EDUCATE TO SAVE
Why is it so important to educate girls?
What’s going on?
One
of the greatest problems of the indian sub-continentis the lack of education provided
to girls. According to the data reported first by the MHRD (Ministry of Human
Resources Development) and then by CENSUS, in 2011 around 84 million children were
outside the school system, almost 20% of all those who have an educational
obligation, according to the norms of the RTE (Right To Education Act). The Right
of Children to Free and Compulsory Education is an act of the Indian Parliament
which guarantees free access, and confirmation of its mandatory nature, to
education for all those who are between 6 and 14 yearsold.
However,
especially towards the end of primary studies, the number of girls attending
school is low and indeed the dropouts are numerous. The data iseven more
negative when we start talking about secondary education, where 32% of girls do
not have access to school, compared to 28% of boys, as highlighted by
researcher AnjelaTaneja.
Why?
What
determines the dropouts and what prevents many girls from studying?
Reasons
can be traced to three macro-areas:
1) Family
responsabilities: traditional gender roles come into play,according to which
girls must take care of home and family, and then get married soon. The
responsibility however does not stop there, since the parents are often worried
about the sexual harassment that girls could experience, bringing dishonor on
the family, as reported by Rachel Williams on The Guardian;
2) Lack
of toilet facilities: an other serious problem that leads to poor attendance by
female students is the lack of adequate sanitation and the presence of negative
myths and beliefs related to puberty and the menstrual cycle;
3) Priority
to the boys: access to the internet and other facilities is often generally poor,
therefore the priority is given to the boys, who hence have better access to
knowledge, which facilitates their studies.
Why educating girls is
so important?
This
situation must necessarily be solved because of many reasons. In particular,
educating girls would lead to both personal and social benefits. Let’s look
atthem in more detail:
v Economic
independence: educated girls can aspire to jobs outside the house, which can
give them a salary and thus make them economically independent;
v Gender
equality: among the SDGs there are “quality education” and “gender equality”.
Adequate education allows girls and women to become aware of themselves and
their abilities, reducing inequalities;
v Society
development: there can be no development within a society, and this cannot be
said to be developed, unless there are equal rights and opportunities for
women;
v Social
independence: as well as for economic independence, adequate education helps
girls to be aware of themselves, their abilities and their rights as women,
which emancipates them from traditional logics;
v Chasing
dreams: an educated girl is also a girl who, thanks to her skills and
knowledge, can develop aspirations and goals, dreams that are more easily reachable
with the right education;
v No
more pay-gap: another key point is the wage difference. With the right education
and the right qualifications women can aspire to positions of a certain level,
and they can fight to abolish wage differences.
Obviously
the reasons for ensuring a (better) education for girls are not only these, but
the list would be far too long to enumerate them all. We will therefore limit ourselves
to these.
What can be done?
Of
course, different interventions are needed to make a change: on the one hand,
the role played by NGOs and non-profit associations working on a local scale is
very important. As reported by The Atlantic, NGOs and individuals are moving to
promote womens’ education,building schools dedicated only to girls. On the
other hand, the push must also come from the government: although the problem has
been recognized, the indian Government is slow in its response, putting the
problemat the bottom of the list ofitspriorities. HEEALS is continioulsy
campaigning on the importance of education among childrens ,espicially girls in
schools and communuities.
Educated
girls are fundamental to achieve a better future for themselves and for all of
us, it’s fundamental that everyone understands it.
-Martina Pignatelli
Sources:
-
Why
Do Indian Girls Drop Out Of Schools?,The Times Of India
-
Why
Girls In India Are Still Missing Out On The EducationTheyNeed, The Guardian
-
The
Groups Fighting For Girls’ Education In India, The Atlantic
-
The
High Dropout Rate Of Girls In India, AnjelaTaneja
-
Right
To Education, righttoeducation.it
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