National Girl Child Day on Jan 24: Inspiring stories of young girls, poems, campaigns, champions & motivation
Birth of a child is a miraculous event that
often warms every heart. Sadly, many homes still weep if the born child is a
female.
Thankfully, the number of female foeticide
has come down on records, yet, many homes pray for a having a son and barely
any wish for a daughter to be born. If asked, some described the danger for
female child to survive in the country fearing their safety.
While the issues are endless, many young
girls have proven their might and challenged those, who simply want to end a
life because it was a female.
On this National Girl Child Day, we bring
inspiring stories of these girls and some heart-felt notes from them.

Starting from Jan 24 celebrating National
Girl Child Day, women and child department is celebrating National Girl Child
Week.
During this week from Jan 24 to 30,
programmes such as ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ signature campaign; collective
oaths; processions; Anganwadi and ASHA activists’ door-to-door awareness; social
awareness campaigns by putting stickers will be organized in the city.
The dying pride
“The day she cried, the day she died,
In the hearts of those who never realised,
That she was no son,
But she was the one,
Who would bring them pride?
By shining worldwide,
Cause she was girl,
Not less than a pearl!”
By Mahek Rijhwani
Poet, 17
Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar
winner’s mission to empower Girls
“I am a professional horse rider and one of
the best things about this sport is that it does not discriminate between girls
and boys.
Everyone competes on the same platform
together presenting their talent and skills. I am a feminist and my mission to
show every parent that there are equal opportunities for girls in the world.
It saddens my heart to see when a girl is
discriminated, often thrown away at birth, simply because of being a girl. I
don’t want to stop my journey of horse riding at Olympics. I want to take it
ahead and spread my message as well.
I feel happy that my consistent efforts in
nationals, international and asian championship was noticed and I received Pradhan
Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar from President of India Ramnath Govind. Every
girl can do it and I want to support girls.
Every girl including me just wants equal
chance of living our lives. I have participated in three nationals, two
internationals and recently won at asian championship.
Next, after my class XII board
examinations, I am going to participate in various championships all over
Europe. I am grateful for my parents (educationist Sonia and IT company owner
Mukesh Hajela) as they have always supported me.”
Sudipti Hajela
Horse rider, 17
Changing mindsets with her achievements
“I am an international wall climbing
champion and I feel really happy that I have reached this point. My parents
(Nigar and Farooque Shaikh) were blessed with me as their second child.
I have an elder sister (Ishrat). Though
they heard from several relatives and often wondered what it would be like to
have a son, today, they are happier that they had me.
It is normal for many people to
underestimate girls even today, but with a little support, girls can do
everything equally well. I was born in an average family in Pune, Maharashtra.
Just because of my skills and record in
wall climbing, I was offered a full scholarship by Emerald Heights, and I moved
here in 2019. In the last year, I have participated and won several national
championships. I represented India in Asian Games in Bangalore, where I won a
bronze medal.
I also represented India in Asian Kids
Championship in Thailand and World Youth Championship in Arco, Italy. I hope to
make my parents more proud and bring a change in thinking of other parents as
well.”
Saniya Shaikh
Wall climbing champ, 14
Vision beyond Sight
“I was born in Dhar, where a lot of people
are against supporting girls. My parents were an exception and that is the
reason that I am a banker today and my younger sister is also able to do her
graduation.
I always had a problem in my eyes but as I
grew, my sight became weaker coming to a point where I could not read at all.
I cleared the fifth class board exam in
third attempt, but my sight vanished after that. My parents (nurse Nirmala and
teacher Kishanlal Bariya) tried for every possible way, but my eye sight could
not be restored.
Taking Braille Lippi as an opportunity to
learn, I learned the language in 15 days. Eventually, I completed my education
and competed for government jobs.
Working in a private job with visual
impairment was difficult. Today, when I am a banker, not just my parent but the
entire village looks up to me.”
Sapna Bariya
Banker
Raising a Girl’s voice in MUNs
“Challenging the world is something that a
girl is born with, and I have learned to challenge many such ideas that limit a
girl’s potential. From writing poems to representing my school and country in
international model united nations (MUN), my aim to bring a change. Following
are some of my achievement:
·
Kshitij state level poetry
winner 2019
·
Chemistry Bal vigyan- Best
project 2016
·
Social bal vigyan – best
content and knowledge award 2017
·
Maths bal vigyan-best idea-
2018
·
Indore Sahodaya school complex
English debate – best performance(for the motion) 2018
·
IIST debate competition- top
three performances
·
CNMUN(2016)- best delegate
(UNSC)
·
IIMUN(2018)- high
commendation(UNEP)
·
CNMUN(2019)- chairperson (SPECPOL)
·
Sahodaya MUN- most promising
delegate(WTO)
·
Poems published 7 times in
international poetry digest
·
Poems published 2 times in
national anthologies
·
Interschool radio show
competition(2017)- BEST PERFORMANCE
·
15th international child art
exhibition- certificate of merit(2015)”
Saniya Makhija
MUN delegate, 17
Pinting a prettier picture
“I have always been fond of painting. Among
my recent achievements, I got recognised from German embassy for securing
second position in the national drawing competition organised by Indo-German
alliance. The topic was energy conservation. I have competed in other
government organised national competition twice. I feel art is an essential way
to change the picture and bring up issues. I also won consolation in Free Press
painting competition.”
Gunjan Dodwani
Artist, 14
Why is She rejected?
“Every girl has dream to fly,
She is strong and ready to try!
Her ability is to excel her at anything,
Her capacity is surprising in everything!
Girl child, ready to take on struggles,
Spend her life in troubles!
Always discriminated,
Why is the Girl child rejected?”
By Diya Sidhwani
Poet, 15
Comments
Post a Comment