BARRIERS TO GIRL CHILD EDUCATION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY AT SECONDARY LEVEL IN KOHIMA DISTRICT OF NAGALAND

In realization of the importance of the girl child, concerted efforts were mounted by the Governments at various levels to improve girls participation in education and redress the gender inequalities in education enrolment and retention. Therefore, the study was undertaken to analyze the psychological and institutional barriers that hinders girl child education at secondary level in Kohima district of Nagaland. The research design adopted for this study was descriptive survey research. The self developed tool used for the study was a closed form of questionnaire on barriers to girls schooling at secondary level where the girls have to either tick yes or no. The instrument was validated by ten experts in Faculty of Education and the same was administered to 500 girl students. In Kohima, there are five EBRCs (Educational Block Resource Centres) and from each EBRC, 100 students from secondary level were selected randomly both from private and government schools. The data collected were analyzed and interpreted in the light of the objective of the study by using percentage analysis. The study reveals that most of the girls feel safe, comfortable and secure to go to school. They also said that there is no gender discrimination and they prefer to study in co-educational institution. The study also reveals that most of the schools have the facilities that are necessary for running a school efficiently and effectively. The study concluded that most of the girls in Kohima do not face barriers in getting education. However, there are few girls who have negative attitude towards education and their school which might be due to cultural beliefs and practices, poverty, poor academic performance, etc. which are quite negligible when compare with the barriers faced by girls in some other communities.