The National Curriculum Framework-2005 states that a critical function
of education for equality is to enable all learners to claim their rights as
well as to contribute to society and the polity. We need to recognise that
rights and choices in themselves cannot be exercised until essential
human capabilities are recognised. Thus, in order to make it possible for
all learners from different socio-economic backgrounds, especially girls,
to claim their rights as well as play an active role in shaping collective
life, education must empower them to overcome the disadvantages of
unequal socialisation and enable them to develop their capabilities of
becoming equal citizens.
Reaching out to the girl child has been central to the efforts of
Universalising Elementary Education (UEE). The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
(SSA), a national flagship programme for UEE recognises the need for
special efforts to bring girls, especially from disadvantaged groups, to
schools, and to bridge gender disparities in education at the elementary
level. In this regard the Ministry of Human Resource Development
attempts to address social, cultural and economic deprivation faced by
girls from marginalised and disadvantaged sections of remote and rural
areas, by instituting the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)
scheme, an innovative and promising initiative of the Government of
India. Introduced as a scheme in 2004 it became a part of SSA in 2007.
Currently it is operational in twenty-four states and one union territory.
The Bridge course is also an important step in translating some of
the concerns stated in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act, 2009, particularly in the context of ensuring that the
children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups are not
discriminated and prevented from pursuing and completing elementary
education; and providing course of study for elementary education.