Emergency Aid in the Covid pandemic- South Asia

Why is it so important to educate girls? First of all because it is their intrinsic right, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child . Secondly because girls’ education promotes sustainable development. When girls gain access to education they acquire important knowledge that gives them greater potential for employment and income-earning as adults. Even with limited schooling, the impact of education can be observed. Studies show that for each additional year of schooling, a girl in a low-income country will increase her future income even though the extent of this increase varies according to the methodology applied. According to the latest studies endorsed by UNICEF and the World Bank, each additional year of education contributes to a 18% increase in GDP per capita at national level and to a 10% increase in individual income, with higher return rates for women than for men, while increasing the secondary education of girls by 1% generate a 0.3% increase in the annual per capita growth rate of GDP. Countries with greater gender equality and fewer gender differences in primary and secondary schools are more likely to have higher economic growth. Education also improves women’s status within the family, empowers them to make their own choices and gives them more control over resources, control that increases with their level of education. The impact on sustainable development is achieved not only through an increase in GDP but also through education itself as mothers who attended school themselves make greater efforts to ensure that their own children attend school, and health thanks to family planning, the importance attributed to prenatal care, vaccines, nutrition and doctors consultations: one additional year of school reduces infant mortality rate by 5-10%. Education for girls can therefore be the starting point of an upward spiral and lead women and their families out of poverty. Finally, with adequate education, most early and combined marriages could be prevented. For girls who studied for 7 years, the age of marriage is postponed by 4 years and women who completed secondary education on average have 2.3 children fewer than women with no education. If all the girls in low and middle-income countries completed primary school, this would reduce the under-5 mortality by 15% and if all of them completed secondary school this would reduce it by 49%. Educated women are also more likely not to justify their husband’s violence and dangerous practices such as genital mutilations and can become active leaders of change in their communities. In general, the cost-to-benefit ratio for primary school is higher than for lower and upper secondary education. However, there are two exceptions, which are the reduction of the age at first birth for which it is 40% more cost-effective to invest in lower secondary than in primary education, and the increase in the use of media .

A STORY FROME THE FIELD

Sushmita  is a daughter of a poor family from Machiara village in Khalilnagar union of Tala upazila of Satkhira district. Her father  is a day laborer and mother  is a housewife. Sushmita's elder sister  got married a long time ago, her brother  is in class VI. Her father found it difficult to pay for her educational expenses after domestic expenses. Sushmita wants to be established after finishing her studies. But her dream came to a halt due to poverty of her family. At that time Sushmita decided that she would have to do something besides her studies and stand by her father's side. While she was in class VI, she took training in tailoring. At the end of the training, she purchased an old sewing machine. Now she is a mature tailor. By working on the machine she is earning some money which he spends on her study. Now she is student of class X.

A letter from our parnter in India:

"Since colleges were running on and off due to coronavirus pandemic, regular activities did not take place in this period. When we look at case studies, these cases are similar, the socio-economic conditions miserable and the liquor consumption a horrible situation leading to tragedy and disintegrated families. The family relations are always strained and has an impact on children. Fortunately, in these cases, all the girls have developed a positive outlook towards education and hopes on bright future. Their determination is very strong and they are able to face all kinds of adverse situations. The fate of girl children, the struggles they have to face to continue their studies is remarkable. I am wonder stuck while translating how these girls are able to focus on education and come up with good performance. The women suffer when husbands are alive and continue to suffer after their death also, clearing their medical bills or debts. Running the house, of course, almost always remains their responsibility. It is really very prestigious project supporting girl children for higher education. 

KATE A. 

is the daughter of B. and C. and belongs to Kattakindapalli village  in Prakasam District. She is 19 years old and studying Intermediate second year in Government Junior College, Yarragonda Palem. She has taken (Bi-PC) Biology, Physics and Chemistry as subjects for her studies. She is a day-scholar and goes to college daily by auto to a distance of 5 kms from her village. She has to pay the Examination fee every year. She is good in Mathematics.

A.’s father slowly started consumption of alcohol along with other villagers and gradually it became a regular habit and then addiction. He was spending his earnings on liquor initially and after sometime, started snatching her mothers’ earnings too. Life turned out to be difficult for the family, for survival first and thereafter he used to quarrel and torture the family members. Her father met with an accident while driving drunk on a motorcycle and died on the spot. This happened when Athyusha was 10years old. She has a younger brother who is studying in the local school. Since there is no high school in the village, Athyusha joined the hostel for further studies.Her mother now has to look after the family and the debt husband left behind. She has to do more work in order to earn more income. So, she joined under a contractor to work and slowly developed illicit relationship with him. Knowing this, his parents were looking for a match for him. In this situation A.’s mother eloped with him. Athyusha was quite upset with these developments. Her brother is staying with grandmother and continuing the studies.In 2019 her grandmother died due to ill-health. Athyusha and her brother became orphans. They came back to the village and started staying in a slab house of their own which is built with the support of local Government and ASSIST. Not liking the idea of a teenager staying alone, her paternal aunt came and took away both the children to her village. There, with the help of relatives, her brother was admitted in a college. Athyusha was going for labour work along with her aunt. Meanwhile, ASSIST field staff came to know what all was happening with Athyusha and convinced her aunt and admitted her in Kasturba women’s college and provided her all the requirements. With the help of friends, she is gradually recovering from the trauma of the past. She likes to become nurse in future and help poor people who are not able to pay the fees.

A. is very much interested in studies and quite intelligent. She is always the topper in the class and especially fond of Mathematics