“Shivani’s courage and action are a model for girls everywhere, and Prerna continues to show us what girls’ education can and should be. Thank you!”
– Dr. Glynda Hull,
Elizabeth H. and Eugene A. Shurtleff Chair in Undergraduate Education
University of California, Berkeley
“My god, what an act of bravery indeed, and of education and self-preservation and intelligence.”
– Dr.Kathleen Gallagher
Professor
Canada Research Chair
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
Dr. Urvashi Sahni
Last month, India emblemized its role as the world’s largest democracy as over 800 million eligible voters went to the polls in what may have been the largest democratic event in history. High on the list of priorities for all contesting parties was women’s empowerment, women’s equality and overall safety for women. In fact, surveys show more than 90 percent of Indian voters see combating violence against women as a priority and 75 percent of men and women believe that the political promises made to advocate women’s rights have been inadequate so far.
There is good cause for Indians to be concerned that not enough has been done for women in their country. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, more than 25,000 rape cases were reported across the country in 2012 alone. Out of these, almost 98 percent were committed by a relative or neighbor. Additional statistics are no less troubling: latest estimates suggest that a new case of rape is reported every 22 minutes in India, a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes, and a case of cruelty committed by either a husband or husband’s relative occurs every 9 minutes. Forty-seven percent of girls are married by 18 years of age, and 18 percent are married by 15 years of age, resulting in around 39,000 child marriages taking place each day. From a global perspective, 40 percent of the world’s child brides are from India.
Even before girls reach their teenage years, they face distressing challenges in India. Many more girls than boys die before reaching the age of 5. And with female feticide approaching nearly 1 million a year, fewer girls are born. Indeed, our sex ratio is at 914 women to 1,000 men, the lowest it has been since independence in 1947.
Domestic violence and gender disparities are especially pronounced in India’s northern states. Women and girls In Uttar Pradesh, in particular, suffer physical abuse at rates of 18-45 percent, non-consensual sex at rates of 18-40 percent, and physically forced sex at rates of 4-7 percent.
These are terrifying statistics. While the government has tried to boost girls’ education and has made some significant gains (females are now enrolled in primary school almost at parity with men), girls are still far from equal in India. Only 40 percent finish 10th grade. Ultimately, the social climate at home and in communities is too discriminatory to allow for girls being educated or becoming autonomous, equal persons.
Dissatisfied with the government’s efforts, NGOs, women’s movements, journalists, economists, academics and lawyers are promoting their “Womanifesto,” a six-point plan, first drafted last year, that details what needs to be done within the next five years to improve conditions for India’s women and girls. First on the list is “Educate for Equality.” It reads, “We will implement comprehensive, well-funded and long-term public education programs to end the culture of gender-based discrimination and violence. These will include: SMS, radio and TV public service campaigns, accessible lesson plans for schools, and modules for training teachers. To this end we will reach men, women, boys and girls in both urban and rural areas.” Significantly, it specifically speaks of education “for equality,” and not a more watered-down, paternalistic “education for girls.”
The group that I’ve founded, Study Hall Education Foundation (SHEF), has been doing just this. In the last decade, we have adopted the motto of “educate for equality,” understanding that not only is mere enrolment not enough but a gender-neutral academic education is not sufficient to empower girls and will not necessarily lead to better life outcomes. We embed strong, focused, rights-based empowerment programs within schools’ curriculums with very encouraging outcomes. Teachers are led to examine their own gendered mindsets and trained to become advocates for girls’ rights. The teachers then help girls become advocates for themselves and for all girls’ rights. They have a large parent community that they can influence and they use all their interactions with parents as platforms of advocacy.
Our program has reached out to 4,000 adolescent girls, 300 teachers and over 16,000 parents. Teachers have started using their parent teacher meetings to discuss issues like gender discrimination, child marriage, dowry, girls’ right to education and violence against girls. Girls participate in these meetings, using drama to give voice to feelings of oppression and to stake their claim to their right to equal personhood. Interestingly, parent attendance at these meetings has increased 55 percent since the teachers began using them as platforms to discuss gender issues. Teachers report that parents are finding the meetings much more meaningful and are engaging actively in discussions centered on issues that are close to them.
As part of SHEF’s efforts to educate wider communities on gender, we organized a large campaign against child marriage, which impacted approximately 16,000 teachers, students and members of the community. The month-long campaign brought critical dialogues into the classroom, and kicked off discussions with parents at parent teacher meetings. It culminated in a student and teacher-led march through the community, where students and teachers from 43 schools across four districts in Uttar Pradesh shouted slogans against child marriage and for girls rights, performed street plays in the villages and enlisted support from community adults via signature campaigns.
If India is to become a better place for all of its children, then it is vital that we value and respect our daughters. We must move the conversation of girls’ education from “learning outcomes” to “life outcomes” and take up “education for equality” as our mantra across the country. We should include gender education in our curriculum for both boys and girls. And we should teach these lessons not just to our students, but also to their parents and communities in order to construct an egalitarian gender perspective. This is imperative if India is to fulfill its constitutional promise of gender equality.
Dexter Figg
Digital Study Hall
Yet again the civilized world is held to ransom by a band of lunatics armed to the teeth with lethal weapons. And this time they are taking orders from an idiot.
The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad also known by its Hausa name – Boko Haram – kidnapped 300 girls from their schools in the town of Chibok along the Nigerian border last month, and their leader, Abubaker Shekau, has threatened to sell the girls as slaves. People like Abubakar Shekau have no mission and their vision is only on money and it does not matter where it comes from. They would sell their own mothers and their soles if the price was right – we call them “mercenaries”.
Abubakar Shekau said that the girls should not have been in school in the first place, but rather should get married. “God instructed me to sell them, they are his property and I will carry out his instructions,” Abubakar Shekau has been quoted as saying. Now, the question is, who is going to buy the girls? The same people who armed the Boko Haram?
What man would stoop so low as to hold harmless girls hostage to get his 15 minutes of fame? Or are these “men” just seeking revenge for being born? They are armed to the teeth and oppress a people who have cowered down for centuries. They fight gorilla warfare that includes striking by surprise and from behind, what is more they strike innocent citizens in public places by planting bombs and scurrying away in time to save their own miserable skins – they are not what men are made of, in fact I doubt they are even human.
At the time of writing this, May 23, 2014, the US had sent in it troops to assist in the rescue of the girls, while a few hours earlier on Thursday, May 23, 2014, the United Nations Security Council approved sanctions against Boko Haram, claiming it to be linked to the Islamist terrorist outfit – the Al-Quaida, putting the Boko Haram on the list of the 1267 sanctions already imposed by the UN against similar organizations. These sanctions will hopefully close off important avenues of funding, travel and weapons to Boko Haram, and display global unity against their savage actions which has left thousands dead since 2009. While I do not condone violence, at least the kind the US is capable of, at this time I pray they show no mercy – these people do not deserve a trial in a human court of law. When they donned military uniforms and took up arms they chose to die by the gun, and they should.
Words fail me; I am unable to react. I just want to say, it is high time the world united and fought not only madmen such as Abubakar Shekau, but every sane person should join hands to kill the very thought process of such people. Let’s forget women’s empowerment for a moment and focus on humanity at this time. A small group of lunatics are holding the world at ransom, have mocked each individual’s freedom and they are laughing in our faces and us men and women can do nothing but look on because we never acted on equality when we had the chance – which was generations ago!
Procrastination has destroyed many a man. Let’s seize the opportunity every day gives us to make a small change in our own mindset and only then in that of our neighbors. Speak out against social evils and show the world that you stand for something. If you don’t, you will fall for anything – such as the Boko Haram.
“…the girls should not have been in school in the first place.” Need they say more to prove their insanity!?!
Simran Varma
Student, Study Hall School
In the midst of the preparation of the world’s biggest democratic election in India, more than 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Nigeria were abducted by a group of militants called the Boko Haram on the night of 14th- 15th of April.. The leader of Boko Haram (which literally means Western Education is a sin) Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibly for the kidnappings in a video that emerged in the first week of May. Students are being forced into Islam and into marriage with members of the Boko Haram. Shekau claimed that “Allah instructed me to sell them. I will carry out his instructions”
This one incident has scarred Chibok, a small Christian village that has been under the threat of this terrorist organization for the longest time but recently the casualties have started to increase. The roads are empty, the parents of the missing students are devastated and the government is still unsure how to carry out the mission without putting the students in danger.
From Michelle Obama to Malala Yousafzai, everyone is seen holding a placard with ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ written on it but I refuse to believe how his could actually help in bring back our girls. Is a placard enough to show support to the parents who are weeping at the abduction of their daughters? This organization kidnaps girls and then threatens to sell them in the name of religion; when Islam has always been a religion of peace, where women are respected and education is valued above all. As Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon Him) said, “It is the duty of every person to get knowledge”
The world needs to invest in Nigeria. We need to support Nigerian girls and women calling for equality and justice. They are the only people who can ever bring lasting and meaningful change in Nigeria. We all must stand up and raise our voices for peace and justice. I considered it my responsibility, as a global citizen to take part in spreading awareness about women’s right.
Are you?
Surbhi Kapoor
Any fanatical group in the name of religion are a group of narrow minded bigots who need to be disbanded before they pollute the minds of others. Their dastardly act of abducting young girls is truly despicable and is strongly condemned.
Glad to know that the government of Nigeria is working towards the release of these innocent school girls and that other countries are supportive too.
Rekha Dhondiyal
Boko Haram is a radical Islamist Nigerian militant group known for causing havoc in Africa’s most populated country due to a spate of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and now abductions. It’s a continuous fierce fight to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. The terrorist group is wedded to the Koranic phrase: Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed, is a transgressor. It believes it’s ‘haram’/ forbidden for Muslims to take part in political or social activity even vaguely associated with the Western society. Voting in elections, wearing shirts and pants and acquiring a Western secular education is taboo. They are blindly committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings and ‘ jihad.’
Its insurgency first started in 2009. They targeted civilians and the military. They believed they were being governed by non- believers even when they had a Muslim president.
On 14th April, 286 girls were abducted from their dormitory in Nigeria’s restive north east and taken deep into a jungle. They are between the age of 14 and 16. They are being shared and mass marriages are happening. 223 are still missing.
A video has been released showing 130 of them in veils, praying, reciting the Quoran, palm upwards. Two Christian girls converted to Islam out of sheer fear of being shot. Two didn’t.
The group had earlier attacked schools, churches and government installations too. Boko Haram loosely means ‘western education is sin.’ One leader said gleefully that they had liberated the girls because they were Muslims now and therefore, parents needn’t fret. He also added that he would never release them until the government released their militant brethren from prison. He hinted that the girls who didn’t convert would face a worse fate.They would never know what it is to be free.
Some girls managed to flee from their abductors. The ones who lacked courage feared for their life and succumbed to their dictat. The girl who ran away told reporters that she felt deeply for the parents of the girls who could not. Their desperation and anguish was palpable.
An emergency was clamped down on insurgency by the government but bloodshed continued.
Kidnappings have always been their tactic for a long time but now the scale of these abductions and threats have grown humungously. They have been emboldened. They want to sell them as slaves and this has shocked the world and galvanised the international community into action. Israel has come to their rescue, acknowledged for its anti terror expertise. The Nigerian President has accepted their assistance. Britain, the US and France have sent their special teams and equipment to help Nigeria’ s military to put a stop to their 5 years’ reign of terror and deadly violence.
Michelle Obama has said, ‘We want our girls back’. A laconic statement that is heavily loaded. She means business.The entire community of sane people in the world are together to prevent this heinous crime. The message is loud and clear. No one can get away with ill- treatment of anyone least of all these helpless girls.Terrorists of every hue and colour have no choice but to change, or face the consequences, Boko Haram included.
If only these misguided people knew the worth of girls! Let sanity prevail. Educate them, there are great social dividends in store for all. And all the gun toting men, drop your guns like hot potatoes and go to school. Get real. Perpetrators of crime don’t last.
Study Hall children condemn the kidnapping of these innocent girls. So does the staff.
We send love, payers and best wishes for those nameless girls’ release soon.
Shalini Chandra
The abduction of innocent school girls in Nigeria raises just one question—did we ever progress beyond medieval ages ?Why is the so called “civilized”world watching helplessly when all this is happening ?Moreover, it is not only about the release of some prisoners. The young, innocent girls were chosen to be taken as hostages because instead of becoming dutiful wives, they had dared to opt for Western education and were following a religion their captors do not approve of! If raising our voices in unison can be of any help, then let us all generate a Tsunami of protest.
Dr. Urvashi Sahni
We congratulate Dr. Urvashi Sahni for being selected as a recipient of “Global Women Champion” Award for the 2014 International Women’s Day by Global Connections for Women foundation (GC4W). The International Women’s Day celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women, while focusing the world’s attention on areas requiring further action. We look forward honoring on March 7th, 2014.
The programe started with enlightening the audience about the basic rules of drama.
Thereafter, the children enacted an excerpt from Rabindra Nath Tagore’s ” Bahu Ki Chitthi”, followed by an enactment of a situation while watching a cricket match.
The finale was the modern Ramayana which was well received by the audience.
‘Prerna Boys’ – a school for the under privileged boys is an endeavor of the Study Hall Foundation. It was started in July 2009 as an afternoon school in the Prep School with 50 boys and three teachers. The present strength is 85. The classes held here are Nursery, Prep, Classes I, II and III. Each child is given a snack everyday- it boosts attendance.
Our main aim is to educate those boys, who for some reasons are not attending schools and are whiling away their time- loitering about and getting into bad habits. Vulnerable as they are, they can easily be lured into nefarious activities.
These boys come from a background where ‘gender bias’ is very dominant. Hence by their virtue of being boys they are a pampered lot. They are not expected to share household responsibilities; rather parents often give them money to splurge around. Consequently they are an easy prey to bad habits. Speaking foul language, making incorrect remarks and gestures- all this comes naturally to them, as they have grown up in circumstances, which were perhaps not in their control.
Besides academics, emphasis is given on value teaching as well. They must know the difference between right and wrong. Most of them are first generation students; therefore it is a daunting task for the teachers to counsel them along with their parents. Hence, Parent Teacher meetings are held regularly. Wherein parents are encouraged and motivated to share their problems and doubts without hesitation. Teachers strive hard to connect with the parents and make them feel secure and confident that their wards are being well supported, guided and are in safe hands. Moving ahead with parental cooperation and help, we have certainly come a long way. Peer counseling works wonders too !They are very receptive to it – an interesting sight to watch our boys explaining to their friends about the negativity of bad habits. The boys now value whatever they are learning and achieving. Positive changes in their behavior and general outlook are definitely on the rise. It is this that encourages us to continue with our work with a missionary zeal. Needless to say that this is just the beginning, there are many more to be taken care of.
We are managing with our fairly small funds. It is our earnest request to extend a helping hand to our cause so that we able to take many such boys in our fold.
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