Do you believe more schooled girl-children turn out to be more all-round, attached and focused world-citizens?
A boy peeps into an empty classroom at his primary school as a nationwide strike by Kenyan teachers demanding a salary increase left most learning institutions paralyzed, in Nairobi
Photo credit: brookings.edu

Personally, I highly believe so because for one thing, I’ve witnessed it happen over the years I’ve lived. Basing on the motherly figures I grew up with around me, I managed to witness first-hand what true education can do to change the world. My mother managed to bring it to my attention that it’s not about the number of classes one has sat in but the summation of the knowledge they’ve accumulated over their entire life and daily experiences, as well.
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I managed to volunteer actively in the field of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights of young people during 2015 and what I came across was simply amazing. Most of all, I got to appreciate that many young girls, out there, do what they do simply they haven’t had an education at all. Or, if they have gotten one, it’s meant to sideline them at the benefit of their counterparts, the boys.
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Photo credit: Bill Kahirimbanyi Bekunda

Particularly, I have a big problem with many of the cultures in the world that still believe educating of the girl-children is a waste of time and resources. Millions of girl-children in the world grow up believing and knowing that fearing someone is being humble with them, for example. Others believe they have no say in the choice for the husbands they’re to have.
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If we are to take the perspective of the parents’, they’ll defend themselves saying,

….”That’s how we were brought up. In our days, it was immoral for you to                                                                              question your parents’ decisions and choices”….

Being that majority of such cultures are static; this is what children were and have been made to believe. In my opinion, this is something very impractical in our 21st century. We are shooting at aiming children that get to question everything ranging from how they came to be unto this world, to why the sun shows up in the morning and sets in the evening, to the kind of relationship they’re engaging in… for if they don’t learn to ask these questions then, their knowledge from class won’t be of much help to them. (At least, that’s what I believe).
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Photo credit: npr.org

Here in Uganda, my home country, we are still facing this challenge of parents purposefully “omitting” their girl-children from school simply because they’re targeting material gains like dowry from “future husbands”. If I’m to utilize the school attendance-system of Uganda, as an example, many more girls are present at school during the nursery school level and as they progress into the primary level of school, we witness many of those same girls skipping school occasionally and finally disappearing for good, after a while. Furthermore, secondary level of school has fewer of these girl-children attending to school due to the simple reason(s) of being married – off early, termination of their schooling experience simply because they were / are pregnant, paying allegiance to peer customs, beliefs and practices among others.
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So, here’s my question:
 
Why can’t we educate the girl – child more?

Regardless of what society might say or do, your daughter is and shall your daughter and therefore, you ought to give her the best in life. A life minus a meaningfully – directional education for any girl-child isn’t a life, at all. Besides, how do you expect her to navigate her way through this tough world, without an education to her keeps? We all appreciate that acquiring an education is beautiful and brings outstanding meaning to life. Whatever an educated girl intends or gets to do carries meaning to her life and the world, in general, inspires other young girls to do better and move further in life.
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Education is just the best sieve we can have for the tea we take from and within the world. It’s meant to guide individuals into assessing situations for what they are, make judgments and calls accordingly to the pending situations and thereby, make predictions for the future occurrences. To beat and put to rest all these inconsistencies we witness in them, perhaps, education could be the “thing” they are looking for. I look forward to a world where all girl-children can comfortably make choices for themselves and their lives, without feeling pressurized into doing anything they wouldn’t want to.
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Photo credit: griotsrepublic.com

You’ve probably come across the world-changing hash tag, #WhatWomenWant  , correct? Different women and girls have different needs…No, not different needs per say but unique needs.
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Photo credit: activ8girls

Education is among those that repetitively stand out and that should be enough to raise a voice for the voiceless (uneducated girl-children). Girl – children need love, affection, nice clothes, shoes, roses, chocolates, nice phones, their “squeezes” but all that can be made better with an education.
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Photo credit: shinjinidas.com

We all have the capacity to make it happen for the girl-child, today and tomorrow and the days after.
Let’s #EducateTheGirlChild MORE!