As part of its international aid program, the AEU is contributing funds to a project in northern India aimed at finding out why so many girls drop out of school. Krista Mogensen reports.

Uttar Pradesh in India's north is one of the nation's most populous states. Famous for the jewel-like Taj Mahal, and prosperous in parts from trade, business and tourism, the state also scores one of the nation's lowest literacy rates.

According to the 2001 census, only 35 per cent of its people are literate. With economic activity rated as 'very low', it is clear that, for many in Uttar Pradesh, life is a day-to-day struggle.

The number of students out of school is also significantly higher than the national average, according to the All India Primary Teachers' Federation (AIPTF). Conventional wisdom says the low enrolment and high drop-out levels are the result of poverty, parents' illiteracy, untrained teachers and unrealistic national educational policies.

But it is the lack of hard data about what causes children—and girls, in particular (see box)—to drop out, that has inspired a new study by the AIPTF and the Uttar Pradesh Teachers' Association, with support from the AEU and Education International (EI).

The AEU is contributing US$33,000 from its International Trust Fund to the study (see box) and is also involved in planning, monitoring and evaluating the project's progress, says AEU Deputy Federal Secretary and EI Vice President Susan Hopgood. The project will focus on two districts near the Nepalese border, and the on-the-ground work is being done by the local unions and community.

Talking to the community

The project's goal is to establish the reasons students are dropping out, and to use this information to lobby the government and contribute to new education policies. At a grassroots level, it is also about mobilising the union membership, contributing to a strong, democratic union and supporting teachers in monitoring enrolment. The project is expected to run for two years.

Hopgood says it is a process of understanding what is actually happening and then trying to work out what can be changed. "It's about getting their members on the ground talking to parents and students, talking to the communityÉand then advocating those issues to the government."

"We don't think that teachers in those villages or the union have responsibility for that change, per se. It's a government responsibility."

"What is important about our project and the work of EI in 'Education for All' (see box)," says Hopgood, "is the focus on the need to strengthen teacher unions. They can then play an important role in advocating change in their country, and influencing the government to make the necessary interventions."

The Indian unions' focus on girls is a positive move for girls' education, given the high level of denial that exists worldwide regarding gender parity in education, says AEU Deputy Federal Secretary Susan Hopgood. "Girls come to school," she says, "but disappear again."

According to UNICEF, girls make up the majority of the 121 million children out of school worldwide who are working, caring for ill or elderly family members or siblings orphaned by AIDS.

No generic solution

The UP project is modelled on EI programs in Latin America, Africa and India that are gaining influence on a broader political scale. "In Tanzania, the union is now part of an 'institutionalised dialogue' with the government," says EI coordinator Wouter van der Schaaf. "This may sound like very bureaucratic lingo, but it is a major step forward from the usual smile-picture with the Minister."

Finding out the causes of drop-out is essential, however, because there is no single cause or generic solution. In some countries, abolishing school fees, or providing meals, or prohibiting certain forms of child labour, has made a difference. "In Latin America, a stipend is now paid to families to enable children to go to school," says van der Schaaf. "Each country requires its specific approach."

Krista Mogensen is a freelance writer.