What Does The Girl Child Day Mean For Sri Lanka? By Sujata Gamage - The Girl Child Day was designated in 2012 to bring attention to disparities in education, nutrition, health and legal rights for young girls. Innovation in Education is the Theme for Girl Child Day for 2013. For most developing countries, including other countries in the Indian sub-continent, innovations in education are needed indeed to get girls into schools and keep them there. Malala’s case amplifies the extreme of not even being to get to school and the need transform society as a whole to ensure the well-being of the girl child. In contrast, girls in Sri Lanka are doing ok, if you use conventional measures. Enrollment rates in primary education are almost 100% irrespective of gender. Of those who enrolled in universities, say in 2012, 58% were female. True, girls make up almost 75% of enrollments in Arts stream with dismal numbers enrolled in, say, engineering, yet, the bottom line is that our girls can ace exams. The problem lies in what we do not measure –i.e. the life skills of our young women. In Sri Lanka education has come to mean skills in passing examinations. Life skills are paid scant attention despite the fact the stated national objectives are all about competencies for life with an emphasis on citizenship. The situation is worsened by having a system which gives hope to each and every parent that the best possible education is available for your child, if he/she passes either of two critical exams. The government has identified 100+ schools as popular schools and sets bars each year for entering those schools using the results of Grade V Scholarship examination or GCE (O/L) examination for that year. Each year almost all of the 320,000 children compete for the, Grade V scholarship exam, for example, but the bar are set so that only 15,000 are selected. Yet, the parents have bitten the bait and are engaged in a furious race to get the best for their children, girls or boys. Read more: https://colombotelegraph/index.php/what-does-the-girl-child-day-mean-for-sri-lanka/
Posted on: Sat, 12 Oct 2013 03:10:15 +0000