Just Dance it Out...
I enjoy dancing,
though I am not a perfectionist neither very good at it but then if given a
chance I can dance for hours to support one cause ‘Education for Women’ this
the one cause for which I am always ready to support and do anything, till
every women gets the right to education.
And recently I got a
chance to do that, as I was part of the team that was supporting the cause
‘Education for Women’ on 23 October 2013 at the DID Indiblogger’s meet.
My reasons for supporting this cause come from a real life incident
which is still as fresh as ever in my memory.
From January 1998
onwards me and my friend ‘Anju’ were super excited and began our count down to
the end of school and beginning of our college. We both decided to join a
professional college so that we could achieve economic independence to an
extent that we would be self-sufficient in our life should any mishap did occur
in our married life. Anju’s parents dashed all her hopes when they got her
engaged to a middle-aged man more than twice her age. All her laments, pleas
and string of tears did not mover her parents who nipped Anju’s dreams in the
bud of becoming another Kalpana Chawla. The marriage was short lived, and in
six months time ended in a divorce and subsequent suicide. I am reminded of
this episode every time I hear of another girl deprived of education and forced
into marriage, and it does send a shiver down my spine.
On the other hand
after completing my education I did not become Kalpana Chawla, but have carved
a niche for myself in the IT Professional world.
The sad part is that Anju
was deprived of the basic right to education. The fault not only lies with her
parents but the Government and the society at large.
Today when India is
one of the fastest developing countries still there are few drawbacks, which
are holding our progress. For example, women safety, female foeticide, dowry
issues, child marriage, education for women, human trafficking are some of the
critical areas of concern. However out of all this the one which is more
threatening and alarming is illiteracy in females, which is a main root cause
of all these curses and drawback of our society.
Indian may have
clinched a name for itself in Information Technology the world over, yet in the
hinterland of rural India majority of children, especially girls are deprived
of the basic education. There are basically two areas that need to be addressed
if India is to grow by leaps and bounds . First and foremost; total abolition
of child labour needs to be ensured. The fear of the devil needs to be put in
the minds of the parents who resort to denial of education to the children and
especially girls.
Government has done
its bit by giving guaranteed rural employment to the rural population and also
made education free up to the middle level. Over and above this the Government
has also introduced mid day meals to school going children so that nutritious
and wholesome food is available to the children.
If even after this
incentive children are made to earn a living by foregoing school the punishment
should be exemplary. This will go a long way in educating rural children.
The second most
crucial point that needs remedy is that the education standards in rural
schools need to improve drastically. This can only be done by employing proper
trained and qualified teachers who draw a decent salary so that they are
motivated to improve the education standards of rural schools. The staff at
local village level should closely monitor the functioning and results of the
school on a regular basis. Once these two steps are taken care of, in a short
span of just fifteen years the literate percentage will show a marked
improvement. Education for all will have the desired effect, drug abuse; crime
against women will drop drastically.
Education will ensure
good job placements; this in turn will improve the living standard of the
majority of the people. We are all aware that if we educate a girl child, we
ensure that we educate her future generation after her marriage.
Unfortunately this
aspect is not appreciated by the rural folk who may let the male child go to
school but never the female child. From very early in life she is made to work
at home and even help in bringing up her siblings. Today we do have schools if
not in every village but in the vicinity. Non Governmental Organisations need
to step in and educate the parents on the need to educate our children, both
male and female, in the right earnest as greater awareness in the younger
generation after education will ensure drop in crime again women. Besides it
will slowly eradicate the evil system of dowry that is prevalent in India.
Today the nation needs
the likes of Kalpana Chawalas, Kiran Bedis etc. and not Anjus. Let us dance
till the nation wakes up the idea of women education.
Below are the images of our groups act on the same issue #Education For
Women #DanceItOut
Phase One of the Performance -
Pic. 1: Where parents forces the girl to drop out of school and work in
the kitchen
Part 2: She is married to a man of parents choice who is also paid a
hefty dowry(not able to get picture clicked)
Phase Two of the Performance -
This post is a part of #DanceItOut https://www.facebook.com/ ZeeTvIndia
Last but not the least
‘Come join me’ and put on your dancing shoes and let India wake up to our
slogan of ‘Education of Women.’
(The story in this post is a work of fiction inspired by real life incident
I personally have come across).
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