Women Education India: Dreams Are Not Just Restricted To One Gender!!

Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, once said, “You can tell the state of a nation by looking at the status of the women there”. How true his words are? Women play a significant role in a country’s economic development. Better living condition for them can escalate nation’s growth rapidly. More so as women are mostly untapped resources and their potentials generally remain unexplored.

Education, especially women’s education is the key element that lacks particularly in India. If one closely observes the status of women in India, one would find their position is daunting and pathetic. As per the recent stats, female literacy rate in India is still 54.16 percent, which is quite low. No one can turn blind eye to the fact that women have a much lower literacy rate than men. Far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them are drop out. Even if girls are encouraged to receive education, greater challenge remains, the learning provided to them is too little to prepare them for 21^st – century job markets.

Education of women is significant in improving living standards of the country. Higher literacy rate of women helps in improving quality of life both at home and outside as education cannot be just linked to employment but affects others aspects like fertility , hygiene etc.  Studies show lower women literacy rate results in high levels infant mortality, poorer nutrition, lower earning etc.  

In India, there is great disparity amongst different states regarding female literacy rate. States like Kerala has female literacy rate of about 86 percent, whereas Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have 55-60 percent. Furthermore, the disparity of female literacy rates across rural and urban areas is also too high.

NGO Support 

Many NGOs are working to uplift status of Indian women in many ways. Women education is one such pivotal aspect for which several NGOs are working aggressively. Education not only stimulates female empowerment but also fortifies the process of changing prevalent misguided mindsets and derivative of socio- cultural factors towards the girl child and women in general.

One such NGO working in this direction is SPARSH, which strongly believes that dreams are not just restricted to one gender and females should also get the opportunity to realize them. Its mission is to emancipate women and to motivate them to acquire new skills. 'Project Shakti',  one of our initiatives aimed at providing girl child education in India that will empower them, and save them from poverty and exploitation. Presently, around 50 girls are being given free evening classes under this project.

Ahead With Autism

Autism is just another word for many parents till their child gets diagnosed with it. Their immediate response to the shocking news is – ‘absolute denial’. They enter into the denial mode and further they decline to accept the child’s present health condition. They begin to feel anxious and depressed and some parent may even feel angry and resentful; others totally feel helpless and defeated. They start worrying about the child’s future and his ability to live normal life. Living with autism pose several new challenges for the person afflicted with it and along with him - his parents, family members and friends.

Identifying Autism

Behavioral characteristics: For onlookers it’s not easy to figure out if the child is autistic. Instructions like ‘be quiet’ or ‘behave properly ‘holds very little meaning for an autistic person. Petty day to day task such as going to park or shopping may present difficulty for parents and friends. Some of the behavioral characteristics of  autistic children are – delayed or no response to stimuli , repetition of certain words or activity, use of reversal pronoun such as ( calling ‘you’ in place of ‘I’) etc.

Diagnosis: For identification of any disease proper diagnosis is essential. One of the major hurdles faced by parents of children with autism in India is to obtain an accurate diagnosis. Presently, there are no sure shot medical tests for Autism. A general diagnosis is based on observed behavior and psychological analysis. Moreover, they are to be to be done in the presence of team of specialists consisting of a pediatric neurologist, a psychiatrist, etc. Also, team may include an audiologist, to test if there is any amount hearing loss, a speech and language therapist to determine language skills, an occupational therapist to evaluate motor skills.

Understanding Autism               

Autism, also known as pervasive developmental disorder (PDO) majorly affects social interaction communication and reciprocity, ranging from mild to severe.  Autistic disorder begins early in childhood and it starts becoming apparent from the age of two or three and becomes noticeable as the child grows. Basically, Autism results because of neurological problem affecting the brain.

Curing Autism

Autism unlike other developmental disorders does not have a proper cure. There are varied therapies and programmes meant for healing Autistic persons. It is important for the parents of autistic children to be informed of issues related to the disease. Parents and family members should seek advice from professional team of doctors for their child’s treatment. They must address and communicate their concerns to counselors from time to time.