KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

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                  KNOWLEDGE IS POWER










In most of the communities where I have worked, the importance of educating a girl child  is undermined.  I remember visiting one school in one of the rural communities in Neno district where standard 8 class had 1 girl as compared to almost 30 boys in the same class. Records showed that the number of girls was high from junior primary and it kept on dropping as the classes went up.  In such communities, it is a huge challenge to help girls to stay in school because the norm is when the girls reach puberty, the goal is to get married. For this one girl, it was only a matter of time before she dropped out as well, because being the only girl in class for her has to take a whole lot of courage.

 We had checked with the headmaster of the school to tell us the major causes of the dropouts. He confirmed that the girls end up getting married. He further said most of them look at their married friends and believe that they are doing well in life than the ones who are in school.  They don’t see a reason why school should hinder them from achieving what they consider the best in life. Its common for parents to be proud of these married girls as the mature girls in school are labelled useless.

From the early ages, girls face enormous pressure to stay at home and to fulfil their traditional role as caregivers, wives and mothers. In some places, girls who have been sheltered and kept at home fetch a higher bride price, because they are considered to be well mannered and raised and can ably take care of a man well and do house chores well. This incentivizes keeping girls away from school. I know in some communities in northern Malawi, there are girls who make it a goal to get married to a man simply because the man has gone to do some piece jobs in South Africa. These men are considered gold. They are the kings and princes of these rural communities. They support their parents and siblings back home with a little money and when they go home for holidays they bring items like clothes and other rare accessories which they probably acquire using 100% of their annual savings.

Sadly, in these rural communities, male teachers dominate the profession and girls’ rights to proper education are not fully supported. With few educated women in their communities, many girls have no one to look up to and no one to stand up for them. There are very few female role models, such as female teachers, to support and encourage girls to stay in school. Having a female role model advocating for girls’ education is a powerful way of showing girls, their parents, and their communities the benefits that a girl’s education can bring.

When I was in form 4, a female friend of mine who was in form 3 at the time was given away in marriage (arranged marriage) by her parents to a man who was seeking greener pastures in South Africa. This was a man she had never met before. He was a son of her parents’ friends. The marriage ceremony was done in the absence of the man as he was unable to travel from south Africa to Malawi. This was rather sad, especially for the girl but she had no choice. After the ceremony she was sent to South Africa to join her husband. Just like that, she left us in school and she had little say about what she would want to do with her life. Her parents were proud of her because they believed she had attained a goal most of us had failed to attain.

 

Let's join hands to make the benefit of equally sending girls (and boys) to school realized. Let's work to have our girls and boys have informed guidance for the betterment of the future generation.

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