It is a mistake of society to underestimate girls more than boys.
(National Girl Child Day - 25 September)
Girls always remain in first place in the results of class 10th and 12th in the country. Be it the competition to become an IAS, to fly an aircraft or fighter ship, or to run the metro, girls are raising their flags of success in every field.
By: Priyanka Saurabh
Today’s girls are breaking all the shackles and touching the sky and remain role models for society. Generally, girls are considered less than boys in society. Not only physical strength but it is also understood in other things that girls cannot do what boys can do, while many examples of this will be found in which girls have proved themselves better than boys. Out of such a large army of players in sports, most of the girls brought the country’s name to glory by putting medals in the country’s bag. Not only this, but in other areas also girls are not only walking shoulder to shoulder with the boys but are ahead. Girls always remain in first place in the results of class 10th and 12th in the country. Be it the competition to become an IAS, to fly an aircraft or fighter ship, or to run the metro, girls are raising their flags of success in every field. Despite this, it is a mistake of society to consider girls less than boys.
Who says girls are a burden? Today’s girl dares to carry her burden, even the burden of the family on her shoulders. That is why she is called the mother of the world. Of course, earlier a woman was considered able, but today’s woman is not able. Be it in the field of education or sports, she has progressed everywhere on the strength of her hard work. Like the sons, she is also handling the responsibilities with full devotion. The daughters of the country are no longer confined to only sewing-embroidery or beauty parlors, but they are ready to rid the enemies of sixes. In a democratic country, there is a lot of importance for girl child education from political, social, religious, cultural, and economic points of view. Women’s education educates the whole family. Educated women do not lag behind men in any field. In some areas, she has proved to be more efficient than the man – such as in the field of education, medicine, and care. If the girl child is given proper education, she can contribute to the all-around progress of the nation by becoming a skilled leader, social worker, skilled businessman, political leader, or even a skilled engineer, technician, information technology, lawyer, or doctor. Through education, women can become aware of their rights.
If we look at history, we find that theoretically, and religiously, women have been considered to be revered, but due to limiting their work to the boundary wall of the house, less attention has been paid to their education and initiation. In the Vedic period, girls usually took education in the family itself because there was no custom of separate gurukul, ashram, etc. for them. In only a few Gurukulas there are instances of the Guru’s daughter attending the education. In the Vedic period, girls were taught religion, literature, dance, music, poetry, etc. in their homes. In the Vedic period, however, the Rigveda contains examples of learned women Ghosha, Gargi, Atreyu, Shakuntala, Urvashi, and Apala who were proficient in the study of the Vedas. At present, despite the high position achieved by girls in every field, there is a gap in the education of boys and girls. Mostly this mentality is found in the society that the education of girls is not necessary, which job they have to do. They just learn to write letters and do household chores, that is enough. Due to this mentality, in some families, primary education, in some middle and some up to matriculation, is considered sufficient and only the lucky girls get opportunities for higher education above this.
Due to this public mentality, the education of girls has been affected from the past till today. Higher education is given to the boys as the support of their family, earning- old age and for the girls, it is believed that if they teach more, then they will have to find a more educated boy, for which more dowry will also have to be given. Being busy with household chores, girls are unable to find time to study for homework or assigned lessons from school. Due to this many girls stop studying. Due to the absence of separate schools for girls, many parents do not like to send girls to such schools where there is co-education. The purdah system and burqa system of girls in the Muslim community do not allow them to earn a higher education. In many Hindu castes also, girls drop out of education due to the purdah system or due to child marriage, early engagement, etc. In many areas, girls are not able to go to school also because the goonda elements do misdemeanors like anti-social elements, scolding girls, and molesting. Such incidents are a hindrance in the progress of girl child education.
Even after spending money on education, the non-availability of job opportunities also creates hatred towards education in them. Women educated in private sector schools, hospitals, etc. get inadequate salaries and are unable to spend even on their expenses salary. Parents of girls do not agree to get jobs away from home. One of the reasons for the barrier to girl education is that there is a shortage of female teachers in schools and colleges, due to which many girls do not mix in these institutions in the education process and feel like strangers. Staying away from home in hostels etc., the girls of many traditional ideological families can’t get an education. In such a situation, it is more favorable for girls to do higher education courses through distance education by staying at home. To overcome the shortage of girls’ education in comparison to boys, it is necessary not only to develop comprehensive educational facilities, but it is also necessary to remove the obstacles in the way of girls’ education. There is also a need to take concrete and effective measures for the reasons for the inequality of girl child education. For this, strict and favorable steps of the administration need to be taken along with special schemes, and more budget allocation.
The writer is Research Scholar in Political Science,Poet, freelance journalist and columnist.
