EDUCATE TO SAVE Why is it so important to educate girls?

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

Parents, haath dhulao, bimari bhagao!!

Parents, do you know when children play in open areas, they touch things that may be contaminated by a MICROBE!!! For example, they could end up touching feces (poop) from animals or people ACCIDENTALLY andmay result with an infection simply because aSINGLE gram of human poop may contain 1 TRILLION germs. And did you know that you could possibly avoid an infection or MANY visits to the doctor if the kids were trained to wash their hands more regularly. In fact, hand-washing is fool-proof way of keeping your kids away from common infections such as common cold.Dirty hands take the microbe to everywhere they touch including YOU. This is called cross-contamination and it is a very common way of spreading germs, jumping from the inanimate object (for example, if someone sneezed on it) or poop they touched to their skin to their face-nose, lips, eyes(by frequent touching). Some micro-organisms can survive for several minutes on your kid’s or your skin and may spread to another object or person by touching.

Some of these common microbes are listed below in a table to give you an idea which diseases can be prevented by hand-washing:

Common diseases/conditions	Name of micro-organism	Source of contamination
Diarrhoea	Salmonella	Animal or human feces
	Escherichia  coli
	Norovirus
Hand-foot-mouth disease.	Enterovirus (Cox-sackie virus)
Respiratory infection	Adenovirus
Common cold	Rhinoviruses	Sneeze or secretions of infected person
bronchiolitis	Respiratory syncital virus, flu virus, some common cold viruses
meningitis	Neisseria meningitides, Streptococcus	Secretions of infected person
flu	Influenza virus	Even by touching an infected person
Hepatitis A	Hepatitis A virus	Feces of an infected person

Now that we know how many infections proceed in absence of proper hand wash, let us define when your kids need hand wash the most:

• When hands are visibly soiled.
• After using the washroom.
• After blowing their nose or after sneezing in the hands.
• Before and after eating or drinking.
• After handling garbage or contact with contaminated surfaces such as garbage bins, cleaning cloths.
• After visiting sick people.
• Before taking any medications.
• After contact with blood or body fluids such as vomit or saliva.
• Before and after touching a cut or wound.
• After handling pets, animals or animal waste.
• After handling pet food or pet treats.
• After being outside (playing, gardening, walking the dog, etc.)

Once you have identified the possible ways of contaminations, don’t forget to cultivate the proper and regular hand wash method. Make it fun for them so that they enjoy this little habit and have a healthy childhood.

Proper hand wash requires:

1.      Adequate amount of soap – rinsing hands in water only is not as effective as soap lathering. Water temperature is not an important factor for effective cleaning. Washing should be at least for a minimum of 15 seconds or longer (if hands are visibly soiled). Parents may sing a short song to keep children entertained for the required time.

2.      Rubbing hands to have adequate friction- scrubbing the hands, between fingers, back of hands, wrists and forearms. Under the nails when possible.

3.      Rinse with clean running water to get the best results.

Once you have cultivated this habit, you can control:

• 1.      Spread of microorganisms from your child’s hand to other parts of the body as they subconsciously touch other body parts especially face without realizing.
• 2.      Spread of microbes from your child’s hand to food when eating. Some micro-organisms can grow in certain foods if left alone and make people sick.
• 3.      Dirty hands may transfer germs to the objects they touch such as handrails, table tops, toys etc.
• 4.      The overuse of antibiotics and thus curb emerging problem of antibiotic resistance.
• So, Parent, don't underestimate the power of hand washing! The time you spend at the sink could save you trips to the doctor's office.

About the Organization:

Heeals, an organization dedicated towards spreading awareness about the goodness associated with regular hand wash to kids has been organizing events as well as workshops for the last many years. Some of these workshops such as “WASH workshop in schools of villages in western Uttar Pradesh”, “Schools in Gurgaon urban area” and through “Origami: the art of paper folding as a fun activity to implement hand wash”. Through their endeavors, Heeals volunteers teach kids not only the importance of hand wash but also how to make hand wash a part of their life.

• For the Socially relevant cause, Heeals is constantly looking for volunteers as well as donations to continue their excellent endeavors. For donations, access here.

About the blog author:Dr. Gurjot Kaur is currently working as Associate Professor at Shoolini University, Solan. Being a toxicologist by profession and a conservationist by choice, she constantly participates in writing about important health and environmental issues especially in high risk populations such as children. Commending Heeals work, she has associated with Heeals initiative as a blogger.