Canada – Young women speak out about their right to be educated
“It is my right to get an education.” With these words Sanju K.C explained to me why education is important to her and why she spent three months gaining computer skills at Nepal Jesuit Social Institute (NJSI), a CJI partner, to better prepare for college. She is now a teacher at Don Bosco Catholic School in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Education is a human right. Yet it is a right that many people, especially girls in the Global South, do not have access to. Worldwide, between 129 to 130 million girls are out of school and denied their right to education. The impact of this on the social and economic wellbeing of communities and countries is significant.
Education can transform a person’s life and it empowers marginalized communities. I witnessed this firsthand when CJI Program Coordinator Juan Emilio Hernandez and I visited our Jesuit partners in India and Nepal in the spring.
We met many inspiring women, men, and children who are working to improve not just their lives, but also to serve their communities. They considered getting an education to be crucial. Ritu Pana recalled the sacrifices that her parents made so that she and her siblings could go to school. “Our parents faced struggles, but they gave priority to our education, even if they had no food to eat,” says Pana, who works at the Human Life Development Research Centre (HLDRC), a project of the Jesuit Darjeeling Province in India. Today, she and her team are working hard to convince parents employed in tea plantations to send their children to the HLDRC study centres, which offers free non-formal education for children. “We want to show them what is possible.”
This fall, CJI is launching a campaign on the right to education, with the theme: Education: Her Right, Our Future. It aims to raise awareness about the importance of education, particularly girls’ education, in determining our collective future.
It also seeks to address some of the obstacles. Sanju K.C acknowledges that poverty stands in the way of education. She herself wants to obtain a master’s degree but is unable to do so because she supports her family. For now, she is trying to save whatever she can from her meager salary.
In this newsletter we hear from our partners in Africa and Asia about the ways in which people they work with are denied the most basic right of education and why they have made education a priority for their work. We support them in their efforts as we cannot allow this injustice to continue.
Source : Canadianjesuitinternational.ca
Related Posts:
For April, the Holy Father chose to pray particularly for women, the recognition of their dignity and role in society: "Let us pray that the dignity and worth of women be recognised in every culture and for an end to the discrimination they face in various parts of the world".
Representatives of nine provinces of CPAL met in person in Bogotá, Colombia. It was an opportunity to reaffirm their dreams and commitment to continue walking together, training on, and reflecting upon the impact of gender equality in the apostolic body of the Society of Jesus in the Latin American and Caribbean territories.
The General Assembly is the highest governing body of the Federation of Fe y Alegria Movement. It comprises 22 member countries, the General Coordination, and the Presidents of the Conferences of Jesuit Provincials of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. To enrich the Movement's sustainability, the General Assembly provided input and recommendations to the executive team.
This year, the global Commission on the Role and Responsibilities of Women of the Society of Jesus has been actively engaged in attentive listening.
This practice violates the fundamental rights of girls and women, including their right to health, safety and dignity.
Undocu Network Summit serves as a unique space for directly impacted young adults to gather, share experiences, and plan collective actions.
