Raising the voice of the community
What is the percentage of female senior citizens above the age of 95 who have gone to school in Nepal? Education was banned till 1950 for general public by the ruling government. General public used to be brainwashed to internalize fear mongering rituals blocking cognitive development.
Cognitive development is important for thought processing, problem-solving and decision making.
When will such unproductive fear mongering rituals stop?? Government is talking about Digital Transformation. Big joke!!! Imagine menstruating female teachers and girls being banned in the rural villages from schools in the ERA of ALGORITHMS!!!!
Nepal Police, local government, women activists, locals, along with organizations like SAHAS Nepal, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), PeaceWin, UNICEF, Save the Children, among others are continually making efforts to bring an end to the Chhaupadi system. They should also discourage ignorant mass in wasting money and time in unproductive fear mongering rituals. The provincial and federal governments seem to be encouraging unproductive fear mongering rituals instead of acting on the root cause analysis of the problem. They act seriously about the Chhaupadi issue only when there is a serious incident. Women always suffer in this patriarchal society, especially in the rural areas where getting help is hard.
Girls and women die in Chhau sheds from cold, suffocation, snakebites, and wildlife attacks surface regularly. Women and girls are also whisked away from such shades and sold in the brothels. The practice is not only discriminatory against women, but also life-threatening.
For example, girl students and female teachers of Janaprakash Basic School in Badimalika Municipality Ward 8, Bajura, are prevented from attending school during the menstrual cycle. Many schools in Bajhang, Achham, Humla, Kalikot and Mugu follow the unspoken rule of barring girl students and female teachers from entering the school premises during menstruation. Girls never score higher than boys in my class and that’s because girls are forced to miss school even during exams.
Reaching out the ICT program into such hands becomes possible only when women and girls are educated with special investment through community engagement programs, inclusion network expansion at affordable rates. ISPs of Nepal and government agencies should be held accountable for their efforts. Valuing, centering, and highlighting the voices of lived experience is essential in pursuit of equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination. Nepal government should bring out policies for engaging both concerned stakeholders in income generation activities for their economic growth and policies for employment opportunities for affected ones. Nepalese society should be fully engaged in active debate on this topic by engaging various concerned stakeholders.
There should be right policy for building community networks in empowering marginalized and underserved communities. Most of them even today live with superstition beliefs which is making them unable to internalize the required knowledge for their development. There should be right policy for facilitating Knowledge Exchange programs by providing a platform for sharing ideas, experiences, and best practices among community network practitioners and supporters. There should be adequate resources for capacity building programs for offering training and development opportunities to enhance the skills and expertise of community network builders. There should be environment for fostering collaboration by encouraging partnerships and cooperation among stakeholders, including community members, experts, advocates, telecom service providers, and ISPs. Advocacy and Policy Dialogue should start for development and promoting policy recommendations to support the growth and sustainability of community networks in rural and remote areas.
The civil and criminal codes enforced in 2017 have criminalized Chhau tradition. Clause 168 (3) of the Civil and Criminal Code provisions a three-month jail and a fine of Rs3,000 for anyone who forces a woman to live in a Chhau shed during menstruation. The punishment is more severe if the perpetrators hold public positions.