Project ‘Udaan’ connects rural girls with scholarship schemes and provides them with continuing access to schooling
If it wasn’t for a government scholarship scheme, 16-year-old Nisha Verma, who dreams of becoming a college professor, would have dropped out of school and been married by now. Her parents were not interested in spending money on her education, a report in The Hindu, says.
With the help of Udaan, a women’s empowerment programme, Nisha, a resident of Alai village in Alwar district’s Rajgarh tehsil, was able to avail of the pre-matric scholarship to complete her secondary education
Her father, a goat herder, had told her that if she failed in her class, he would get her married. Using the scholarship money, Nisha took tuitions and is at present studying in Class XI at Gyandeep School near her village.
“The Udaan team’s guidance has helped me cross many hurdles; I love teaching and I want to make sure that girls don’t quit their education,” said Nisha, while recounting her struggle to continue education in adverse circumstances.
For many more girls like Nisha in the rural areas, the possibility of dropping out of schools increased due to poverty during the pandemic.
Another Class X student from Noor Nagar village in Kishangarh Bas tehsil Monika,, was asked by her family to stop going to school and instead stay at her in-law’s place after her early marriage. Instead, Monika’s teachers convinced her parents to allow her to study with the help of the bursary amount.
Despite difficult financial conditions, Monika’s parents have since delayed her gauna [consummation of marriage at the marital home] and agreed to support her studies. Activists who made multiple visits to her house also sensitised the family about the dangers of early pregnancy. “They broke several myths, including how the chances of giving birth to a baby boy decline as the age of a woman increases,” Monika said.
For many more girls like Nisha in the rural areas, the possibility of dropping out of schools increased due to poverty during the pandemic.
The Udaan project, launched by the Rajasthan government in collaboration with a development consulting group ‘IPE Global’, has made attempts to keep girls in schools through their enrolment at the secondary level while ensuring that the eligible ones among them get their scholarships.
While generating awareness about scholarship schemes, the programme has also mobilised rural communities to support girls’ education and facilitate their attendance in school without a break.
Navendu Sharma, the District Scholarship Mitra in Alwar of IPE Global, told The Hindu that the government’s scholarships were available to the girls belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and minority communities. Daughters of labourers holding Shramik cards were also eligible to receive scholarships and other facilities, he said.
“Our project has strengthened the scholarship delivery system, partly through IT-enabled services, and brought girls back to secondary schools through sustained efforts,” Mr. Sharma said.
The social mobilisation strategies include a continuous dialogue with Panchayati Raj institutions to identify dropouts and counselling the parents and students as well.
The programme has mitigated social barriers to girls’ education in Alwar and other districts such as Dholpur, Dausa, Karauli and Tonk, Wherever needed, it has also provided essential adolescent sexual and reproductive health education to the girls.
IPE Global’s Project Director for Udaan, Ashish Mukherjee, said the scholarships and educational guidance has helped several rural families.
“When girls are left behind, it impacts future generations, perpetuates poverty and patriarchal control, curtails women’s participation in the workforce and increases gender imbalance,” Mr. Mukherjee said.
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