Girls still have to struggle for education

Girls’ participation in education has multiplied in the country. This is certainly good news. But there remain many challenges. Girls still have to face various obstacles regarding education. More efforts should be put on this matter.

Such observations came up in a discussion titled ‘Education for the Empowerment of Girls: What we can do’. The meeting was held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital on Tuesday as part of the initiative of the non-governmental organisation Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE).

Advisor to the former caretaker government, Rasheda K Chowdhury and the chairman of the meeting, said she assumed many of the challenges regarding girls’ education had been eradicated. But there are still many obstacles in girls’ education.

According to the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, more than 47,000 students of secondary schools faced child marriage in 2021.

Referring to this, Rasheda K Chowdhury said it seems as if these girls have been dropped out of the book. She expressed regret that despite the demand for stipend to bring these girls back to school it was not met.

BRAC University Emeritus Professor Manzoor Ahmed believes some people in the country still have a negative attitude towards girls’ education.

He said it has to be overcome through stern stance. He apprehended that the crisis will linger on if measures are not taken to meet the shortage of learning the students faced during the Covid pandemic.

The activities of Malala Fund in Bangladesh were underscored by the country director of the organisation Mosharraf Tansen. Apart from this, leader of a teacher body Kazi Farooq Ahmed, CAMPE deputy director KM Enamul Haque also spoke on the occasion.