Ashatai Rajput - the woman who transformed her village in Nandurbar, Maharashtra

It is said that if you educate a man, you educate an individual; but if you educate a woman, you educate the society! Women like Ashatai Rajput are a testimony to this statement.

When Ashatai Rajput reached Baldane, a small village in Maharashtra’s Nandurbar District, she had no idea that she would become the epicentre of a literacy movement in the village! It was nine years ago, when she, her husband and three children moved from a village in Jalgaon District to Baldane.

Ashatai Rajput with her husband, Komal Singh Rajput 

 Ashatai had always believed that her family should contribute in some way to the village as this was to be her Karm Bhoomi (the place where one works). Around the same time, she came to know of Pratham.

She recalls that at that time, children had begun to attend school. However, the general sentiment in the village was that after school they roamed around and wasted time and they should sit in one place and study! When Ashatai found out that Pratham was looking out for volunteers in the village, she immediately joined. Soon, children started to gather at her house to study. The aim was to make them better understand the concepts of language and math, through fun activities and interactions. Soon enough, Ashatai realised that this work had the potential to transform the entire village!

However, she observed that the number of girls in the village school was low. How could a village be transformed without the education of its girls and women? Ashatai rose to this challenge, visiting every household in the village and asking them to enrol their daughters in school. Education, she told them, will open a new world for these girls, and will give them better opportunities compared to conventional agriculture work. Initially, the women in the village were sceptical about their children, especially girls staying outside the house for long. But this did not deter Ashatai. Using CDs having educational content, she generated awareness among other women in the village. They began to feel curious about what their children were learning in school, and this sentiment led to the women eventually coming together to discuss their financial conditions and their children’s education.

Today, this group consists of 80 women, and everyday interactions among them involve discussion on what their child could do after education. “Even women working as farm labourers are dreaming of enrolling their children in polytechnic colleges”, Ashatai proudly exclaims.

The school in Baldane, however, only has classes up to Std. IV. Hence, children have to go to other villages for higher studies. This was again a cause for concern among parents, who were particularly worried about their daughters. It caused several girls to drop out from school and not pursue higher education. To tackle this, Ashatai convened a meeting of all women in the village, and it was decided that girls would walk to other villages in a group and would bravely face the mischief makers, if any, on the way. This idea was a success, and she attributes it to the trust these women had developed for each other through such group meetings!

Everyone in the village respects Ashatai and calls her ‘Aai’ (Mother). She, however, attributes her success to her husband’s support, using the analogy of revolutionary couple, Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule, who jointly spearheaded the movement of education in Pune in the 18^th century.

“Like Savitri had Jyotiba, I have him for support”, she says. Her husband smiles and is happy that his wife is getting the limelight she deserves! Their oldest son is an engineer, and their daughter works at the Zilla Parishad (District Administration) office. Their youngest son is now in Std. VIII and wants to become a doctor.