Girls Lead, Barriers Persist
HSLC and HSSLC are just launchpads for students to pursue higher education and career options. We will be failing the cause of women’s education terribly if we fail to provide equal opportunities to them.
- In what has become a recurring trend across India, girls
have been outperforming boys in most board examinations, be it CBSE, ICSE, or
state boards, for years. It’s not different in Nagaland either. Once again,
girls shone in the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Higher Secondary
School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) examinations 2025 conducted by the NBSE, the
results of which were declared last week. Like last year, girls have
outperformed boys in HSLC and HSSLC exams, not only in terms of pass percentage
and toppers’ list across all streams but also in enrollment. This is an
impressive and encouraging trend and is in line with the government’s policy to
empower girls through education by addressing gender-based educational
disparities and enhancing enrollment via various initiatives, including the
Right to Education Act (RTE), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and KGBV. A significant
progress has been made in the education of girls across the country, which is
reflected in the literacy rate, but the same can’t be said about their
enrollment in higher studies and their performance in some fields, particularly
STEM. Studies have shown that girls’ enrollment and dropout rates are higher
than their male counterparts in the higher levels and more common among those
from marginalised communities. Statistics also tells that girls lag behind boys
in technical education. This, experts opine, is due to a lack of support from a
choice of streams/subjects to coaching facilities.
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- Despite having the required aptitude and determination to
excel in all fields of education, many girls have to bear the brunt of
patriarchal mindsets, including parents’ inclination to invest more money in
the boys and reluctance to send girls to reputed colleges due to distance and
other reasons, either cutting their dreams short or killing them altogether. By
and large, several factors like cultural and social norms, safety concerns, and
poverty continue to impede girls' education, careers, and lives in general. The
governments, both at the centre and states, should address this issue that is
stopping girls from excelling in life, which in turn affects the society
economically and socially. Half-hearted support won’t help achieve the desired
goal. HSLC and HSSLC are just launchpads for students to pursue higher
education and career options. We will be failing the cause of women’s education
terribly if we fail to provide equal opportunities to them. Lower retention
rates among girls have to be addressed. In the same measure, low enrollment and
success rate among boys in high school and intermediate levels is a matter of
concern that needs to be looked into. The government should also seriously look
into the uneven distribution of educational institutions in the state. Out of
17 districts, only five have institutions that offer Commerce stream, while 12
offer Science stream. A lot of leveling work needs to be done.
