Girls pay price of prejudice

MUMBAI: For years, girls have toppedthe Standard X and XII merit lists. But now, that seems to matter little.Girls aspiring to be doctors appear to be the first casualty of thesteep fee hike at private medical colleges. When it comes to making a bigfinancial investment in education, old prejudices against the girl-child seem tohave resurfaced and even middle-class parents are now hesitating to fund theirdaughters'' education. Many parents say that it''s just pragmaticthinking in the face of the new financial challenge. "There is noway that we can shell out over Rs 3 lakhs for our daughter''s medical admission,"said Pratima Dalal, mother of Krupa, who scored 164/200 in the state commonentrance test—a score that could have got her a seat at a private college."After all, she''ll get married and go away one day," reasons MsDalal. The Dalals wanted their 18-year old daughter to become a doctor and paidalmost Rs 50,000 for her medical coaching classes.