In the past, there used to three age groups in Girls Guide Associations but now only one age group exists
Syeda Anmol Ali
Girls Guide Association – You may or may not have heard its name before – the task of this association is to teach girls and women how to be accepted by society, how to be considered important in this society, how to get rights, how to present yourself as a brave person, and fulfill the needs of women and girls, develop their skills and provide an opportunity to present to the world.
This association was founded in 1909. In 1909, in a rally of a boy’s association (named “boy scout”), girls also participated and were ahead of the boys. Lord Baden Powell and his sister Agnes Baden-Powell founded a separate association for girls.
The association in Pakistan was approved on 29 December 1947, founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and named Girls’ Guide and Fatima Jinnah became the Life Patron of the association.
This association is playing its role in more than 150 countries. Three different age groups have been formed in this association. The 4-7 age girls are called Rambo, 10-14 age girls group is named Guide and 14-18 year old girls’ group is named Rangers. In certain countries the number of groups is five with different names.
I have spent 4 years of my life in the Guide group of this association. This group teaches the Rambo group all the things that they learned in the Rambo group. This association gave me the ability to become a leader. I was also the leader of my guide team for which I received two national and district level awards.
The question is whether today this association is the same as it was in the 19th decade.
I examined this association and was able to write something – sadly only the Guide group of this association is active in Pakistan, especially in Sindh.
I have noted that the younger girls are not mentioned until the age of 8.4 years, neither the Rambo group is being prioritized here. The Rangers group also does not exist. In practice, this association consists of the girls of the age called Guides.
The main reason is that this association has been given no importance in the educational institutions. College age seems to be the age where girls start to recognize right and wrong and their potential and this is the age where girls experience biological and social changes but due to lack of good guidance they make mistakes.
What is needed is also to work on and revive the Rambo group i.e. young children.
We can find only a lesson that gives a brief introduction to this association in the 8th class textbook of the syllabus. This association leaders should head their steps in colleges because today’s guide will be tomorrow’s leader.
I do not spoil or mislead the association but as an anthropologist, I felt sad that such a good association slowly lost its importance.
Doing PT or cycling, all this is taught in childhood, but the real need is for mature girls – those girls who have the passion to move forward and have the ability but there is no one to guide them.
And finally, why is this association working only in educational institutions in Sindh? Do the girls lack the intelligence or potential to get an education? Don’t they have the right to be given a chance to advance?
There is a dire need to introduce and establish Girls’ Guide in rural areas of Sindh where the real beneficiaries would be the women and girls who have not had the opportunity to get an education because educated women or girls learn a lot from education.
My suggestion to establish Girls’ Guide out of educational institutions also does not mean to eliminate this association from educational institutions. My demand is that this association should be popularized in villages as well.
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Syeda Anmol Ali, hailing from Hyderabad, is student of anthropology at University of Sindh
