Not every family can afford the education of both boys and girls. So, they come out with an option to send their sons to school. It’s fathoming to see that in India, the privileged class don’t worry about the status quo of the nation. Whereas, on the other side, the underprivileged have still not tasted independence even after 70 years, because of no such prerogatives given to a girl child.
Social practices like child marriage and forced child labour have deterred many young and blooming minds to dream beyond their ambit. Kudos to the bravado of women like Malala Yousafzai who fought for girls education and their rights. Today, there has been an increase in statistics for female education, but the question rests on the quality of education.
Arguably, government schools don’t have all the facilities like private schools. Post-pandemic, what most of the girls would fear will be their freedom, security and their pursuit towards higher education.
“Back to school” has been the dream of many young folks, because they have been wearied by the monotony, ambience and loss of erudite environment. Pandemic has got many lives into travails, but unfortunately, most stricken has been that of the girl child. Besides smashing the boundaries, they have to cope with the vile patriarchy and moral policing. These impediments will be troubling their peace of mind, besides the present flaws.
I wish, that the way they left their footsteps to school midway, they would be able to retrieve those steps, with new vision and insights. There is a line, which I would like to quote, “when you educate a man; you educate a man. But when you educate a woman; you educate the generation.”
Turning the pages would be tedious for the people after this pandemic but, I hope that something more vivacious would lead to the best for everyone.