This School Is Teaching Girls Life Skills Like Car Maintenance. We need This Too

This School Is Teaching Girls Life Skills Like Car Maintenance. We need This Too

Indians are known for being academically sound across the globe. Most high-tech companies have Indians at the forefront and that’s not surprising since we don’t take education for granted. Is it because education isn’t accessible to many and so we value it more? Or that most Indians are middle-class and below which makes education even more important. That’s great but while we focus on academics, let’s not forget that a child needs much more than math to live a decent life. Aryabhata won’t be offended. Teaching girls life skills like car maintenance, handyman things, etc are equally important.

Thankfully, the world has become smaller courtesy of the internet and there’s so much inspiration out there. Stella Maris College in Sydney, Australia has been teaching their girls some life skills too. I don’t know who started that but God bless them! They shared a post, “Our Year 11 girls today were taught some essential DIY car maintenance skills by Galmatic; how to change a tyre and check tyre pressure, how to check oil and coolant levels, what to do in a car crash and more.” The school further added, “Encouraging our girls to be strong, independent and resourceful young woman!!”

 

The girls were taught “how to change a tire, how to check tire pressure, how to check oil and coolant levels, what to do in a car crash, and whatnot,” as reported by Bored Panda. Galmatic reportedly teaches 100,000 teenagers across Sydney annually with the aim of making young adults feel more confident with driving. Teaching girls life skills like these are even more important because most boys receive this knowledge from their dads.

Comments started pouring in as people were surprised by this initiative since they had not seen anything like it before. “This is fantastic! Wish I could have joined in & learnt this skill! Well done Stella for teaching our girls how to be strong & independent,” a Facebook user commented. “As a mum of one of those year 11 girls today and ex Stella student myself, a really worthwhile session. Table topic tonight at dinner! Here’s to safe knowledgeable drivers,” wrote a mum.

ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS // Our Year 11 girls today were taught some essential DIY car maintenance skills by Galmatic; how…

Posted by Stella Maris College, Manly on Thursday, 22 October 2020

 

In fact, several people commented saying they wish they had received such functional training back in their days. Some mothers even said they wish they could get on one of these sessions too! A mother asked, “Can you do a session for mums??!”

The thing is women almost never receive such training in life and we grow up, with absolutely no knowledge of fixing our cars. In fact, how many times have we been shown a woman stranded in the middle of the road with a broken car and a dude stops by to help? Our movies too suggest that all that greasy work is not a feminine thing. Most of our dads never focus on teaching us these handy skills, possibly because of the stereotypes that our society has set for us. Instead, we have mothers trying to teach us to make round rotis. Teaching girls life skills need to be encouraged, and no not those that are necessary for domestic life.

I do feel quite lucky that my parents didn’t force me to do things a woman is supposed to do. But then they didn’t quite encourage me to explore these things that are supposedly left for boys to learn and enjoy. And as we grow up, we just have to learn these a little too late. But better late than never, I guess.

ALSO READ: Netizens Open Up About Things They Wish Were Talked About In Sex Education Class

Meanwhile, relationship and sex education have been made mandatory in primary schools in the UK. It is also compulsory in New Zealand. It’s high time we make education more inclusive in terms of life skills. I believe we’ve been relying on parents to give teach children anything outside academics and let’s just say, not all children get that kind of encouragement at home. Do you remember the video series of that man who made tutorials on little things for kids who don’t have dads or dads who teach these things? I mean, moms could do, but our moms come from a generation where women never had to learn these skills in the first place.

Education is the only way to create a generation of adults that believe in gender equality, are shattering stereotypes, and consist of women that are independent. We can learn from this and teach our kids the same things! Teaching girls life skills is the way forward to empower women!

ALSO READ: A Woman’s Tweet About Her Enrolling In University At The Age Of 54 Has Twitter Inspired. Let’s Normalise Living By Your Own Timeline

Akanksha Narang

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