Education is as important as air, food and housing for both men and women. Girls in India are considered a burden on parents by some people. People think that girls must first be raised, then married and sent to another house, while boys are considered the legal heirs of the family. But educating a girl is one of the best investments her family, community, and country can make. As a good quality education can be life-changing for everyone be it girls, boys, young women, and men, helping them develop to their full potential and putting them on a path for success in their life. Also, girls education, in particular, can stimulate a virtuous circle of development as education not only helps them to develop for their self but also educated girls, for example, marry later, have healthier children, earn more money than they invest back into their families and communities, and play more active roles in leading their communities and countries.
Why is it a challenge?
Educating a girl has always been a challenge in the whole world and especially in our country. From very old age, girls were never allowed to study. People used to think and still, some think that investing in a boy's education would be more beneficial rather than a girl because she will anyhow go to another house. They have kept in their mindset that girls are meant to be a cook and a homemaker. As the major fundamental mentality is attached to the marriage of People in India think that a girl will ultimately go to her husband’s house. And hence her fate should remain to the four walls of the house. His particular kind of mentality became a big barrier in the education of girls.
Why is Educating a girl Necessary?
1- More educated girls and women aspire to become leaders and thus expand a country’s leadership and ambitious talent. Gender inequality is that it feeds on itself; parents may have lower aspirations for their daughters than for their sons, and so their daughters too have lower aspirations for themselves. Yet, if given the chance, girls and women can have the confidence and skills to be change-makers.
2- More equal education means greater economic empowerment for women through more equal work opportunities for women and men. Education opens doors of opportunities for young women, especially when they cannot count on family wealth, property, or business connections. Women with more years of schooling are more likely to find employment, own and operate productive farms or firms, and earn higher wages.
3- More educated mothers have more educated children, especially daughters. Various studies have shown that a mother's education is critical for investments in the human capital of the next generation. For example, in India, children of more literate mothers study nearly two hours more a day than children of illiterate mothers in a similar household.
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Problems Faced:
1- There are numerous problems faced by a girl as well as for her family if she is not educated. Education is such a necessary thing without which you cannot survive. Girls who are not getting chance to study are getting a life of worst condition. The girls who face multiple disadvantages are farthest behind because they lack in gaining an education.
2- Education lags most significantly among people who face multiple sources of disadvantage, not only income poverty, but also a place of residence, disability background.
3- Also, Restricted space and expectations limit girls’ ability to reap the returns to education. Social norms define the roles that women and men have in the family and the community, the expectations they have about their futures, their individual preferences and the kind of relationships they form.It is noticed that parents usually want their daughters to be either a housewife or whatever their in-laws would decide for her.
4- Early marriage and teen pregnancy keep girls out of school. It was an old age practice which has become extinct but still in many parts of India as well as many countries prefer their girls to get married sooner and balance their household works.
5- Poverty: This is also a major reason especially in our country which stands as an obstacle in the education of girls. Poor families who do not get a proper daily meal obviously won’t choose to send their girls for education.
Solutions to the condition:
Though there have been so many policies and laws introduced to provide education to girls education. There are places and families who realize but then there are also families who do not either understand or even try to understand. Some families with old age mentality are stubborn minded that they won't allow their daughters to study as ultimately their daughters will have to marry only and there comes another group that is the poor families who are helpless for their conditions. Still, the government has come up with so many solutions. There are thousands of NGOs which are working upon it. Government is providing free education to girls in many organizations. It is expected that by the next ten to twenty years these challenges for Girls’ education would vanish and there would be equality among all.
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