Wokha, October 11 (MExN): Wokha district observed International Day of the Girl Child with a felicitation programme for girl child achievers, women achievers and Wokha District Local Champion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao on October 11.
Initiated by Wokha District Administration and District Level Centre for Women – Mahila Shakti Kendra (DCLW-MSK) under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, the programme started with a message from Mhathung Yanthan, Advisor, Horticulture and Border Affairs, a DIPR report stated.
Speaking on the theme ‘My Voice, Our Equal Future,’ Yanthan said that the theme spoke volumes about the desire and aspirations of more than 1.1 billion young girls across the globe in asserting their rights as change makers.
The Advisor also appreciated the work done by the District Administration, Wokha and DLCW-MSK in coming up with innovative ideas in implementing BBBP scheme, especially in creating awareness on social issues, education, health and skill development. He further emphasised on the need to educate the girl child in environmental conservation and take up measures in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Chief Guest for the event, Wokha Additional Deputy Commissioner Mathung K Tsanglao, underscored that gender equality must start from home and said that there is no such thing as ‘male work or female work.’ He emphasised that parents must inculcate the concept of gender equality right from the beginning in order to stop the chain of gender stereotypes.
He pointed out that young girls are often victims of ‘double discrimination’ not only because they cannot voice out when injustice is meted out to them, but also because their views and opinion are not taken seriously by the society, because they are girls. He encouraged the girls to stand and speak for their own rights because ‘as long as we do not stand or speak out we are not heard or seen.’
Stating that gender equality is vital in order to progress towards positive development, Tsanglao emphasized on the need to educate the girl child by pointing out that there are still some families which give priority to household chores instead of education. This, he said is wrong and violates a girl child’s rights. As such, he encouraged everyone present to be the channel of change and spread the message of importance of girl education.
He also touched on the issue of family planning and underscored the importance of taking the financial status of a family into consideration while planning for the number of children the family plans to have. This, he said, would ease the burden on parents as well as the needs of the child.
Tsanglao further called on those responsible for implementing the BBBP scheme to utilize the adolescent girls clubs to disseminate awareness on social issues.
The occasion was also marked by felicitation of the winners of the offline and online essay competitions, dance competition, basket weaving competition as well as top ten achievers, subject toppers and best performing schools in the HSLC and HSSLC examinations of 2019-2020.
Sanitary pads were also distributed to all the participants to emphasise on the importance of menstrual hygiene, the DIPR reported.
