Conservatism of parents impedes future of girls: Kiran Bedi
Ms Bedi said that she gets many requests from girls, who seek her personal intervention to tell their parents not to marry them off early.
Puducherry: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi shared concerns about the future of girl students who lose out due to ‘conservatism of parents’ after schools even after performing well in examinations.
Sharing the news of girls outshining boys in the plus-2 public examination results announced on Wednesday, the Lt Governor said that the girls did not shine really well after schools.
“What happens to girls after school? Do they keep shinning? Not really. Many lose out due to conservatism of parents” she said.
Ms Bedi said that she gets many requests from girls, who seek her personal intervention to tell their parents not to marry them off early when they want to study further and earn too.
“Question is who educates the parents? The elected MLA, the NGOs, the commune commisioner, the BDO, the school teacher or principal? It is sad to see such potential held back. There is a need for social reform from all the above mentioned community contributors,” said the former IPS officer.
Women are seen to be very active in Puducherry. If they are skilled and earn they will reduce their dependencies on men.
“We did not have government schools providing free education with mid-day meals we would have had many girls out of school. We get many complaints of this kind in the Open House at RajNivas,” she said.
The Lt Governor had saved a 17-year-old engineering student from being compulsorily married off by her parents to a 28-year-old man on December last year.
Reminding the incident Ms Bedi reiterated that parents should be educated in a way to allow their girl children to continue their studies, earn to learn and be self-reliant.