SIVAKASI WEATHER
International Day of the Girl Child

08-11-2013
8th November 2013

Courtesy: Akila, ANJAC, Sivakasi

International Day of the Girl Child

“International Day of the Girl Child” was organized by the Women Cell of Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College (Autonomous), Sivakasi. A Group Discussion entitled “Women Literacy” was conducted with immense emphasis on the status of girl children in the present era.

Dr.S.Baskaran, Principal delivered the Key-note address on the “International Day of the Girl Child”. He addressed the girl students to utilize their education in an optimistic way and he also encouraged the students that nothing is impossible for a daring woman.

50 girl students from various departments of ANJAC participated in the Group Discussion. Students were divided into 2 groups and they highlighted the hurdles of women to attain education. The girl students discussed the barriers in their life to continue their higher education and how they are subjugated by the society in pursuing their aim. Majority of the students focused on the areas of early marriage, financial status, male domination and women’s dependence on man which are the basic barricades for women to obtain education.

“My father did not allow me to continue my education after the completion of school. My father and my relatives argued that I could continue my education even after my marriage. But it was my mother who insisted me to continue my education,” said Ms. Lakshmi, a Ph.D Scholar. It was a miserable statement by most of the girls that it was their fathers who remain a great obstacle to continue their higher education. But Uma Maheswari, a Ph.D scholar said, “I was fortunate enough to have a husband who had taken efforts to give me education which was denied to me before my marriage”. Some of the girls also made a reference to the partiality shown in their families towards male children which at times they said had made them feel why they were ever born into this world.

Sathya, a BBA student told about the pathetic life of her school friend Rani (name changed) who she said was married at an early age immediately after completing her 8th standard. Now her husband is bedridden due to an accident he met with and Rani is presently a maid servant in a house. Sathya also became emotional when she pointed out the fact that she had often met her friend only to hear her cries and griefs over the fact that she was denied an education which could have placed her in a better position. Most of the students were from rural background but they asserted that education empowers women and help them to attain a social existence, separate from the role of a mother.

There was also a deviation from the main subject “Women Literacy” when the girls involved in a heated discussion on the atrocities against women in public places and work places and they felt that amidst formal education girls must learn martial arts to protect them from devilish men.
From the discussion it was evident that women literacy is not a mere reading or writing but it is all about the skill of a woman to understand herself as a potential individual packed with problem solving ability in the perilous world.

The vigorous group discussion lasted for 2 hours. Ms.S.Poornam, Asst. Prof. Department of Zoology concluded the discussion by saying that learning alone is not important for women but the vital thing is how they gainfully employ their acquired knowledge.

At the end of the session prizes were awarded to 4 best speakers of Group Discussion and certificates were distributed to all the participants by the Principal, Dr.S.Baskaran. He appreciated and congratulated all the participants of Group Discussion.



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