Question

Short speech on importance of women education.

Answer 1

In good old days it was emphasised that awoman’splace was in the kitchen. This is no longer true. Women look after their family and make better homes than men, but today they also occupy the highest offices.They do not lag behind men in almost every singular aspect of life. Not long ago a Japanese housewife scaled the Mount Everest. Women play almost all the games and sports that men play. Women have proved today that they can do as much as men in any field, if they are given thechance, and it is evident from the fact that Indian Air Force have women officers today.It has become necessary, therefore, to educate women just like men. There are numerous schools and colleges for girls and women in most of the cities. A large percentage of girls go to do post-graduate and professional courses; medicine and teaching particularly attract girls who are talented. Despite all these all these, women’s education is still lagging behind in India. The Government must provide special facilities to train large number of women teachers, because they have a liking for the profession. Preference must be given to women in courses like medicine, home craft and foreign languages. the present day Indian context, education for women is more imperative. India, for example, is trying to implement family planning through education. Much population increase occurs in illiterate families where both men and women are uneducated. Educated women can understand the need of a planned family for the happiness of the familyand the country as a whole.An educated women can have a indirect influence on the men mused Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. A women who has been trained in various things can act as a great influence on the child. Some of the best schoolsin our cities will tell the parents thata child’s progress in education depends as much on the parents as onthe teachers.A child learns from home, school and the environment. Hence, an educated mother has a great responsibility to educate her child properly. This is much more so in a developing nation like India.To make India a prosperous country, every man and every woman in the nation must be educated. Women’s education is of prime importance, forthey have been neglected in our country until recently. Women in India have out numbered the men, hence they must be made literate for the all round development of the country.

Answer 2

Women are human beings and have as much right to full development as men have. The position of women in any society is a true index of its cultural and spiritual level”-Dr. Radhakrishnan.

The destiny of a nation is moulded and fashioned through its education and in this, the education of women has a strategic importance. The significance of the education of women cannot be over-emphasized. Women education in our country passed through several stages of development. In ancient India, both men and women had an access to education. In the vedic age equality was given to the women. They enjoyed special opportunity and freedom. Both boys and girls received education in Ashrams and Gurukuls. But in later times education of women was given low priority and the introduction of early marriage acted as grievous pitfall on the way of education.

Gradually their privileges were curtailed and society tended to be a patriarchal one and education remained in the hands of religious people, who did not allow co­education. During the days of the Muslims the women rotted behind the purdah and were not allowed to mix with men. Further their condition deteriorated by the observance of the institution of ‘Purdah’. Due to their economic dependence on men they came to be regarded as the bond slave to men.

The Company’s Rule, hardly made any provision for state owned girls’ school. Then it was purely a concern of the Mission arise. But they could not wither the storm of opposition both social and religious. A number of private schools were conducted by British officials and non-officials on their own. The solitary institution named after its founder Bethune, gave an impetus to the growth of similar private institutions all over India, for progress of girls’ education. Mr. J.E.D. Bethune was the then legal member of the Supreme Council and his interest in female education was genuine.

The next was marked by an active co-operation among the Government, Missionaries and Private bodies in the cause of women education. The change came in after the Hunter Commission’s Report, 1882. While examining the condition of women’s education the Commission remarked, “Female education is still in an extremely backward condition and needs to be fostered in every legitimate way”.

The Commission recommended that the women’s education should receive a large share of public fund. As a result special attention was paid to the development of women’s education both by the government and the private bodies. By 1901- 02, there were 12 colleges, 467 secondary schools and 5,628 primary schools for girls and the total enrolment of girls in all educational institutions was only 447,470. In 1901, the percentage of literacy among women was only 0.8. The number of girls enrolled for every 100 boys was only 12 at the primary stage and 4 at the secondary. The total enrolment in higher education was only 264 (which included 76 girls reading in medical colleges and 11 in colleges of education).

Some active steps were taken by government during 1902- 1917 for the improvement of women education. New plans were devised, separate schools were started, arrangements of conveyance for taking girls to schools were made, inspectresses were appointed, liberal prizes were offered to girls and fees were remitted at times. Many schools run by local bodies were transferred to government, favourable grants were made to private girls’ schools, steps were taken to attract ladies to the teaching profession and provincial committees with a fair proportion of lady members were set up for discussing the problems of girls’ education.

The above measures gave great encouragement to women’s education and in 1904, Mrs. Annie Besant established the central Hindu Girls’ school at Banaras with the object of imparting western education to girls, quite separately from boys. In 1916, the S.N.D.T. Women’s University and Lord Harding Medical College were established. In 1917, there were 12 arts colleges, 4 professional colleges and 166 secondary schools for girls.