Pratham Education Foundation: inspiration

Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Monday, June 11, 2018

Holding a book for the first time!

Pratham 2:06:00 PM

“I never had time to think about education. We were so busy on the farm trying to earn a living,” said Leela Rawat from a village in Ajmer district of Rajasthan.

Leela has never been to school. With her mother’s deteriorating health, the responsibility of the farm had to be taken up by the sisters and their father. Pratham mobilizers visited her parents to talk about enrolling Leela for 10^th Grade through Second Chance program. While the mobilizers struggled to convince the parents to allow their daughter to study, Leela was going through a dilemma. She was nervous about studying, considering she has never held a book in her life. She was worried about the stress her parents will have to go through considering the society they live in.

Once she was enrolled in the program, she realized that she can resolve most of her issues with sheer courage. Leela speaks of her time in the class fondly. Her teachers helped her catch up with language and Math. She feels that there is a positive change in her speaking and writing skills. The foundation course prepared her for the main course effectively. She says that it is because of her teachers that she could move ahead in life but the teachers believe on each of their students and feel that it is the person who has the strength in her and we are mere facilitators.

People from my neighborhood would taunt me and my parents saying that I am old enough to get married and what is the point of studying at all. Any girl stepping out of the house on her own is looked down upon in her village. But Leela is changing this attitude by paying no heed to the comments.

When asked about her plans for the future, Leela beamed with excitement and said, “I want to do my bit for the society. I want to start off by working as an ‘ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) Sahyogini’ and then find my way from there. Passing 10^th Grade provided a significant boost to my confidence. I believe that I can dream big.”

Monday, March 12, 2018

Women Empowerment

The Turning Point

Pratham 12:49:00 PM

When Shashi Methil was in 8^th Grade in the year 1997, she suddenly had to drop out of school. “There was a lot of work at home, and I was asked to stay at home and help my parents. Moreover, our financial condition was not good”, she says. The next year, in 1998, she was married and later became a mother of two children, a son and a daughter. To support her family, she began working as a cook at a ‘Tiffin centre.’ It was necessary as her husband did not work anywhere and the family always fell short of money. But her husband did not approve of her working and one day announced that she will not work anymore.

One day, in a bizarre turn of events, her husband went absconding, and despite an intense search operation, they could not find him. Living with her in-laws was difficult, and hence Shashi, along with her children came back to live with her parents. Here, she began working as a labourer to feed and nurture her children and educate them so that they can have a bright future. However, deep within her mind, she wished that she should have completed her education. This feeling would become more intense when she saw girls in her neighborhood going to school or talking about their studies.

Shashi came to know about Pratham’s Second Chance program from her parents. Two people from Pratham’s team had visited her village to know if anyone wishes to get back to school and complete their 10^th Grade. New hope arose in her mind, and after consulting her parents, she agreed to be a student again. However, this was not the only reason! She came to know that Mamta Mewada, a woman from her village completed her 10^th Grade from the same program despite her gap of 18 years! So if Mamta Didi can, why can't she?

In her new role as a student, Shashi worked hard to strike a balance between her student life and her household chores. She woke up early to complete all the work at home and then went to the centre and attended classes. In those days, all the girls had to go to a ‘hub centre’ for five days in a month, stay there, attend lectures and study together. During those days, she had to live without her children, and that is when her brother-in-law and his wife offered to drop her children at school and attend to them in her absence. “It was a relief; I will always thank them for it”, she said.

Her children were also happy and supported their mother in her attempt towards education. Her efforts paid off, and she passed 10^th Grade in the year 2014. It motivated her even further, and she cleared her 12^th Grade in the year 2016. Shashi now works at the Aanganwadi in her village and makes the villagers aware of the importance of education and health. She encourages girls to continue their education and not drop out from their school. “Education has given me an identity. Initially, some of my family members and relatives taunted me for my husband’s absence. However, now they look up to me with respect!” The ‘Second Chance’ Program was indeed a turning point in her life.

Monday, March 5, 2018

Women Empowerment

My son inspired me to study

Pratham 2:23:00 PM

“When I entered the examination hall, I was stopped by the supervisor who refused to
believe that I had come to write my exams”, Krishna begins the conversation with
friendly laughter. We met Krishna Sharma at her Aanganwadi in the Amrod village, on
the outskirts of Bhopal. She is one of the beneficiaries of Pratham’s ‘Second Chance’
Program and probably the oldest of them all!

Krishna’s son was a faculty of the Second Chance Program and taught Mathematics to
girls who had enrolled themselves with the aim of completing their 10 th grade. Little did
she realise that this would be a trigger for her to seriously think of restarting her school
education and completing her 10 th grade! It was the year 2015 and Krishna became a
student after 18 long years. She had passed her 7 th grade way back in 1984, but an
early marriage forced her to abandon any further plans of study. While she attempted to
get back to studies and passed her 8 th grade in 1997, family responsibilities made her
again discontinue the studies, and her dream of passing the 10 th grade was still elusive!
Meanwhile, Krishna began working in the village Aanganwadi, and the job kept her busy
during the day. Despite this, the thought of not completing the 10 th grade was deeply
ingrained in her subconscious mind, and it bothered her quite often. However, the
biggest motivation came from her son! “If others can complete their education after a
gap, why can’t you”, he used to ask her.

Krishna smiles as she recalls her days in Pratham’s classrooms. “The best thing about
the program is the teachers”, she says. “They start teaching you from the basics, and it
is very helpful for someone like me who has resumed studies after a long break”, she
adds. “During the night, my son used to teach me, and this was the revision of all that
was taught during the day.”

With these efforts, Krishna passed her 10th-grade examination in 2016, and thus her
long-cherished dream became a reality. She shared her joy with all her classmates,
who, like her strove for the completion of this common academic goal.

We asked her how it felt after holding the passing certificate in her hands. “The first
thing I did was to submit its photocopy to my Aanganwadi supervisor. I made her
change my records from ‘8th-grade pass’ to ‘10th-grade pass’. This was very important
to me”, she replied immediately. “I also feel more secure about my job”, she further
added.

However, among everything else, it is the increase in knowledge that she values the
most. The classroom has made her know many more things than she knew before
getting enrolled. Education has indeed transformed her, and she is keen to pursue the
next goal of her life – completing the 12 th grade.