Book Review | Book Maps Shift in Outlook on Educating Daughters
The book foregrounds the idea that rather than creating separate educational structures, meaningful change related to educating girls in India works best through collaboration with government systems
Safeena Husain's Every Last Girl: A Journey to Educate India's Forgotten Daughters is part memoir, part social-impact narrative and part examination of girls' education in India. Husain documents how her own education was interrupted for several years and how the feeling of helplessness propelled her towards returning to education and spearheading Educate Girls: a grassroots organisation dedicated to enrolling out-of-school girls in some of India's most marginalised communities. The symbolic "last girl" or "Antimbala" presides over the book to represent the girl who is furthest from opportunity and risks being excluded from education because of poverty, gender discrimination, social norms and early marriage. The book abounds with the narratives of women who have gained stability and dignity in their lives due to access to education. From stories about women who were able to escape child marriage and domestic abuse in Rajasthan such as Nagina and Swati to parents whose outlook towards education changed after seeing how educating their daughters brought in revenue for the household in the long run, the book provides a compelling account of the importance of girls’ education for India's overall economic development. Access to education is depicted not merely as a tool for employment but also a source of dignity, confidence, independence and voice.
In her quest to provide education for the Indian girl child, Husain identifies several factors that prevent girls from entering into schools, especially the attitude of parents who believe that girls are suitable only for fulfilling traditional roles. Case studies of parents whose attitudes changed towards their daughters' education, due to the involvement of Husain, such as Dinesh and Vikram prove to the reader that changing the mindsets of parents, who have themselves lacked proper education, requires patience and persistence rather than confrontation and conflict.
The book foregrounds the idea that rather than creating separate educational structures, meaningful change related to educating girls in India works best through collaboration with government systems. Further, she emphasises that the process of educating the most marginalised girls benefits everyone. The improvements that are intended for excluded girls helps to strengthen educational access for entire communities. As the narrative progresses and collects accounts of girls who have benefited from education, Husain charts the growth as the cumulative result of collective effort involving volunteers, teachers, parents, government officials and the young girls. Throughout the book, Husain underlines the humanist argument that girls deserve education not because it benefits society but because they are entitled to it as human beings. The book ends on a realistic but positive note and acknowledges that although millions of girls worldwide remain out of school, the success of Educate Girls in India holds a beacon of hope and demonstrates that change is possible even when inequality remains deeply entrenched.
Rupsa Banerjee has an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from EFLU, Hyderabad. She teaches in SR University, Warangal.
Every Last Girl
By Safeena Husain
HarperCollins
pp. 266; Rs 399