Gender Disparity in Education and Policies of Inclusion: A Sociological Study of Zone H.C Gam of District Kulgam (J&K)

Gender is a nebulous concept having many overlapping meanings. It is a range of physical, mental and behavioral characteristics distinguishing between masculinity and femininity. Gender indicates the socio-cultural alias of man and woman and the way societies recognize them and disperse social role and responsibilities. History is evident that women have been a victim of serious social evils, psycho-physical torture and utmost socio-economic exploitation. They have been exposed to extreme form of crime, violence and ill treatment and have suffered a lot in the patriarchal social set up due to male superiority. Women have got respite from earlier forms of exploitation but have been caught in the whirl pool of new challenges initiated by the process of modernization, globalization and westernization etc. Present research is meant to unravel the extent of gender disparity in educational institutions especially due to privatization of education. In the present case, the researcher is supposed to survey eight schools of Zone H.C.Gam of District Kulgam, selected through random sampling method and present research is entirely based on sample survey for which Questionnaire, Interview, Observation and secondary Data Analysis are the major available tools of data collection. Moreover the situation has been analyzed by discussing the problem with family members of students and teachers. Records from ZEO's office and school documents have also been taken into consideration. The population of present study includes all the students of primary, middle and high school of Zone H.C.Gam of District Kulgam. This research is aimed to find out the gender discrimination in educational institutions with special focus on women education at primary, secondary and high standard levels. Study is aimed to find out enrollment rate of girls in educational institutions, drop out ratio, daily attendance and gender gap between two opposite sexes by determining gender parity index (GPI).