The UPA Government might take credit for almost achieving gender parity in primary education with 98 girls enrolled in schools for every 100 boys. But are the girls going to school to pick up the skills in the three R’s or to render their service to the school authorities by sweeping and mopping the classrooms, serving tea to the teachers’ visitors and cleaning utensils for mid-day meals?

Such reports have come from a number of primary schools in villages of six states - UP, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Chattisgarh.

Since the Centre government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme only provides allocation for the construction and maintenance of school buildings ,the school authorities plead their inability to engage sanitary staff.

Hence the responsibility of cleaning and sweeping is passed on to the girl students while the boys are spared. Perhaps this can explain why the dropout rate of girls in primary schools is as high as 40 percent. Delhi-based voluntary organization PRIA, which has done a study on the status of SSA and girls’ education, has said in its report that 40.93 percent of village schools in the above-mentioned six districts are without lady teachers. Only 34.17 per cent of such schools have toilets for girls and about 81 percent primary schools have drinking water facilities available in the school.

“Under such circumstances it is quite usual that girl students are asked to do the odd jobs like cleaning and sweeping,” PRIA Programme Officer Priyanka Dale told Deccan Herald. “The girl students of class IV and V come early for cleaning the classroom. Classes begin only after they are through with their work. Many times their uniforms get dirty, but they have to attend school wearing those wet clothes,” Ms Dale said. Since most of them have to do the same chores at home as well, they became tired and are unable to concentrate on their studies.

But nobody, from the teachers to the village community, finds anything amiss in this odd practice. In fact they justify it by saying that the girls were “better than boys” in cleaning, sweeping and taking care of others.