UP Muslims girls fail to shine from KGBVs learning lamp

The Times of India: Lucknow: Monday, November 19, 2012.

The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) opened to enroll out-of-school girls from the minority community may not be serving the purpose in Uttar Pradesh. An RTI query has revealed that only 14.2% minority girls are enrolled in 200-odd KGBVs operational in 20 districts of UP. The percentage is much low as compared to the number of SC and OBC girls enrolled in KGBVs across the state.

UP has 219 KGBVs operational in blocks with a sizeable minority population in districts like Badaun, Bahraich, Balrampur, Barabanki, Bareilly, Bijnore, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, JP Nagar, Lucknow, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit, Rampur, Saharanpur, Santkabir Nagar, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar and Baghpat. While the enrollment of girls from scheduled caste (SC) and other backward class (OBC) categories is 38.2% and 33.9% respectively, Muslim girls are not benefiting much from these residential schools.

The information regarding KGBV status in 88 Muslim concentration districts in the country was provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in response to an RTI query by one Salim Baig. Though the ministry provided the details about the sanctioned and operational schools in Muslim concentration districts, and also the girls from SC/ST, OBC, BPL and minority communities enrolled, it did not provide any information about the data of Muslim population on the basis of which KGBVs have been opened in the identified blocks.

The ministry was asked about the source of the demographic data which identified the 219 blocks of the state as pockets of Muslim concentration. The ministry declined to provide the information saying it is not covered under the ambit of definition of information as defined in the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The purpose of KGBVs is to provide access and quality education to girls from economically weaker and disadvantaged groups by setting up residential schools at upper primary level. Preference to set up KGBVs is given to areas having "concentration of tribal population, areas having large number of girls out of school, areas with low female literacy or areas with a large number of small, scattered habitations that do not qualify for a school".

In Lucknow district, Kakori, Maal, Malihabad, Bakshi Ka Talab, Chinhat, Gosainganj, Mohanlalganj and Sarojininagar are the Muslim concentration areas where KGBVs are functional.