Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

In this age of global educational institutions, National Sample Survey Organisation of India says that about 15 percent girls never attend school as compared to 11 percent boys(and think that world’s first university was founded by a woman). As the kids grow older, the gap in their educational status between widens and widens and becomes a huge one with huge implications over time. That is why I wrote this post for #​Selfies4School campaign by Breakthrough.

Why is this so?

Let’s Talk.

Here are some well known and talked about reasons.

Paucity of Resources

Lack of resources tempts people to prefer boys over girls to spend. They think that to invest in boys’ education is more profitable than to invest in girls’ education.

Paraya Dhan Attitude

Society believes that girls are Paraya Dhan- bound to go to ‘Other People’s House’ so often they do not want to invest in girl’s education.

Old Beliefs

Old belief that girls should not study above a certain level is a big obstacle in the ways of girls’ education.

Parents Attitude

Most of us believe that important reasons for girls’ drop-out takes place because of the belief amongst parents that girls do not need much or according to some do not even education  and because their help is needed at home front

Early Marriage

Early marriage is a major impediment on the girl’s road to a meaningful education and/or a degree. The marriage blocks her education in most of the cases.

According to a paper of Vimla Ramchandran there are many other  reasons as well:

• Just Being a Girl
  
• Being the Oldest child
  
• School That is far away
  
• Burden of work at home and outside
  
• Dowry (more education needs a larger dowry)
  
• Safety of girl
  
• Lack of Toilets
  

  Parents are not only culprits in girls’ education as society often believe. Just being a girl is an important and often enough reason to and factors like early marriage and domestic work also affect the already bleak scenario significantly. However, the lack of a school in the vicinity is also a significant factor.Moreover, even more critical than this are  having disabled sibling, being oldest sibling and also her safety and security at school and on the road too. Keeping the fact in mind that girls even in urban India are not safe from perverts, one can imagine the scene around a village girl. Eve-teasing at school and college and fear of kidnapping and sexual attack on the way to school is always present and perhaps increasing if we consider the recent media coverage. Lack of toilets
   for girls in most schools is another huge and important factor. Menstruating girls often drop out because of this lack.So the most important reason why girls are not being educated is not because of parents’ reluctance to send the girl to school but also because of lack of infrastructure and lack of moral behavior amongst some people around the girls. Human trafficking has reached massive proportions in India and village girls are most vulnerable.
  

  P.S-> I am a teacher have written this post with valuable inputs from my students many of them are girls like the campaign mascot Uma with her scarf flying like a cape.     

Link(s),Source(s) and Inspiration(s):

A Wide Angle View of India

Vimla Ramchandran’s paper

The Campaign by BreakThrough

The Scenario around Us

Uma

My students