coz when u realize that what you always thought to be the answer, is really not the correct answer, infact you were nowhere near the correct answer, you generally tend to feel foolish. and in this case, i not only felt foolish, but also very uninformed, amazed and appalled at the same time.
what actually led me to feel all of the above goes like this:
last weekend i attended CRY's volunteer program..(now dont start with my reasons and interests in attending it...lets say this is my last ditch effort to be like the super super rich types..angelina jolie kinds...social work and all that jazz..:P) ok enough about that.
coming back to the meeting..the presenter was going over the statistics of how children in India are malnourished and uneducated and stuff...there was this very normal statistic..that 54% (or 80%..i dont recall) of girl students drop out of school after VIII standard. this was nothing that shocked us or anything..its like common knowledge..everyone knows that lesser number of girls join school in the first place and if they do, compared to boys more number of girls drop out. yeah so you know it, i know it. big deal.
then the presenter asked us, if we could figure out why this was happening?
what do you think is the answer? why do 54% of girls drop out of school after VIII std?
think.....
the answers from our group went something like....
- parents dont want to invest in their daughter's education.
- parents feel that a girl who has to marry and ultimately take care of her house and bear children doesnt benefit from higher education. basic education is like okay..but she is not really going to become a scientist, is she?
- financial constraints
- lack of awareness, illiteracy of parents
- and blah blah
The real reason turns out to be quite unlike any of the above. The real reason is that in rural India, there are very few high schools, probably 1 among 2-3 villages. So these girls who are like 12-15 years old have to travel more than 8kms to reach school. and obviously parents feel its not very safe. we really cant blame them, can we? moreover most of these schools dont have proper toilets which makes the matters worse.
I, for one, never was aware of this. To think that girls want to study, parents are ready to send them to school but there are no viable options for them. pretty bad, huh?
enter angelina jolie.....
nah! we all can do something...our bit...after all system/government/state is only as bad as the people...
5 comments:
I would say this is one of the reason but those listed reasons have a major contribution .... I have seen all these things in my life and I have actually started hating some of the ppl (who were supposed to be very close to me) ... you should go and see in rural areas .... or start watching "balika vadhu" on colors....I would love if someone (girl or boy) takes initiative and enter into the system (lets say become IAS) to do something good for girl's education .... but the race for dollars makes everyone run behind MS/MBA and run away from all this to live an easy and comfortable life .... thats the misfortune of our country .. "ghar ka diya, pasodi ke ghar mein roshni deta hai" types .... so are you planning to do something for girl's education to make a difference ya phir wahi dollar race ??
full on swades...aol ke shahrukh khan!!!!
on a serious note...we can all devote a fraction of our time with these organizations...you dont have to give up your "comfortable" life..
personally, I dont like commenting on parents. I dont understand thought "parents dont want to invest" Its really a bad answer. At least I dont think parent invest on us.
I dont think bringing up a child is a business where investing on boys is profitable and on girls risky.
@max: so you didnt like that view point? but thats the truth...i dont know you and i dont know your background but looks like you are not well conversed with how things work in India..I can vouch for north India atlast and this is how it is there...girls have to marry and go off one day and on top of that the parents have to give dowry..thats too much cost any which ways...why would they want to spnd additional money on her to educate her when she's not going to earn for them... the son if he earns well is going to take care of his parents and that is where they'll spend money if they have to choose between the two... dont believe it but i myself have seen cases where only if the brother leaves the dessert does the sister get to eat it..and its the elders who made this rule..world is not all roses and parents...you are lucky if you have good ones...:)
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