International Day of the Girl Child observed on 11 October

11 October 2013: International Day of the Girl Child

International Day of the Girl Child observed on 11 October 2013 across the world to recognise the girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

The for the year 2013 is Innovating for Girls’ Education

This year’s Day focuses on innovating for girls’ education. Smart and creative use of technology, policies, partnerships and, most of all, the engagement of young people, themselves, are important for overcoming barriers to girls’ learning and achievement.

The International Day of the Girl Child promotes girls' human rights, highlights gender inequalities that remain between girls and boys and addresses the various forms of discrimination and abuse suffered by girls around the world.

The United Nations General Assembly on 19 December 19, 2011 adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognise girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. 

UN Data about Girls

• One in three women and girls experience abuse in their lifetime.
• More than half of sexual assaults are committed against girls under 16 years of age. 
• Globally, more than one in three young women aged 20-24 years are married before the age of 18.

AP tops in girl school dropouts: Activists:

    As the world celebrates the International Day of the Girl Child on Friday,the fact remainsthatthough there has been significant progress in improving girls’ access to education in the last two decades, seven out of 10 girls drop out of school before they reach class 10. In fact, activists say that Andhra Pradesh reports one of the highest numbers of school dropouts among girls. If the net enrolment rate of girls in primary education is 96%, it gradually dips to 60% in secondary education. 
    A primary reason, according to activists, is that AP has the least number of usable toilets in the country. Activists say that around 47,000 of the 76,000 government schools do not have usable toilets. A 
Unicef-backedsurvey in 2010-11had revealed that around 42.6 per cent of governmentschoolshavetoiletsbut they are not usable. 

  Consider this: Every third girl bornin India diesin thefirst year of life. One in four does not live to celebrate their 15th birthday. Two out of five girls are malnourished. Every second adolescent girl is anaemic. Six out of 10 girls become child brides. Four out of 10 have their first child before they turn 18. 

In trafficking, AP is ranked among thetop andthestatehappens to be the source and transit point. We have highest number of child labourers in the country,” says Mamatha Raghuveer, who runs Tharuni, a Warangal-based NGO which will launch an SMS-helpline called “Tharumopayam” on Friday. 
    According to writer and activist Vimala Morthala, the state also reports one of the highest numbers of child marriages, with the average age of marriage being 16 years. Girls under 15 are five times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s.