Education commences at the mothers knee, and every word spoken within the hearsay of little children tends

towards the formation of character.

The responsibility of a childs basic education of morals and values is with his mother. But what if the mother herself is uneducated? Wont that be a barrier in the childs education? Female education in India has been prevalent since the Vedic period. At least 20 women

composed Rigvedic hymns. Gargi and Maitreyi were the leading philosophers of the time. Women in the Vedic era so excelled in the sphere of education that even the deity of learning was conceived of as a female popularly known as Saraswati. Girls were allowed to enter in to Gurukuls along with boys. They were treated as equals. It was only in the medieval period that the rate of womens education started to decline. This situation continued till the commencement British rule and the consequent national democratic awakening. Various organizations like the Brahmo samaj, arya samaj worked to restart womens education in the country. The main pioneer of womens education in India was Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. He along with his wife savitribai phule started the second girls school in India. Education is the best gift the parents can gift the daughter. It helps her to become independent. Literate women have a mind of their own. They can raise their voices against the various social evils and can demand equal rights.
Educated women make better mothers, wives and daughters. They can take up a job to support themselves as well the marital and pre-marital family. They will then cease to be a burden and become an important asset. This will curb the evil of female feticide. The percentage of women in Indias population is 48.1 according to the 1991 census. It wont be feasible for Indias development if such a large chunk of its population is illiterate. behind every successful man there is a woman ; we can rephrase it as behind every super successful man there is an educated woman Women are an immensely important part of the society. In the absence of a woman, the entire system collapses. Why, even our very own government was left in jeopardy when Mrs.Sonia Gandhi was absent during the recent anti-corruption crusade by Anna Hazare. I would like to conclude with a very interesting but true quote by pandit Jawaharlal Nehru:

Educate a man and you educate one person. Educate a woman and you educate the whole family.
Womens education is certainly the need of the hour for the all round development of our country.