Advantage, daughters

The latest proposal of the government for the welfare of the girl child appears to be based on a different set of assumptions. The idea is not to 8220;compensate8221; families for the existence of the daughter but to empower the child herself by increasing her life choices through means of free education right up to the post-graduate level. The entitlement is generous enough to force behaviour change and, should it prove popular, more than compensate the government for its investment in terms of creating productive adult women and independent decision-makers within families. It could translate into numerous long-term benefits, like smaller families, more educated children, better infant care, the list could go on and on.

But the proposal will not work unless a whole lot of other improvements are made simultaneously in terms of shoring up educational infrastructure and making people more aware of the benefits of education. Parents don8217;t send their daughters to school for several reasons, including considerations of safety and the belief that it is of little use to them in their adult lives. So do we have the political and administrative will to bring about the required transformation in attitudes at the ground level?