Jawaid Iqbal
There is no dead end to gender discrimination in education despite the fact that half of Kashmir’s female population has become the victim of this menace. We have done extensive research on the causes and consequences of discrimination to women in education. No doubt, poverty is the issue of concern in education of the girl child but its need of the hour to look for the remedies. It is unfortunate to mention half of the population here has been neglected and exploited for a long time and because of this, we have been unable to progress both socially and as well as economically, so why can’t we add the disadvantageous group in development processes. We have seen that many women and young girls showed better performances and progress when they were given opportunities. That’s why our today’s slogan is ‘BETI PADAAV BETI BACHAV’. Lets remind ourselves, are we really applying this slogan properly, obviously not if we look inside remote villages we see thousands of girls are either illiterates’ or drop outs. Let’s educate girls. If girls are educated, then poverty won’t be so persistent.Globally,60 million girls are not having access to either primary or secondary schools and in our India the situation is worse than Jammu and Kashmir. Boys are considered more valuable than girls, why so! When right to education is the fundamental right of one and all, then why this discrimination.
Unless and until we don’t give girls equal access to a good quality education, the Jammu and Kashmir will continue to suffer from child and maternal mortality, diseases besides other by products of poverty.
Education is linked to age but unfortunately one among every three girls is married before eighteen. If the mother is giving birth to a girl child, then people think its a burden and from that very date they plan for her marriage as quickly as possible .If girls would be given proper education, the rate of child marriage would automatically fall. While gender parity has improved, barriers and bottlenecks around gender disparities and discrimination remain in place, especially at the secondary school level and among the most marginalized children. There are various barriers to girl’s education throughout the world, ranging from supply -side constraints to negative social reforms, like school fee, strong cultural norms favoring boys, negative environmental conditions and much more. Additionally schools also lack more female staff which may be a strong reason behind this huge discrimination. Many of the state’s poorest people are women who shoulder the burden of tilling land, grinding grain, carrying water and cooking. Education of girls and women is not only one of the biggest moral challenges of our generation, but it’s also an unavoidable investment for a peaceful and poverty- free State. Unless and until we don’t give girls’ equal access to a good quality education, the Jammu and Kashmir will continue to suffer from child and maternal mortality, diseases besides other by products of poverty.
(The author is a freelancer. Views are exclusively his own) [email protected]
