give a girl child rights to education

Give a girl child the rights to education

By: Abraham Daljang Maker. Kampala Uganda

Sudan has been torn apart by constant civil wars for many decades. As the country is recovering from its war hangover, there are several things that need to be put into consideration urgently. One of these things is the rights to take a girl child to school. Although an old Roman proverb says that “Rome was not built in a day,” the issue of girl child learning is very sensitive, it needs a critical observation and prompts action before it gets out of hands. Education for women has been neglected in the country especially in the South Since the time of Adam and Eve. Women are very influential and educating them can bring development in the nation. Like any other person; a woman has potential and can do anything that man does, the world’s powerful women like Angela Merkel of Germany. Hilary Clinton and Ellen Johnson of Liberia should be taken as role models by our fathers; I can imagine what it feels for a father whose daughter is a head of state. The number of girls that enroll to school every year is very low; the percentage of girls who completed senior four is as low as 25%. It was once said; “educate a woman and you have educated a nation.” This is because women are less corrupt, sympathetic and compassionate with motherly care.

Some tribes look at girls as source of wealth, no wonder that these people have tribal clashes always just because of wealth being attach to girls. These are the people who take girls as property and child bearing thing without any other value apart from keeping them at homes like maids. Girls have taken this marginalization as a pride and they don’t want to go farther with education. I was surprised by a girl who told me that she will not go far with studies; after finishing senior four she has to marry and bear children. My explanation proved futile when I wanted to tell her how important it is to be well educated, she turned me off and said that her husband will look after her.

Another area that needs a proper observation is the Cross Generation Marriage. This is where an older person marries a young person. In this case, you will find a man marrying a girl who is ten times younger than him. Due to the wealth being attached to girls, fathers take their daughters out of schools and give them away for marriages to people who fit to be their own Dads. It is better to know that marrying a young girl is called defilement and it is punishable, girls have rights to choose as they like and should not be dictated upon like salves. It is a common phenomenon that if a girl makes a mistake of getting pregnant at school, she is taken straight to an old man for marriage instead of taking her back to school if the person who is responsible for her pregnancy fails to marry her. Mistakes are human and if such a girl is taken back to school, she will do better because she has learn from her past experience and she is likely not to make another mistake.

As I was walking in town one evening, I saw a young lady with a man who looked like he was in his late forties. The man entered a shop to buy something as this little girl stood on a veranda of the shop; I thought that was her father. She caught my eyes and I walked straight to her, stretched my hand to greet her. “Hello young girl, what is your name?” I asked. She raised her index finger to her lips as a signal that I should shut up. “Get away from here before my husband sees you! Who told you I am a young girl? Don’t you know that I am a married woman?” She charged at me. A chill of fear ran down my spine, and I said with a reckless smile; “I am sorry Mum. I didn’t know that you are married.” with these words, I made a U turn and walked away slackening my pace with out glancing back; thinking that the man would grab my shoulder and slap me hard across the face. For sure she must be sixteen and several years younger than her spouse. I could not understand why I called her Mum when she was six years younger than me. Thank God that I did not fall into a hot soup. It is hard to distinguish between a girl and a woman because many women are teenagers. The Human Rights Commission and the ministry of gender should look into this problem early enough in order to save our future presidents, members of parliament who will be elected based on educational merit not on party lists.