Girl students rally for women empowerment

About 2000 girl students of Ashok Hall Girls' Higher Secondary School in Kolkata took out a rally on Saturday against the growing menace of female feoticide and called for empowering women and girl child.

The rally was organized on the eve of the World Humanitarian Day (WHD), established by the General Assembly of the UN in December 2008. WHD is observed on 19 August each year since 2009.

Nonagenarian industrialists-turned philanthropist B K Birla and his better-half Dr. Sarala Birla, flagged off the procession at Golpark. Braving drizzle, the enthused girls walked to Rasbehari crossing waving through the busy Gariahat market and hughly congested Deshapriya Park.

 Vidisha Ghosh and Aditi Mazumdar of Ashok Hall Girls H S School said, “Our walk is to enhance awareness about universal issues like crimes and atrocities to girl-child and women, scarcity of potable water and access to proper sanitation, scarcity of food as well as issues like environment.”

They were holding placards reading “To Save a girl is to save a generation”, “Girls should be cherished, or else all perish”.

“We are walking to spread the awareness on the importance of people helping people,” said another girl. 

Patralekha Ghosh, Principal, Ashok Hall Girls’ H S School, said, “The purpose of today’s walk is to draw attention of the mass towards urgent humanitarian issues which affect the well-being of the citizens of the country.”

Principal of G D Birla Centre for Education, Sharmila Nath pointed out, “Safety and health of women and children are of primary concern. By appealing to the inherent goodness in each of us, we seek to promote humane values among the public”.

But Nayantara Nandi Basu, a student of G D Birla Centre for Education, was walking for “spreading awareness on the importance of peace”. Because, the procession also focused on issues like peace against war, save animals-save nature and eradication of poverty apart from female feoticide and women’s empowerment.