Co-Ed Versus All Girls School Debate: Which One Is Better?

A school is a place where we spend the most crucial and fun fourteen years of our lives. Everything from building memories and personalities to preparing for the life ahead of us happens on a school campus. A multitude of experiences shape us into individuals ready to face adulthood and college. However, schooling experience can be a lot different, depending on whether you went to a co-ed or an all-girls school. While girls hailing from all-girls schools find the experience empowering, there are others who think co-ed environment prepares them better for the realities that lie outside of the school walls.

Here are a few contrasting views girls hailing from the two types of institutions offered SheThePeople.TV :

Kashish Banthia, a first-year Economics student at Gargi college has studied in a co-ed school till the 10th grade. She states that she could notice a huge difference when she stepped into a girls school, "It is your own independent world. You never think twice before putting forth opinions and ideas. I could always stay the way I wanted to irrespective of the society's outlook. I don't know why people say that studying in an all-girls school makes you naive and gullible, rather it made me more confident and outspoken."

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Saloni Chhabra, a B. Com. Honours student at SRCC completed her schooling in an NCR co-ed school. She believes studying in a co-ed environment gave her an edge over students coming from an all-girls school, "The edge includes prior exposure to the opposite gender, which in turn has sharpened my communication skills. Had I studied in an all-girls school, my mindset would have been different and only inclusive of things I am comfortable with. Now I am open to different views and perspectives, regardless of which gender they're coming from."

I don't know why people say that studying in an all-girls school makes you naive and gullible rather it made me more confident and outspoken. - Kashish Banthia

However, one student felt that studying in a co-ed school infact didn't feel liberating, since as a girl she felt the pressure to "adjust" her way of life around boys, from an early age. "Girls school can make you feel self-sufficient. Being in a co-ed school, I did experience a bit of toxic masculinity. Girls, at a very young age, start adjusting themselves according to what they 'should' be like around boys. Menstruation being a hush-hush topic, for instance!" says Ayushi Agarwal, who is pursuing Economics from DU. She comes from a co-ed institute and is currently in a girls' college.

Anshika Taneja, from a co-ed school, who is now confidently managing co-curricular and academics in a girls college, opines, "I think growing up studying in a co-ed school gave me an edge over others because I can feel the difference between the way I present myself and how convenient making friends is to me than to those who haven't been part of the co-educational environment. It has contributed to making me an extrovert person who voices her opinion whenever needed."

Had I studied in an all-girls school, my mindset would have been different and only inclusive of things I am comfortable with. Now I am open to different views and perspectives, regardless of which gender they're coming from. - Saloni Chhabra

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Aashna Binu, a Commerce student at LSR finds it liberating to study in an all-girls college after completing her schooling from a co-ed. Says she, "The difference between me - a girl who's been in a co-ed school, and someone who has been in a girls' school is that for me being in a liberating and open environment is newfound whereas the latter has probably had it her whole life. But the con remains that the real world is nothing close to the sanctuary that we've both become accustomed to and knowing what it's like being in a co-ed crowd would be of great help in the long run."

Young women have varying views about being raised in a mixed-gender or an all-girls environment. For some being around girls, is not only empowering but instills sisterhood too. While others feel that the co-ed environment prepares them for the future that lies beyond the secure walls of a school better.

Saavriti is an intern with SheThePeople.TV. The views expressed are the author's own.