GENDER DISPARITY IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ODISHA a STUDY IN SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Education refers to the act of teaching and learning which is incredibly essential for every citizen. It is fundamental to all round development of the society. Among all the levels of education, elementary education is considered as initial stage of education. Girl s education can be considered as important tool for attending overall development. Present study aims to know the status of elementary education among the districts of Odisha, by highlighting educational facilities available for girls in school. It also aims to look into the magnitude of Gender Parity in Elementary Education. By selecting socio-economic and demographic parameters, we calculated district level Development Index of the state. On the basis of acquired result, we selected Khordha (Jatani Municipality and Paniora village) and Balangir district (Balangir municipality and Chatuanka village) for micro-level study. Present study has only considered Government- aided schools for research. Findings of the study reveal that the coastal belts of Odisha are having a better scenario of elementary education than the western and southern belts. Apart from this, coastal Odisha also found to be performing better in terms of educational facilities as well as in terms of gender parity. We also found that higher level of development tends to reduce gender disparity in education. More distance of schools from the place of residence tends to lower down the educational participation of girl child. We also found that educated parents and better income levels of the study area has a strong impact on educational achievement of girls. Out of the selected case study areas, Jatani municipality found to be performing best in terms of educational attainment, educational facilities, family background, school infrastructure and gender parity than the other areas. Study concludes that effective and sincere intervention of the programmes newline