Being raised by parents, both of whom are teachers, I assumed that education must be a priority for everyone while I was growing up. I didn’t know much about the social barriers children, especially girls, face in accessing opportunities for education and how unequal the world is in that regard.
I guess my parents’ inclination towards teaching, combined with my love for reading and learning, brushed off on me to some extent, because I found myself gravitating towards teaching underprivileged children from a young age.
At IIT Bombay, my alma mater, I joined the educational outreach team in the National Service Scheme(NSS) and found sheer joy in conducting evening reading classes for children. I was pleasantly surprised when I was awarded for ‘Excellence in altruism’ for that dedication. I was also engaged in the ‘Abhyasika ‘ project where I found a lot of solace and meaning in the cause of education. Later, I did a few teaching internships and volunteered in organisations engaged in teaching and education in Mumbai and Itarsi, my hometown. Doing this for many years - with limited means and despite constraints - eventually made me realise that my heart lay with children and in the cause of education.
Humbling ‘lessons’ in the way of mentoring girls
In these years of teaching, I have met many girls whose stories and their passion for learning has left me astonished. There was this 12 year old living in the Phule Nagar slum, adjacent to IIT Bombay whom I met during the remedial class I used to take for students during my IIT days. She told me how she fought with her family to get admission into an English Medium School. Her parents had enrolled her into a Marathi medium school, while her brother studied in an English medium one. “I want to be a Doctor and I want to learn English too!,” she told her parents, and got admission in an English medium school.
Then, there was Nikita who studied in a government school in Itarsi, and whom I mentored. Nikita got through the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test(NEET), but was unable to find a college because of her family’s poor financial condition, as well as their attitudes towards educating a girl child. The small number of seats in government medical colleges and her father’s poor financial condition stopped from fulfilling her dreams.When we finally figured out a seat for her in a good nursing college in Itarsi, I remember our frustration and disappointment at her father who chose to go to a kabaddi match, instead of accompanying his daughter for her admission. Through all this, Nikita couldn’t speak up much or fight much for her preference to study.
Another student, Shraddha wanted to do a professional course, but since her education wasn’t a priority for her poor parents, she wasn’t able to enrol into one. I tried my best to counsel her to take admission into a ITI stenography course, to no avail.
Not only was Shraddha clueless about her career choices due to her family background I found, but she herself wasn’t as keen to enrol into a professional course, because she preferred a three year degree course, knowing well that employment opportunities post studying in the degree college would be bleak.
So, I have learnt that education and poverty are co-related. I have also learnt that access to education in our country isn’t just about infrastructure or availability, but also about agency, courage, and willingness to stand for one’s education. In case of girls, this is especially significant when family members themselves don't take their daughters' education seriously or prioritise it. Gender stereotypes regarding schooling, streams of higher education, and differential family support need to be changed.However, awareness about the same and mentorship, as well as arrangement of logistics, constant motivation, and support, are the deal-makers or breakers!
Society’s attitudes continue to be a major hindrance for girls’ education, but I have also discovered on this journey that some solutions may exist. For example, volunteering withBharat Calling, a civil society organisation that I worked with in Itarsi made me realise that offering quality education in aspired courses at affordable cost can help some girls to continue studying, without necessarily having to drop out, due to lack of financial resources.
Skilling and Education: New grassroots experiences!
I have been working as a fellow at the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship, a hybrid program under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and IIM Ahmedabad for the last one and a half years, and this experience has made me realise what a game changer ‘skills based education’ can be in the context of girls’ education in India.
Prosperity and material empowerment requires functional skills not merely certificates - especially in the current market scenario, and more so for women.There are multiple reasons for this. Firstly, the conventional education system (read: degrees in subjects with outdated syllabuses) may not be conducive to fetch enough suitable jobs. Secondly, the mobility and moral constraints imposed by patriarchy create hurdles for women in accessing conventional education itself. So it becomes significant for her empowerment in all senses that she gets herself trained or skilled or she could be helped to recognise the same by government and non-government initiatives .
For example, the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), has brought a revolution in the financial, social and familial lives of lakhs of rural women across the country. Women are now working in dairy farming, micro enterprises, poultry farming etc besides pioneering local social movements even though many of them are not literate or educated enough in the conventional sense.
I also see this in the area where I work. For example, on a visit to Jan Shiskhan Sansthan,Katni where I am currently posted, Lali Singh, who is the director of the organisation shared with me numerous stories of young and middle aged non-literate or drop outs or neo-literate women from rural areas who became a backbone to their family after being benefited from the skill courses they did there.
I also remember interacting with a group of SHG (Self-help group) women leaders under Laqshya Farmer Producer Company wherein I was informed about their enhanced financial capabilities and how that changed their confidence levels and decision making prowess at home. They also became aware about their rights in many spheres.
Another story is of Lahari bai, an adivasi woman from Dindori, Madhya Pradesh who has been lauded for her passionate collection of 150 plus rare millet varieties for years now and conserving forest, biodiversity and native seed varieties in the process. What a skill set ! Isn’t this what education should be about - a sense of dignity, unique identity and purpose?
When I visited Kasturba Balika hostel in Katni District, Central Government-funded residential schools for girls of marginalised sections providing lessons in sports, arts, etc besides formal education, I attended a session with girls - from forensic science to police services to baking to fine arts- talking with the girls revealed the multitude of aspirations they had. In his free flowing conversation, we also discussed how they could grow their skills around what makes them happy and enthused.
For many girls, it was the residential school’s facilities that made things easier and helped resolve challenges related to accessibility and consequently dropping out.
In the last few years, therefore, I have understood that skilling and learning is a diverse spectrum that must not be defined to merely formal educational structure. Financial independence through more work participation is a necessity for both women and the economy. But we also need to understand that if we work upon channelling innate talents of women or capitalise on the strengths of women through upskilling vis a vis their folk wisdom, traditional arts, their compassion, their social capital,individual interests etc, we can bring them social, financial and emotional empowerment all at once! For young girls within our schools , I feel we need to work upon life-skills as well. We need to reimagine our educational spaces where these girls find wings of their own and are not confined by the inadequacy of certificates!
Also, our young girls need to participate at all levels of decision-making and campaigning to promote their agency through collective mobilisation in informal and formal groups. We can take inspiration for girls like Priyanka Bairwa who fought against her own child marriage and turned this wave of protest into a collective voice for the right to free education. Democracy at the very grassroots calls for the same, for empowering our young women and thus our whole society.