As the new millennials strive to make society more equal than ever before, a section still believes in having separate schools for boys and girls.
As the gap between parents who want to raise their wards with separate gender roles in life and the those parents who want the lines to be blurred when it comes to the social role that their son/daughter will be taking up as an adult, the surveys and Delhi Government data about academic results reveal that Delhi government’s co-ed schools are performing better than the girls’ schools and boys’ schools.
According to the Delhi government data, the co-ed schools showed a pass percentage of 88.16 per cent for Class-10 exams, while those from an all girl’s school had 82 per cent and all-boys schools had 74.8 per cent. For the class 12 examinations, the pass percentage for co-ed schools stood at 98.03 per cent, an all-girls school with 97.42 per cent and 93.42 per cent in case of an all-boys school.
The varying academic performance of the students from different school set-up raises the question, “why so?”.
“You can’t ignore the attraction between opposite genders which especially comes in the teenage phase. Boys and girls, in this phase, keep trying to save their self-esteem. It doesn’t happen similarly in single-sex campuses, whereas the co-ed students try to portray a good image in front of their opposite gender counterparts,” Anubhab Maitra, a psychologist told to India Today.
He also added that the motivation, a student gets from a co-educational environment, lacks in all-boys and all-girls school and it is affecting their educational performance.
Talking about the importance of co-education, Anubhab said, “Ultimately, we have to grow in a co-educational environment. Most colleges are supporting it also. If you want to look at our professional lives, there is no single-sex concept. So, the students who have a co-educational background, they could be able to lead a well-adjusted life in comparison to others.”
The conventional structure of our society is changing. Will shifting to a co-ed schooling system help us in transitioning to a more inclusive society?
The principals of government schools in Delhi though have expressed mixed reaction. “A lot of awareness about the opposite gender is still required before implementing the move. Many people are still not comfortable in sending their daughters to co-ed schools. There is the possibility that they might stop sending the girls to schools if they will have to study with boys,” said the principal of a government Girls Senior Secondary school in Northeast Delhi to The Hindustan Times.
“There is always a curiosity about the opposite gender among adolescents. In co-ed schools, the students become more comfortable and cooperative towards members of the opposite sex. The discipline level is also high in co-ed campuses,” said AK Jha, head of school, Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidhyalaya in Rohini Sec-8.
What People Say regarding Co-ed Schools Vs Girls Schools/Boys Schools
“Having a co-educational background, I have no bias in terms of friendship. I feel you can have the best of friends from the opposite gender which eventually prepares you to face the world in a more comfortable manner. Living in the 21st century, when girls and boys are sharing the same stage everywhere, I think it is important for them to get used to it from a very young age,” said Agnivo, a BTech graduate.
“I saw a big difference in the mentality of students between the two after shifting to a boy’s school from a co-ed. The boy’s school students mostly have one-sided thinking, whereas if I refer to my previous school’s experience, we could cope easily with any issue. We didn’t have any bar on discussions in our classrooms. Such things didn’t happen in boy’s schools,” said Arunava, a BSc third-year student.
“I have a single-sex schooling background and I think there is a lot of difference in mentalities between opposite genders. Though I have never faced any problem in my professional arena or other places based on this issue, I’ll still support the idea of the co-educational system as it helps develop the mental growth and relationships between boys and girls if it begins from our early childhood,” said Antara, a caregiver.
“This cross-gender empathy, which is usually built up in a co-educational environment, contributes majorly in the culture of understanding each other. And today, it is important,” concluded Resham, a software engineer.
“Men and women see and think differently. Co-education helps us to understand each other better which helps us to handle each other better. In life we have to deal with both men and women so it’s better if studied in co-ed schools and colleges where our understanding becomes wider and better,” said Nilima Mohapatra, a performing artiste, who has studied in both co-ed and all-girls educational set-up.
The Delhi government’s data and the observation of people from different walks of life reveal that Indian society no longer needs all Girls/ all-boys schools anymore.
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