Girl Child and Education

The formal school is seen as the only means of withdrawing all children from work. Furthermore, in the case of girls, formal school prevents them from getting into child marriage. Schooling is recognised as playing a crucial role in the overall strategy for raising their status. Schools are essential (but not sufficient) in transcending gender inequality. This paper attempts to provide some insights into the manner in which the irrefutable argument in favour of full-time formal education for every child has enabled children to join schools. Furthermore, this has allowed the public discourse to advance beyond ‘why children must continue to work’ to include ‘how to get them out of work and into schools’, in approximately 6000 villages across 13 districts of AP where MVF has intervened. This proves that a change in attitudes and approaches is instrumental in helping girls’ desire and access schools. It narrates how in defiance of the conventional wisdom, many of the parents and the girls themselves took the initiative and with determination pursued their hope for education as an achievable goal.