[Answered] “Recently released Health Ministry’s Comprehensive National Nutrition survey showed a direct correlation between the nutritional status of children and their mothers’ education.” In light of this discuss the importance and issues related to women education in India.

Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. Among children who are not attending school there are twice as many girls as boys, and among illiterate adults there are twice as many women as men. India has some of the world’s worst public health outcomes, but educating girls can change that.

Issues related to women education in India:

1. In traditional Indian society sons are considered as assets while girls are considered as liability so spending on their education is not considered as a priority.
2. As per the traditional Indian society the role of woman in society is only to look after house and children which does not require any schooling.
3. There is concern that if woman is educated, then she will start earning and will become independent which might hurt the ego of a male. The structure of Indian society is patriarchal in which everything revolves around male and woman is reduced to negligible role.
4. In poor families, the girl child has to look after her siblings as well as do household chores so she could not have the luxury of money and time to spend on education.
5. Further poor sanitation in schools especially for women deter them from enrolling for school education.
6. Infrastructure issues like lack of roads, distance of school from village etc act as a constraint for women education.

Why educating women is important?

1. Health benefits: Female literacy is one of the most powerful levers to improve a society’s health and economic well-being. Ensuring that the girl child is educated sets off a virtuous chain reaction; improved literacy leading to delayed age of marriage, fewer and healthier children and corresponding reduction in poverty.
2. Poverty: Women education help in removing families out of poverty through employment to women. Women labour force participation india is low at 26% in 2018. Thus women education is important to increase women labour participation. Also women have less bad habits like drinking and they often have a nature of saving.
3. Social development: Woman education will help to solve many issues faced by society. Kothari commission of 1968 recommended education as a tool for social development. By pacing woman education India can achieve the goal of social development.
4. Gender equality: Woman is part of unprivileged section of society. Education will help to close the gender gap in society. Co-education institutes will help children to give respect to female.
5. Economic productivity: It will bring economic gains not only to women but will also raise GDP of a nation.
6. Reduction in infant mortality: A well educated woman will have more chances of making better decisions for her family’s health. Studies have shown that increased literacy among women will bring down infant mortality rate.
7. Inclusive growth of a society: As a developing nation India strives for growth in each sector for all sections of society and education is a way to achieve this goal.
8. Woman empowerment: Education is powerful tool for woman emancipation and empowerment. For long woman has been deprived of her rights. By educating herself she can achieve a place in society.
9. Strengthening of democracy: Education will create awareness among woman which will cause increased participation in politics which ultimately leads to strengthening of democracy. They could secure their rights through mobilisation.

An educated woman will also be more productive at work and better paid. Indeed, the dividend for educational investment is often higher for women than men. Studies from a number of countries suggest that an extra year of schooling will increase a woman’s future earnings. Thus women education can play an important role in upliftment of lives of not only women but many others too.