'Voices should be made eloquent to end VAW'

Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar has said that the voice against Violence against Women (VAW) should be raised consistently and eloquently.

At an interaction organized by the National Women Commission here on Monday among the educational institutions that could positively influence to end VAW at policy level, Deputy Speaker Rana argued that the VAW was a social issue rather than women's issue only. She opined that it would be eliminated through collective voices. "VAW could be eliminated if we unite and raise our voices against it consistently and eloquently."

Stating that we need to be firmly determined for women rights, she denounced that she was misinterpreted and falsely presented in the media as demanding luxurious amenities when she had raised her voice for rights as the Deputy Speaker.

Similarly, regarding how gender issues would be incorporated in the education system, Tribhuvan University's professor Dr Ramesh Bhattarai commented that prejudices prevailed regarding portrayal of women from traditions to curriculum.

He said that it was inappropriate to portray women in a set gender role in the curriculum such as running household chores and attending to the babies among others.

According to him, the contents on gender included in the school curriculum were not balanced from gender point of view. He pressed for designing curriculum according to the cognitive capacity of the children.

Likewise, Joint-Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Deepak Sharma viewed that the curriculum should be developed according to the level of understanding of the students. "Right projection and its analysis of the contents should bring about positive changes in the mentality of the students," he observed.

Curriculum Development Centre's Director Baburam Dhungana shared that the problem lay in the implementation of the contents in the curriculum rather than the curriculum.

He explained that there were many contents about elimination of VAW in the curriculum. "How the contents of the curriculum are analyzed and presented also makes a difference. The formal and informal education also matters."

Commission's Chairperson Kamala Kumari Parajuli said that it was necessary to change one's mindset and bring about positive behavioral changes among people to eliminate the VAW. "Until and unless we change our behaviour, the arrangements at policy-making level could not play an effective role."

She expressed her confidence that the education sector would also contribute to eliminating the VAW by including contents on VAW in the curriculum and by educating the students through right analysis of those contents.