‘Women Education enables Poverty Reduction’

‘Women Education enables Poverty Reduction process’ said Dr.K.Govindaraju, Chairperson, South Zone Board of Continuing Education while addressing in a seminar on Women Education and Empowerment’organised by SEVAI for Panchayat level Federation Women SHGs leaders in Trichy on 29^th, May 2011. He added "Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process." Education is important for everyone, but it is significant for girls and women. This is true not only because education is an entry point to other opportunities, but also because the educational achievements of women can have ripple effects within the family and across generations. Investing in girls' education is one of the most effective ways to increase income generation and reduce poverty. Investments in secondary school education for girls yield especially high dividends. Girls who have been educated are likely to marry later and to have smaller and healthier families. Educated women can recognize the importance of health care and know how to seek it for themselves and their children. Education helps girls and women to know their rights and to gain confidence to claim them. The education of parents is linked to their children's educational attainment, and the mother's education is usually more influential than the father's. An educated mother's greater influence in household negotiations may allow her to secure more resources for her children. Educated mothers are more likely to be in the labour force, allowing them to pay some of the costs of schooling, and may be more aware of returns to schooling. And educated mothers, averaging fewer children, can concentrate more attention on each child. Closing the gender gap in education is a development priority. SEVAI supports a variety of educational programmes, from literacy projects to curricula development with a focus on reproductive and sexual health. Because of the sensitivity of these issues, the focus and names of the educational programmes have gone through a number of changes over the past decades. Gender issues now receive more attention than they did in past programmes, and instruction methods have changed, from a didactic approach to one emphasizing student participation and communications skills’. Earlier Vanitha Project Coordinator women Development highlighted the functions of Panchayat level Federations and she said SEVAI efficiently manages 7000 self help women groups having women membership over 100,000 women in Trichirappalli District of Tamilnadu. 187 Panchayat level Federation leaders participated in this program.-Kris