Women’s Day 2021: Education minister interacts with girl students, women VCs

NEW DELHI: Union education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on the occasion of International Women’s Day interacted with eight girl school students from across the country on Monday.

In the virtual event called ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’ girls from Dehradun, Mehsana, Kochi, Guwahati and other cities expressed their ideas of nation-building and their aspirations to achieve gender equality.

Students from various Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and other private schools shared their future plans to serve the country. Pokhriyal lauded the girls’ resolve to contribute to the country’s development and invoked various women leaders to boost their confidence.

Interacting with girl students schools & releasing comics of @cbseindia29 on the occasion of #InternationalWomensDay . @EduMinOfIndia @SanjayDhotreMP @PIB_India @MIB_India @DDNewslive @mygovindia https://t.co/YLgD0jXwvE

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) March 8, 2021

The minister also launched an educational comic book issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The comic book has been put together by 50 CBSE schools from 13 different states of the country. The comics will include 120 graphic essays submitted by these schools.

Interaction with women VCs and principals

The minister also interacted with women Vice-Chancellors and principals of various higher educational institutes in the country. To exchange ideas on how to provide equal access to higher education for women, VCs and principals were invited to the virtual event.

The higher education secretary, Amit Khare said that the latest Gender Parity Index (GPI) of higher education in India has reached 1.01. A GPI equal to one signifies equal access to education for male and female students.

D.P Singh, chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) highlighted that the girl's enrollment has reached 48.8 percent in education. The maximum enrolment of women are found to be in "soft disciplines" like home science and humanities and fewer women opt for STEM courses, Singh said. He urged for a collective effort to ensure more women join STEM courses as well. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The VC of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Najma Akhtar said: "International Women's day is only a reminder that a lot has to be done to achieve gender equality. The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the unequal burden the women carry on their shoulder. Nevertheless, women have also contributed to combating COVID-19 as frontline workers." Akhtar also appreciated various policies launched by the Narendra Modi government to achieve gender equality in the virtual event and asked for efficient implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Addressing Women Vice Chancellors & Women Principals of Universities & Colleges on the topic ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a #COVID -19 world’. #InternationalWomensDay #Narishakti @EduMinOfIndia @SanjayDhotreMP @PIB_India @MIB_India @DD https://t.co/MwWpIMd1Mv

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) March 8, 2021

Update: This copy has been updated to include details of the education minister's interaction with VCs and principals.

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