Educating Suborna

Education transforms women's socio-economic condition

by RUPA SARKER

Suborna, daughter of a small roadside shopkeeper, dreams of becoming a doctor one day. In spite of living in a remote border-lying region of the country, she is now studying science at a college in their neighbouring village.

Suborna’s father says although a couple of boys in their family studied till the fifth grade, no one succeeded in going to college. Suborna’s mother says, “Our financial condition is not too good, but we still hope to send our daughter to medical college.”

She says, “There has been a big change in our family because of Suborna’s education. Earlier I did not have a clear idea about children’s vaccination and common diseases. Now my daughter has explained a lot of these things to me. She also helps me deposit money in the bank and make other major calculations.”

Maya Rani is another girl like Suborna. She is studying in the eighth grade in a village school. Maya’s family does not have any land of their own, which is why they are residing in a small hut. Maya’s father is a boatman who ferries people across the local river and her mother works at other people’s houses. Neither of her parents is educated. Her father Haran Chandra says, “Let alone the women, not even a single man in our family has been able to reach the eighth grade. But my daughter is studying in class 8. What else can make me happier?”

Asked why he is sending Maya Rani to school despite being in such hardship, Haran Chandra says, “Girls don’t need to pay any school fees now. Instead, the school pays her, so I don’t have to spend any extra money on her education.”

Maya’s mother continues: “As my daughter is educated, I don’t need to keep any teachers for our two younger sons. Her education is also helping us a lot in our everyday lives.

The village that Suborna and Maya come from is called Chandrapur. There are about 1500 in this village and most of them are illiterate. The village has one primary school but no high school or college.

Maya and Suborna have to walk two kilometres to the neighbouring village to attend their classes.

Dr Sirajul Islam Chowdhury, a former professor of Dhaka University, says, “Now there are more educated women in our country than before. This starts from the family. This is a good sign. Half of the population of the country are women but they cannot take part in economic activities because they are not educated. They are unable to go out of home. There should be a change in this condition.”

Whether Suborna will eventually become a doctor is difficult to say at the moment. But she is on the way.

According to statistics released in 2005, there are equal number of educated boys and girls in the country and the ratio of educated girls to boys at the secondary level is 47 to 53.

At what rate is the number of girls going to schools increasing in villages?

Md  Babul Akhter, a teacher of Najirpur Dimukhi High School in Natore, says, “Girls get various opportunities and benefits in schools and colleges these days. A lot of girls are joining schools because of scholarships. Moreover, parents are relatively more informed about these things.”

He says, “There are a lot more girls in every class compared to 10 years ago. There were 40 girls in the sixth grade before, now there are 140, in the eighth grade there were 30 girls, now there are 70, in the tenth grade there were 25 girls and now there are 60.”

According to sources, the government, apart from making education free for girls from the sixth to tenth grade, is also offering a scholarship of Tk 300 a year to the sixth graders, Tk 360 to the seventh graders, Tk 420 to the eighth graders, Tk 970 to the ninth graders along with money to buy books, Tk 1450 and registration money to the tenth graders, Tk 1050 to the eleventh graders and Tk 1350 to the twelfth graders.

Professor Abu Ahmed, a Dhaka University teacher and an eminent economist, says, “Women always work but we do not assess the work they do at home. That is why a girl besides being educated has to be self-sufficient, only then there will be a genuine development in the country. If women are educated then their productivity will increase both at home and outside, and the tendency in our society to marry them off at an early age will gradually go.”

Thus girls like Suborna and Maya are not only changing their own lots but also bringing about a change in their families as well as the society.

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