St. Anne Jr. College for Girls
NECESSITY OF A JUNIOR COLLEGE FOR GIRLS
These young women have dreams of furthering their education but are prevented by the lack of funds and the rural culture climate. Their families are too poor to scrape the money together to send a girl to secondary education; that money would go to a boy.
Girls tend to return to the family to help earn money in some low-level job or else to be married off. This is heart-breaking for talented teens who would love the chance to become a nurse or business major or some other career. Boys are seen as having more potential for raising the family’s circumstances. Girls are a liability. We would like to help girls assist their families, too.
Just two more years of education, the 11th and 12th levels, can do so much to improve a young woman’s chances of lifting her family out of dire poverty. Instead of menial labor, working in the local farm fields or a sweat shop, she can actually be employed in an office or other business that pays more than a subsistence wage.
IMPACT ON COMMUNITY AND FAMILIES
As mentioned, the girls’ personal situations will improve, as well as their families’. The community will also benefit in the provision of a more highly-trained workforce and subsequent higher wages.
More businesses can flourish, either those started by our graduates or by others who move into the area. This will produce more jobs and more prospective students who will be able to afford tuition. In turn, this will help free up more of our donated funds to care for our financially-distressed boarders and their needs.