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We need to educate girls - and boys - all children, irrespective of their gender. This video is a grim reminder - girls deserve to go to school and enjoy their childhood too.
We need to educate girls – and boys – all children, irrespective of their gender. This video is a grim reminder – girls deserve to go to school and enjoy their childhood too.
“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation.” — African Proverb
Education is, I believe, the greatest gift we can give a child irrespective of gender. It lays down the foundation for vibrant lives and is the ticket to a brighter and better tomorrow. Sadly in India and many other parts of the world, children and especially girls are denied this very basic right.
So why is girls’ education treated as an after-thought in India? Well, the roots of the reluctance to educate girls lie in patriarchal beliefs at the very core of Indian society. It is astonishing to see that even though some of the greatest leaders and change-makers in the world are women, the literacy rates among Indian women are dismal. Despite the high primary school enrollment rates in India, the female literacy rate as per the 2011 census stands at a meager 65.46%.
The key factor responsible for this miserable female literacy percentage in India is the higher drop-out rate of girls from school as compared to boys. Wonder why? Well, because in many parts of India, to educate girls is still viewed as a waste of time and money. From the moment a girl child is born, she is viewed as a burden. Parents worry more about her marriage than investing in her education. Adding fuel to the fire is the regressive social perception, that despite education, the primary role of a woman will always be that of the primary caregiver for the family, her key responsibility being towards her family and household, her only identity being that a mother or a wife or a daughter-in-law; “then, why bother to educate girls?” goes the thinking.
While the current government has announced the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, a lot more needs to be done, to ensure that girls don’t just sign up for school, but stay there.
The Dahi Cheeni advertisement by the Naik Foundation is a heart-warming story of Sarita and her desire to go to school and study. We don’t know whether it is her parents’ economic condition or the regular patriarchal mindset at play, but despite being of school going age, Sarita stays at home helping her mother with the household chores – cleaning, cooking, waking up her brother every morning, packing his lunch box and watching him go to school everyday – all the while thinking and wishing that she could join him too.
However, it is refreshing to see her little brother noticing what his elder sister desires, taking matters into his own hands and doing something about it. What does he do? Watch the video below!
Image: You Tube
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Being a writer, Nivedita Louis recognises the struggles of a first-time woman writer and helps many articulate their voice with development, content edits as a publisher.
“I usually write during night”, says author Nivedita Louis during our conversation. Chuckling she continues,” It’s easier then to focus solely on writing. Nivedita Louis is a writer, with varied interests and one of the founders of Her Stories, a feminist publishing house, based in Chennai.
In a candid conversation she shared her journey from small-town Tamil Nadu to becoming a history buff, an award-winning author and now a publisher.
Nivedita was born and raised in a small town in Tamil Nadu. It was for schooling that she first arrived in Chennai. Then known as Madras, she recalls being awed by the city. Her love-story with the city, its people and thus began which continues till date. She credits her perseverance and passion to make a difference to her days as a vocational student among the elite sections of Madras.
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