“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
Education brings light to the world filled with darkness, education brings hope, education bring successful minds, education brings change and education brings the vision of future to reality of today. Education has brought knowledge; it has created opportunities, and it is the reason the world has seen such rapid development in recent decades. In the race of being better and better countries like Norway and Switzerland has developed to be the epitome of today’s successful and developed countries.
Compared to these countries, Nepal is still in the developing phase. The huge difference we see between those developed countries and Nepal is the literacy rate. The literacy rate of Nepal is around 67% while the most developed countries usually cross the literacy rate of 85%. The demographics of Nepal states Male literacy rate is around 78% while Female literacy rate is 59%.
For a country with female population higher like Nepal, where male covers only 49% while females are 51%, the gap between the ratio of male and female literacy really brings the system to a breakdown. Women in Nepal are often discouraged from education due to orthodox beliefs but in this globally modernizing world those orthodox beliefs become nothing but a barrier to the path of development.
Statistically, the female population is obviously higher in Nepal, which directly indicates if the female population is literate, we can easily boost up our country’s status from the developing title but educating women is not only for boosting the literacy rate, there so much more to it.
A woman, if educated is a voice to herself. In a country with traditional orthodox societies with deep-rooted beliefs like a woman is nothing without a man, education gives the notion of individuality to her. It gives her an identity where she can stand by herself and fight for herself.
In the cities of Nepal, women have their own identity, they are known to the world their own name, they usually have the control and power over their own life. It is still sad that the term “usually” had to be added for woman having control on their own life. But it is even more saddening that in most places of the Nepal, the term “little to no” is added for the same phrase.
Education is the power and the weapon itself to a person who thrives for better. A better mindset, a better status, a better lifestyle and a better world for themselves and the future. And a woman deserves every bit of it.
Every woman of Nepal deserves an identity, she deserves a voice to speak in this society, she deserves equal rights, and she deserves to be equal alongside the members of society. Education does all of it, education gives a woman power to her individual life, it gives her the power to her identity. It empowers her to be called by her name and not live her life being called someone’s wife, someone’s daughter or somebody’s mother.
Education for women is the key to the door of the boundaries of the household. She can break through the idealistic norms of a woman being a beautiful, polite, passive person and become whoever she wants to be. She can be so much more than terms coined for an idealistic traditional woman of the society, she can be strong, smart and powerful who can say ‘no’ to the injustice and ‘yes’ to her desires.
An educated woman can breathe the air of freedom, she can stop being the puppet tied by the strings and can finally become an individual of the society who has equal rights, freedom and become a voice of their own. She can take big strides to the society and become a contributing member in developing this nation.
Education for female is important considering every aspect of development, may it be development of sense of individuality or the development of the nation. An educated female can be the source of the strong and smart mindsets. Woman is the first nurturer and the first teacher; she can change the mindset of an entire new generation; every educated woman can be the first steps to the big leaps in the development of a country.
Nepal now needs to start a bigger campaign to educate females, the campaign till date has been of promising yet of little outcomes. Educated women can encourage a new perspective to this society. They can promote the image of working women in the society. The near balancing ratio of man and woman is a direct indication that the community will achieve a greater good. This promotes woman empowerment, which will directly fuel the economic growth and overall development of our nation.
