Mission to Boost "BetiBachaoBetiPadhao Campaign"

In a village in Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh, there is only one person who knows how to use a computer- a girl named Ringlee. Sitting outside her brother’s house near the village temple, you will find her busy teaching some children. You will also find a digital tablet in her hand that was provided to her by the government. Ringlee has already re-enrolled 5 girls back in school who had dropped out earlier due to various reasons. She also has a list of 18 other girls who have never been enrolled in school and will be enrolled by her this academic year. Despite not having an Upper Secondary School in her village, she completed studying until Grade 12 in another village and is currently a first year graduate student, studying to be a Bachelor in Social Work.

Until July this year, Anandi was in the list of those girls who had dropped out of school. A resident of Ajmer, Rajasthan, Anandi has suffered from hearing defects since birth. Unable to hear well, she was always an easy target for ridicule from her friends and neighbors. As she didn’t go to school, and her parents spent most of their day working in the fields, her grandfather was her only friend. With five daughters and a son in his family, Anandi’s father enrolled all his children in school at the correct age. Something that’s not very common in that region. Despite his encouragement to study, when her two older sisters didn’t show much interest in education, he got them married at an early age. One of Anandi’s younger sisters aged five, is interested in studying. However, unable to walk due to being handicapped, she cannot go to school easily. Anandi was enrolled in the local government school in Class 1 in 2013. After 3 years of going to school, she refused to go anymore...

I n many parts of rural India, a girl venturing outside her house alone is not considered respectable or proper behaviour. So deep-rooted is the patriarchy, or threat to their ‘virtue’, that girls are expected to be accompanied by a male member of their family when going out. Despite cultural barriers like this, Sanju (pic above) who is a Gurjar has thought to be committed to the cause of girls’ education and empowerment. Working in an NGO who work for the empowerment of girls, Sanju thought of empowering the girls in her village. The daughter of an influential community member, Sanju, is the most educated person in her family and is currently pursuing a political science degree. She shares that it was her father who made her realize the importance of girls’ education and has always motivated her to study. Sanju has enrolled 11 girls from her village in school and true to her belief, she even coaxed her brother, who was not interested in studying, to appe...

Investment in the education of girls may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world. -Lawrence Summers, Economist Educating girls has a multiplier effect. Educated women tend to be healthier, actively participate in the workforce, earn more and are likely to provide better healthcare and education to their children. So it’s easy to say that if we want to create a positive impact on the world, we have to work at getting girls back to school and learning better. Education impacts girls, their families, their communities and therefore their nations and the world at large. Educating girls is an effective strategy to achieve practically every goal. It is an effective way to tackle even climate change as an educated girl will not only be empowered to lead an earth-friendly lifestyle herself, but also influence her family to do the same.

It is not uncommon in India, particularly in rural societies, for girls to leave school before they reach the 5th grade, as early marriage and domestic duties are prioritized over a complete education. This situation almost became a permanent reality for 12-year-old Kajal. Kajal village, Nokh, is without a local primary school and after several years of traveling a great distance on foot to attend the closest school, Kajal’s parents, deciding this an unsafe journey for a young girl, asked Kajal to stay at home and help them with domestic and farming duties. Kajal spent 2 years out of school and describes it as a  “very bad”  time in her life. Kajal had thoroughly enjoyed her short-lived education and, as a dropout she said, she was constantly thinking about her studies and the life she would not have as a result of terminating them prematurely. Consequently, she says, her work at home and on the farms suffered, as she could not fully commit herse...