By Writu Bose:
“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”
-Brigham Young
It was two centuries ago when this quote was first written. And even today, as I am writing this, sitting in my rather cozy office, it is relevant – probably as much as it was back then.
From having women-education shunned out from the country to women occupying prestigious and key positions in different walks of life, we, as a society, have surely come a long way. But we are yet to cover longer miles. And educating our women, I feel, is the only way of going about it.
I often hold Malala up as inspiration. The way she has fought for women’s right to education and attained so much only at 19, never fails to fascinate and motivate me.
So did this movie. It is made by girls studying in the 10th grade and how beautifully! It gathers accounts of girls, belonging to different socio-economic backgrounds, speaking on the importance of education through their own experiences.
“I was moved after watching a little girl working in scorching heat. I felt very fortunate that my parents send me to school and never ask to work,” Kajal, a bright young student shares in this video, how blessed she feels to have a supportive and encouraging set of parents, especially when she sees children of her own age working, to make ends meet.
On the other hand, Jaishree, a 10th grade student, is looking for answers. “Why this society stops a girl from learning? A mother never differentiated between her children but why this society forces her to do so?”
Her inquest is pertinent, to say the least. In a world that is going haywire over terrorism, discrimination, poverty and almost breaking apart, this movie, while trying to engage girls to understand how important education is in their life, managed to re-instil my crippled faith, Seeing them speak, I can almost feel a generation of Malalas being born, determined to rise against every wrong.