have on girls’ education. Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)
dismantle social barriers, nurture “As an organisation that manages
mutual respect, and prepare chil- around 20 girls-only Urdu medium WEST BENGAL
dren to normalise gender equality schools, I am deeply concerned about
in academia and later in workplaces the impact of this GR, especially on Trojan horse fear
when girl children step out in the girls’ education. The demand for
real world. ‘girls only’ schools exists in rural oon after india wrested inde-
Maharashtra has built a reputa- areas of the state too where, irrespec- pendence from almost 200
“tion for being among the most tive of religion, parents prefer send- Syears of extractive exploitative
progressive states of the country ing their wards to segregated Zilla rule, under the influence of free In-
and it’s high time we end gender Parishad schools run by the govern- dia’s first prime minister Jawaharlal
segregation and move towards co-ed ment,” says Ainul Attar, Director of Nehru, India adopted Soviet-style
schools. However, before issuance Higher & Technical Education of the central planning as the prescription
of the GR the ministry should have Anjuman-I-Islam trust (estb.1874), for national development. This mo-
actively nudged school managements which manages over 80 education mentous policy decision transformed
and teachers to create awareness institutions in Mumbai. the Indian Statistical Institute, Kol-
among communities and then let the Attar also voices concern about kata (estb.1931) founded by eminent
sensibilities in the community and the directive’s impact on teach- mathematician P.C. Mahalanobis
market forces prompt parents of girl ers. “Many of our teachers will now into arguably the most important
children to attend egalitarian co-ed become redundant as we integrate academic institution in the first two
schools,” says Milind Mhaske, schools. In government-aided decades after independence.
Chief Executive Officer of the Praja schools, the government decides Working together with the Soviet
Foundation, an NGO dedicated to where teachers are transferred, and Gosplan-style Planning Commission
enhancing accountable governance they aren’t paid salaries until they comprising a dozen eminent econo-
to improve the quality of life in urban get a posting. Maharashtra’s educa- mists committed to the Nehruvian
India. tion sector is already burdened with vision of transforming India into a
Monitors of Maharashtra’s over 25,000 surplus teachers in “socialist pattern of society,” Mahal-
academic scene concur and fault the government-aided schools. We will nobis/ISI drew up several five-year
BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) government now see a further rise in unemploy- resource mobilisation and expen-
for not preparing the ground through ment as the number of excess teach- diture plans based on input-output
“proactive dialogue”. This is likely to ers increases. I feel there is need to ratios to transform the agriculture-
provoke pushback from conservative debate the fallout of such policies based Indian economy into a heavy-
households. Moreover for many con- before they are announced,’’ adds weight industrial nation. But because
servative families, gender segregated Attar. responsibility for attaining the ambi-
education is important for preserva- Many single-gender private tious 5-6 percent per year GDP growth
tion of their cultural values and girls’ schools are mulling on how to plans was vested in newly established
safety in school. They say several finance the infrastructure costs public sector enterprises (PSEs) man-

26 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2025