Page 113 - SocialHarmony

18

Education for Both: Sons and

Daughters

(On the occasion of various Shala Praveshotsavs during
June 2008)

There are some events in Gandhinagar that cause me great
grief. I hope that you can do something to alleviate my pain.
Even after sixty years of independence and fifty years of the
existence of Gujarat state, even after constructing thousands of
school-rooms, appointing thousands of teachers and in spite of
no shortage of funds, only 80 girls out of 100 go to school and 55
out of every 100 boys have not even seen the gate of school.
This is a miserable situation. I am not sure whether the previous
ministers, government or administration were concerned about
this scenario or not; I only know that I am really worried. To
eradicate this worry, I need the help of the people. I travel to
numerous villages at the time of school admissions and try to
create awareness about the fact that there is nothing more callous
than leaving a child uneducated in this age. Many parents
misguide their children by telling them that since they have
happily spent their entire lives without education, there is no
need for the children to study too. I want to tell these parents
that if they have ruined their own lives, there is no need to ruin
their children’s lives too. Since you have not learnt how to
differentiate between the good and the bad, you feel that your
life has passed smoothly and your children will also be able to
live a smooth life even without education. However, times have
changed – it will be impossible for your children to survive