Background
- Launched in 2015 The Union government launched the BBBP scheme with the motive to reduce the existing gender imbalance in India and work towards the survival protection and education of the girl child.
- Expanded Scope
- Starting with a narrow scope the scheme gradually increased its focus areas to issues like menstrual health and girls participation in sports.
Know more about: Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme
Achievements of BBBP
- Improvement in Sex Ratio at Birth
- The sex ratio at birth showed steady improvement increasing from 919 girls per 1000 boys in 2015 to 929 girls per 1000 boys by 2020-21.
- The number of missing baby girls is also lesser, decreased from 4,80,000 in 2010 to 4,10,000 in 2019.
- Maternal Health
- The scheme has also improved the registration of pregnancies and institutional deliveries thereby leading to improvement in the care of the mother.
- Educational Impact
- The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of girls in higher secondary education went up from 5641 in the years 2015-16 to 582 in 2021-22.
- At the secondary level GER decreased marginally yet remained high.
- Scholarships and campaigns encouraging parents to educate their daughters improved school enrolment.
Restrictions and Challenges
- Slow Pace towards Gender Equality
- Despite having some achievements the overall gender gap with families still wanting sons is deeply ingrained 80 of respondents in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) wanted at least one son
- School Dropout Rates
- Gender based dropout rates continue to be prevalent girls drop out more frequently than boys at preparatory and middle levels due to early marriages household chores and inadequate sanitation facilities.
- In secondary school the trend was reversed and the dropout rates stand as a huge barrier to equality in educational contexts.
- Underutilization of Funds
- In between 2016 and 2019, 80% of the funds allocated for the scheme were spent on media campaigns which points to misappropriation of the available resources.
- Limited Impact on Societal Norms
- Society has remained impervious to changes towards gender due to BBBP, though the Global Gender Gap Report continues to reflect low standing of India with regards to pace of its progress towards achieving gender balance.
- Global Gender Gap Report
- India has slipped two places in the global rankings to 129th in 2024 from 127th in 2023 out of 146 countries. Within South Asia, India ranked fifth after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.
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Future Recommendations
- Strengthen Programs of Education and Retention
- Look into causes of girls dropout, basically early marriages, lack of sanitation facilities from schools and even generally retain every learner.
- Much Better Use of Resources
- Clearly more transparent and accountability in the funds used to pump resources into endeavours impacting more than that of the campaigns in the press.
- Social Change and Culture
- Continuing efforts in awareness campaigns, community outreach, and policy formulation that advocate for gender-neutrality in family planning.
- Gender Parity Investment
- This implies that policymaking should be gender equality’s first priority not for the sake of equity but rather for longterm economic growth and prosperity.
