Status of Elementary Education among the Mising Girls in Dhemaji and Jorhat Districts of Assam
Pages : 473-478Download PDF
Education of women is an important aspect for boosting the social and economic development of the country. Promotion of Girls Education particularly at Elementary Level is to bring certain benefits for the Society in the form of social development and reconstruction. The National commitment to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the 6- 14 years age group is now a Fundamental Right of every child in India after the passing of the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act in December, 2002. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or ‘Education for All’ programme recognizes that ensuring girl’s education requires changes not only in the education system but also in societal norms and attitudes. The present paper is an attempt to study the present status of elementary education of the girls of Mising tribes of Dhemaji and Jorhat district of Assam in regards to enrolment, retention, dropout and gender disparity. Mising is the second largest Tribal community of Assam after the Bodo. They are mostly found in the eight districts of upper Assam, namely, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur. It is one of the most backward tribes of Assam; especially women of their community are backward to a great extent. Mising tribe is in poor and low position in the field of education. Gender gap in literacy among Mising has been recorded to be the highest. Due to high illiteracy rate among the girls of the Mising community women empowerment is yet to be achieved in the proportional way. Therefore, the investigator has decided to undertake a study on the Misings of Assam specially of Jorhat and Dhemaji district, with a view to focusing on the issues of woman empowerment and socio-economic position of the women of the Mising tribes therein.
Keywords: Scheduled tribe, Mising Tribe, Elementary Education Lower Primary and Upper Primary school.