‘Girl dropouts on the rise’

Lack of toilets in high schools

Vijayawada: High school girls are increasingly dropping out from schools due to the severe inconvenience caused by lack of toilets during the menstrual period, according to State secretary of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) K Swaroopa Rani.

Addressing a committee meeting at the CPM office here on Sunday, Ms Rani said the many schools were not provided with facilities like wash room and toilet. As a result, many girl dropouts at high school were reported. Though the government had sanctioned funds to avoid the problem, construction of the toilets has not been taken up so far.

Ms Rani said that safety of women had emerged as the biggest challenge before the nation. The present situation could be termed as the worst crisis for any developing country, she said.

The AIDWA leader alleged that the government had miserably failed in containing crimes against women. This was a pathetic phase considering the fact that special Acts had been enacted for their protection. Women were feeling insecure at educational institutions, employment centres, government offices, police stations and other places. Even public representatives were trying to exploit women, she lamented.

Citing a few instances wherein the government servants, including judges and ministers, had indulged in sexual offences against women, Ms Rani said that there was an urgent need to increase the number of women police stations and strength of women police force to deal with the situation. Stating that technology was being misused to portray women as objects of sex, the AIDWA leader said that society began to accept the way women were shown in poor light in the media. The government should take necessary action to curb display of women in an indecent manner. Strict implementation Nirbhaya Act, Sexual Harassment Act and Dowry Act would help in reducing crimes against women, she said.

Agitation for rest rooms

Krishna district vice-president of AIDWA, Yarlagadda Zoya said that the association had taken up awareness programmes to infuse confidence in girls at educational institutions. The girls were being trained on how to defend themselves from the attackers. From January 20 to 30, an agitation demanding release of funds from Rajiv Vidya Mission (RVM) for construction of rest rooms for the girl students would be taken up across the State, said Zoya.

AIDWA district secretary P Vijaya said that the association was striving for safety of women and girls in society. Television channels, social networks and internet were completely misused today and atrocities, rapes on minors had also increased, she lamented. AIDWA city secretary P Sridevi, committee members, activists and others were present at the meet.