Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Gender discrimination keeps her off college

By Our Staff Reporter

ELURU NOV. 25. The plight of P. Vijayanirmala Kumari of Serepalem in Mogaltur mandal of West Godavari district, a victim of prejudice against girl-child, turned out to be a case in point for campaigners against gender discrimination at a function here on Tuesday.

Soon after the Eluru municipal chairperson, M. Eswari, the Collector, Sanjay Jaju, the Regional Deputy Director of Women and Child Welfare, R. Suej, the former MLA, Ambika Krishna, and other NGOs waxed eloquent on the need to bridge the gender divide and to ensure equal opportunities to both genders in all spheres of public life, Vijayanirmala Kumari walked up to the dais and took the dignitaries by surprise by unfolding her tell-tale story. The occasion was observance of anti-girl child trafficking week. Bursting into tears, the girl said she could not pursue her higher education despite she fared well in the 10th class public examination due to her family's `prejudice against girl child'. "I scored 429 out of 600 marks in the 10th class examination this year.

But my father, Padma Raju, did not allow me to pursue the course which I am longing for,'' she said. "My life ambition is to become a doctor and serve the poor. But my dream seems quite unlikely to be realised due to certain reservations my father has nursed about education to me by virtue of my being a girl child,'' she said. Vijayanirmala Kumari said she had to go to Narasapur to join the science group in Intermediate to qualify for admission into medicine as college in Mogaltur which is close to her village does not have science groups. She regretted that her father did not accept her proposal to go to Narasapur for higher education.

According to her father, it is not safety for her to go to Narasapur which was `far away' from his village. If anybody from Serepalem wants to purse college education in Narasapur, he or she will have to go to Mogaltur by bicycle and reach the destination from there by bus. It is considered risky by the family members of Vijayanirmala Kumari.

The officials of the Women and Child Welfare department promised to provide her higher education by convincing her parents. They said they would also try for an accommodation for her in a social welfare hostel at Narasapur, if necessary, so that she could stay at Narasapur and continue her education.

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