The positive outcomes of educating a girl extends far beyond
the four walls of a classroom. As the commonly used, profound phrase goes,
‘Educate a boy, and you educate one person. Educate a girl, and you educate a
family.’ By sending a girl to school, she is far more likely to ensure that her
children also receive an education. Living
in a country that’s famous for child marriages, female foeticides and
infanticides, and abuse of women, it is a not-so-gentle reminder that for a
future generation that’s not just literate but educated, we need to give
prominent access of education to the girl child.
There may be various economic, social, and political reasons,
for a girl to be kept away from classrooms, but when you look at the other
side, the benefits definitely outweigh everything else. How does a country
profit from educating its girls/ women? Well, for one, educated women are able
to be actively involved in upliftment of the family as a whole, take active
part in family planning, and are able to check on the family’s hygiene and
standard of living.
Educated women are less likely to contract HIV & AIDS,
and thus, less likely to pass it onto their children. They are aware of timely
vaccination and proper health practices. This lowers maternal and child
mortality rates. Also, working women are more likely to invest in their
family’s betterment – at least 80% of their incomes are spent towards family
expenses and investment.
Decision-making regarding family matters, children’s
education, economic situations can be done effectively if you have educated
women in the household. Just because girls get married and go off to another
home is no reason to deny them their basic right to literacy. In fact, poverty,
illiteracy, and unemployment, three rampant reasons for the degeneration of
today’s youth can be eliminated by ensuring proper education to the girls of
our country.
It’s not the government’s or educational institution’s duty alone
to educate the girl child, it is up to each one of us, citizens of India, to
make sure that the girls in our families have access to schools and colleges.
“Give me good mothers and I will give you a great nation.” –
Napoleon Bonaparte. Yes, if you want to accelerate the development of a nation,
educate the girl child, first.
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