International Day Of The Girl Child - Challenges And Needs In The Empowerment And Fulfillment Of Human Rights Of The Girl Child In The 21st Century

By Liznet Moyo

In 2018, to be a girl means that you must go to school because nowadays, it is a fact that a girl must be educated. This means that when you are a girl, people expect that you will be performing very well including in science subjects just as boys do.

However, girls face several challenges and have a lot of needs in trying to get empowered through education and fulfilling their human rights. Therefore, this article explains some of the challenges and needs for a girl child.

One of the challenges that girls face in a country like Malawi is harassment from fellow beings. The harassment is either through offensive language or actions. People in Malawian societies use all kinds of bad names to call girls who put their focus on education. Other members harass girls through actions such as touching them in a bad way.

The second challenge faced by a girl child is community resistance to her education. Most societies in Malawi believe that only the education of a boy is important. They say that a girl will get married and be looked after by her husband. It is also a common belief that a boy must be economically empowered through education as he will be the head of his family.

Another challenge faced by the girl child is that most Malawian girls walk long distances to school. Most girls who get their education from Community Day Secondary Schools arrive at school very late and tired. When they arrive at school very tired, they fail to follow the lessons. This makes them not to do well in class.

The next challenge is that some girls are forced into early marriages. Since the education of a girl child is taken to be not important, some parents force their daughters into early marriages leading to high school dropout rate among girls. Most girls fail to realize their dreams due to pressure from parents and relatives on them to get married and give them grand children.

The girl child has a number of needs which include school fees, school materials, and girls’ hostels in Community Day Secondary Schools. If a girl child is given the above needs, she can perform well in class and become a reliable citizen of a country.

In summary, although the girl child has access to education, the education given does not fully prepare her to enter the work force. It is only when the challenges are reduced and most of the needs are provided that we can say that the girl child is receiving quality education. Therefore the empowerment of a girl child and fulfillment of human rights faces several challenges which need to be addressed if we are to have a better world to live in.

**Liznet Moyo is a 14 year old form 2 student at Koche Community Day Secondary**