Subject Choice of Women in Higher Education
Dr. (Mrs.) Jeemina Baglari
Assistant Professor, Bodoland University, Rangalikhata, Deborgaon, Kokrajhar, Assam
*Corresponding Author E-mail: jeemibaglari19@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
The aim of the present paper focuses on subject choice made by the women students in higher education with special reference to Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) of the state Assam. There is a need to understand the processes of decision making regarding studies, subject choices of women in higher education and how diverse contexts of gender consideration influence choices made at higher education. This study on women subject choice showed that the women student themselves and family played a role in deciding the subject choice. Certain problems were faced by the women in regards to medium of instructions, unavailability of study course and materials, personal problems etc. The study was made on the sample of 695 women students of higher education of BTAD. Regarding their choice of studies and problems faced by women students were collected with the help of questionnaire developed by the investigator.
KEYWORDS: Higher education, subject choice, problems, women, BTAD.
INTRODUCTION:
Higher education represents an aid for the growth and the development of an individual and a key for a better life. It has an important role both for the student, as an individual, and also for the society in which one lives. For the society, higher education institutions can contribute to the creation of ideal citizens, who will help in keeping the society peaceful. Women are the indispensable part of a society. The pioneering objectives behind women higher education are: i) to create right attitude towards life, individuals and society; ii) to impart useful knowledge for various aspect of life; iii) to give practical training for facing the real life problems; iv) to develop good personal habits; v) to inculcate a sense of social awareness and spirit of service to the society; vi) to make a strong career for the future. Higher education not only develops their personality and rationality but also qualifies them to fulfill certain economic, political and cultural functions thereby improving their socio-economic status.
Women need special attention simply because of the fact that the modern civilized society is committed to the nation of ‘equality’. Theoretically, the need for higher education for both male and female is the same. It is sometimes argued that male and female are different in their social and cultural needs. Surely, there are fields which are suitable to women. For instance, they are more skilled to work on embroidery, kitchen and beauty parlour. But then such socio-cultural differentials may result in defeating objectives of higher education. The basic argument which is given for women higher education is not that of men. Our main thrust is that in the field of higher education, women should also be equal partners. Lately in every field of education women participation has being increasing tremendously. But in professional studies of higher education they need to receive more attention. Women are lagging behind in the field of science, medicine, law, engineer etc. only a few make choice in such fields of study. They are always fond of going for feminine subjects, which have lower scope for further career.
The Study Area: Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD):
Assam is a state located in the north-eastern part of the country and is bounded to the north by the kingdom of Bhutan and the state of Arunachal pradesh, to the east by the state of Nagaland and Manipur, to the south by the states of Mizoram and Tripura, and to the west by Bangladesh and the states of Meghalaya and west Bengal. There are 33 districts in the state of Assam. Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD) is one of the autonomous districts created by craving out some area of eight districts of Assam viz Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Darrang and Sonitpur within the state of Assam. It is an Autonomous Administration unit constituted under Sixth Scheduled of the constitution of India covering an area of 8,970 square kilometers and there are over 3082 villages in BTAD. The four districts of BTAD are Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. The actual functioning of the council was started on 10th February, 2003 by constituting the 12 members of the council. The administrative unit has been created with a mission to accomplish development in the area of economics, education, preservation of land right, linguistic aspiration, socio-cultural and ethnic identity of Bodos and above all to speed up the infrastructure development of all communities in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) areas.
METHODOLOGY:
The study is based on primary and secondary data collected through field survey involving 695 women students of general colleges, professional colleges and university (Bodoland University). Questionnaire was administered to women students to know the problems in regards to subject choice made in higher education of BTAD.
Women Participation in Higher Education of BTAD:
In Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) women participation in higher education has increased considerably over the past few years. Currently, about 50% of students are women, and this figure is still rising in the region. Yet, this increase in women student participation does not apply to all academic fields. In science, commerce, engineering, law, professional courses, etc. where women have always been underrepresented, their participation rate has actually a slow progress over the years.
Women in colleges are more likely to choose Art course rather than other courses or job oriented courses. Accordingly even in university most women students choose for Arts etc. while a small number of women students choose for Science, etc. During the year 2009-2010, there were 29 general colleges 7 professional institutions and 1 university in BTAD. These general colleges offered Arts, Science and Commerce courses and Professional Institutions offered L.L.B, B.E, and B.Ed courses. The University, (Bodoland University) offered post-graduate course in 10 departments, viz. Assamese, Bodo, Biotechnology, Computer Science and Technology, Economics, English, History, M.B.A, Mathematics and Political Science. These higher educational institutions are serving a significant role to those women students especially coming from far and near rural areas. The number of women students enrolled at higher education during the session 2009-2010 (available data only) is shown in the figure provided below.
Fig. No.1, Enrollment of Students in Sex Wise Higher Education
Sl. No. |
Institution |
Total No. of Enrollment of Students |
Male Enrollment |
Female Enrollment |
1 |
University |
307 |
175 |
132 |
2 |
General Colleges |
4272 |
2354 |
1918 |
4 |
Professional Colleges |
750 |
435 |
315 |
5 |
Total |
5329 |
2964 |
2365 |
Source: University/Colleges Office Record
The above Table no. 1 shows a clear picture of the enrollment of students in higher education on the basis of gender during the year 2009 - 2010. This table depicts that there is no much difference between male and female students enrolled in higher education. It is observed that in recent years there is a gradual increase in the enrollment of women students in every field of higher education. This indicates that the people of the region have a positive attitude towards the education of women, they have realized the necessities of education in both the sexes. This figure can foresee the future development of higher education in the region of BTAD.
Choice of Studies made by Women Students:
The most important decision a student has to make is the choice of course. The students’ career choice is needless to say of up most importance. Contrary to popular teenage belief, the career choice is not made after graduation from college. It is more often that student makes his/her choice of streams at the end of high school, i.e. after the schooling. The career choice is stamped in deliberately in a students’ life when she decides on the stream of study and the institutions that offers this course. These choices are vital. Sometimes courses and major subjects are chosen to please others, but have little or no relationship to the students’ true interests. Many students just are not sure about what they really want to do in their future career. It takes a fairly clear purpose to motivate a student to successfully engage in the lengthy and difficult process of higher education. Today one of the common reasons for students dropping out of university education is that they have chosen the wrong subject/course, or that they have not done enough study into the content of their course before applying. Selecting the best possible course for a university student is a key decision to make, and often a challenging one.
In the region it is mostly observed that many parents and friends primarily influence students in their decision making. It is not uncommon to find parent influenced by their own petty desires and social pressures make unjust choices for their children. As a result, many students after a few months, when they cannot cope up with the course, experience a growing sense of frustration. The solution is encouraging the students to make the right choices and giving them the patience and understanding they need. Giving them the freedom to choose and support when their choice are legitimate.
So, making the right choice is the bottom line of every successful life. The study also shows that women students made their choice of study on the available of courses in the present colleges. The choice of studies made by the women students at higher education during the session 2009-2010 (available data only) are shown in the figure provided below.
Table no. 2 Showing the faculty-wise of women students enrollment in Higher Education in terms of percentage
Sl. No. |
Faculty |
Under-graduate |
Post-graduate |
1 |
Arts |
61.44 |
83.33 |
2 |
Science |
10.07 |
11.36 |
3 |
Commerce |
9.78 |
- |
4 |
B.Ed |
8.63 |
- |
5 |
B.E |
5.76 |
- |
6 |
L.L.B |
4.32 |
- |
7 |
Management |
- |
5.30 |
Looking at the table no. 2 on the choice of studies made by women students, it is seen that high percentage of the women students are opting for Arts course and extremely low percentages in Science, Commerce and Professional courses. Engineering and Law is the study made with the smallest proportion of women with fewer than one hundred students female. This can be observed in the region most of the colleges offer only Arts stream only few colleges have Science, Commerce streams and a few Professional institutes in the region. It was also observed that professional courses like Engineering, Law, etc was restricted to one district only i.e in the district of Kokrajhar, the rest of the three districts (Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri) such courses were not available accept B.Ed course i.e Teacher education. At the university too only few departments were available which was also offered Arts course. It have a very narrow range of course options that are offered in BTAD and where there is no scope of incentive to provide quality education for students. Bodoland Territorial Areas District is totally suppressed by the government in terms of education and its development. It is a matter of concern that the students of the regions are been neglected by the government as well as by the local authority. Due to the unavailability of different streams/courses in the region majority of the women students have to choose the avail course only. Therefore, there is a need to bring equity in all the four districts by establishing more educational institutions, focusing more on professional courses so that students can opt their own choice of course. In BTAD 90 percent of the people living in the rural areas are mostly backward with low incomes which does not permit their daughters to send far away from home to study. Only the rich parents send their daughter to study away from home. Due to this situation women students of the region are not getting better scope while making choice of studies, their interest has to remain confined to Arts stream only. To bring development in the region the basics necessities of higher education has to be fulfilled then only the area will developed.
Problems of Women Students in regard to Choice of Studies:
To know the various problems faced by the women students in relation to their choice of studies, the investigator administered questionnaire to a sample of 695 women students of higher education in BTAD. The common problems faced by majority of the women students are highlighted below:
1. Lack of suitable courses: In the region, there is a lack of variety of courses, almost all the colleges offer Arts course with few subject areas, only a few colleges are giving Science, Commerce and Professional courses. Majority of the women students faced problem in choosing their interest of studies due to unavailability of courses. Considering this problem there is a need to introduced more courses in higher educational institutions to cope up the problem of the students. The state government and the local government should take up a quick initiative to open new higher educational institutions in the region for the betterment and upliftment of the society.
2. Financial problem: 80 percent of the people residing in BTAD are tribals. Tribals mostly depends on agriculture, they belongs to poor socio-economic families. Financial problem always remain a hurdles in the life of the tribal people where they are unable to proceed further in life whether it is in terms of education or in terms of living a healthy lives. Therefore in the case of women students coming from poor socio-economic condition are facing acute financial and personal problems in making certain decisions regarding the choice of studies. As professional courses fees structure are high, so for women students especially coming from rural areas are mostly facing problem. Regarding this issues to alleviate the acuteness of financial burden of women students the educational institutions should designed a mechanism of providing grant scheme so as to target the most needy women students, in proper provision for financial assistance in the form of students’ grants or merit cum scholarship should be made feasible.
3. Poor in English language: This is a general problem for most of the students in the region. These students who have done their schooling from vernacular medium schools i.e Bodo, Assamese, etc. In colleges and universities the medium of study is English in which they are bound to read and write in English language. The women students had faced difficulties due to lack of knowledge in English language. Many of the women students responded that for this reason they have lost confidence of doing well in life. Therefore to improve the language problem, special tutorial classes on English language should be introduced in the colleges. The authority should make an effort in this regard.
4. Low in academic performance: The women folk of the region are found to be less career-oriented. Only few students are seen to be hard working and striving to bring better results in examinations. In this regard the study revealed that majority of the women students opted for general course (Pass course) due to fear that they will not be able to continue/carry on with their studies because they have obtained less percentage in the last examination. Provision of guidance and counselling services in colleges and universities should be given to the students so that they can make the most suitable choice of studies for their future career.
5. Poor library facilities: In the absence of good library in an educational institution, education has no meaning. Without library students cannot gain knowledge. Majority of the women students revealed that there is no sufficient study/reading materials in the library due to this they were facing problem with the study course. This seems to be a serious problem for the students and this problem should be looked into by the authority of the educational institutions by strengthening it or by procuring more volumes of recent books and also by providing books bank, reprographic, accessing online reading facilities and computer with internet services.
By availing all the necessary facilities and looking into the matter of the students’ issues of educational institutions the region can have excellence and quality in higher education.
CONCLUSION:
Higher education has played a vital role in the region of BTAD by improving the status of women and consequently there have been efforts to improve the access of girls and women to higher education. Today high proportion of women now enter higher education, this is a significant achievement for the region. Therefore to bring better scope and improvement in higher education in BTAD in the near future emphasis need to be given on introducing more variety of courses so that more women can enter in the field of medicine, law, engineering, etc. Therefore women need to be given upmost important in the field of higher education and to liberate herself.
REFERENCE:
1. N.B. Oza, and K.M Joshi, (2003). Higher Education Issues and Options, Mangal Deep Publication, Punch Mukhi Hanuman, Jaipur. India.
2. N. Singh (2007). Higher Education for Women in India - Choices and Challenges. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ/099426.pdf.
3. UNESCO. Higher Education and Women: Issues and Perspectives.www.unesco.org/education/educprog/wche/principal/women/html
4. https://en.wikipedia.wche/principal/org/wiki/Bodoland_Territorial_Council
Received on 29.06.2018 Modified on 17.07.2018
Accepted on 01.08.2018 © A&V Publication all right reserved
Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2018; 6(4): 427-430 .
DOI: 10.5958/2454-2687.2018.00037.0