How a Video Released by ‘Girl Rising’ Is Breaking New Ground for Education of Girls in India

It is universally acknowledged by aid workers and social justice activists that when girls are educated, change occurs at the grassroots level for communities in developing countries. According to ‘Girl Rising’, a global campaign that advocates for girls’ education through storytelling, approximately 40% of girls in India do not finish high school. This is not a great statistic in a country that has more than 225 million girls under the age of 18.

In order to raise awareness about the far-reaching positive effects of educating girls, Girl Rising released a video titled We Dream, We Rise. The video, which has managed to clock more than 45,000 views in the past three days, urges parents not to discriminate between sons and daughters when planning their children’s future.

According to reports by The Guardian, the latest primary school enrolment figure for both boys and girls is 98% , which is quite impressive. Some experts feel that the increase in enrolment rates can be credited to the introduction of the RTE Act of 2009, which guarantees free and compulsory education for all children aged between 6 and 14.

But the dropout rate for girls spikes when they are above 15 years of age, because they’re forced to contribute to household chores or get married.

This video asks parents across India to let their daughters be as ambitious (if not more) as their male counterparts. Girl Rising is an international NGO that released a film directed by Academy Award-nominee Richard Robbins. The film was released in 2013 and it deals with the lives of eight girls, from different parts of the world, who fought against all odds to go to school. The campaign launched an India edition, roping in celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Freida Pinto, Madhuri Dixit, and Kareena Kapoor among several others to raise awareness about gender-based violence and discrimination.

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