How to create Equitable & Inclusive Institutions


 

Every year the month of March witnesses huge momentum in the purview of women’s rights. Whilst the spotlight falls more upon issues such as domestic violence, crime rates, and employment opportunities, it is imperative to delve into the subtler manifestations of gender-related issues in one of the most critical areas for development — education.

 

Various research studies and reports of surveys conducted under the education sector reflect the current status of gender disparity per se. The mean years of schooling for girls stands at 4.7 years as compared to 8.2 years for boys. One third of girl students dropout from school due to domestic reasons. The share of male students enrolled in engineering and technology is 71.1% compared to female enrollment, which is just 28.9%. The number of teachers at the University level is around 1.90 lakh, of which 36.65% are female. The statistics are alarming if studied in the backdrop of caste, religion, and location. In India's most depressed regions, the probability of girls getting primary education is about 42 per cent lower than boys.

 

I would like to share 6 key building blocks which we focus on at Sri Sri University (SSU) towards creating a equitable & inclusive institution

 

  1. Conscious action

A lot of discussion has happened about reservation, its positive and negative side. Until we reach a critical mass, some reservation is always a propeller to reach the desired outcomes. The reason for calling it conscious action is for the fact that it stays in the mind. At SSU, almost 45% of the Faculty members are females as compared to the all India females University level teaching ratio of 36%. Also in SSU, around 30% leadership roles are driven by women leaders. Gender equality can be observed in the composition of our students wherein half of the students pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate Programmes are women and one third of the students pursuing doctorate are women.

 

2 Intentionality of the leadership

The intervention in terms of creation of policies and procedures should reflect in creation of an ecosystem in the Institution which favours the female stakeholders. There have been a plethora of policies that were formulated since Independence to fill the gap of gender disparity in the education sector. The Census 2011 shows the stark difference of 22 percent between female literacy rate in India and world average. At SSU, during the pandemic policies were framed giving opportunities to the female employees to atheir kids along with taking the online classes. Also, as the campus is located at the outskirts of the city the provision of safe transportation facility to the female students had always been on the priority of the management.

Training and Development

Educational institutions should identify the needs of training & development (in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitude) for augmenting the professional career paths of the female employees. The fields like STEM which were primarily looked upon as domain competencies of male students should be opened up for female students. I personally have taken responsibility for equipping the women with leadership skills by facilitating Masterclass: Breakthrough Leadership for Women series which have a diverse range of participants, both nationally and internationally.

 4 Networking Platforms

Traditionally networking has been frowned upon by women . I believe that Networks and Platforms are crucial to enrich, empower and enable professional success. At SSU, we groom our girl students to be a part of professional learning networks. The Art of Living International Women’s Conference which is organized every two years with participants from more than 100 countries across the globe is the testimony of the commitment that we show in opening up avenues for women to develop links for professional and personal growth. Also, SSU has established a Women's Leadership Forum called ‘Charchika’ wherein we invite women leaders from across the globe for mentoring and motivating the students, staf, and faculty members of our UniversiInstitutional Social Responsibility

           The aspect of institutional social responsibility is a medium of contributing to gender equality and inclusiveness outside the threshold of the Institution. A strong Institution inspires others to follow its footsteps to bring change in the society. At SSU, Learn, Lead, and Serve are the three core pillars of our teaching learning process. We follow the principle of ‘learning by doing.’ Our students are involved in various social initiatives wherein they reach out to females of the nearby villages and conduct various training programmes, skill development workshops, etc. to strengthen the community. SSU runs various skill centres in the villages and the outcomes of such initiatives is reflected in the fact that many women from the villages have become small entrepreneurs.  

 6 Mental & Spiritual Wellbeing

Institutions have the responsibility to build strong women with physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual resilience. SSU runs programmes like ‘Pavitra’ which deals with creating awareness about menstrual hygiene among women. Also with a wide variety of meditation and yoga programmes aimed to nurture spiritual well being among women, SSU ensures that the women in the University are groomed holistically for all around success.

 

 

Dr. Kuldeep Agarwal

Chairperson @ Board of Open Schooling and Skill Education | B.Ed.; M.Ed.; M.Phil. & Ph.D.

3 年

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