The Blossom Bus project will employ local vehicles in rural India to transport Muslim minority girls to secondary school, clearing the single greatest obstacle to their continuing education.
Mewat, Haryana is largely populated by the Muslim Meo tribe whose misfortunes clash sharply with more affluent surrounding areas. With a female literacy rate of only 2%, Mewat ranks among the most regressive districts in terms of girls' education in all of India. The scarcity of secondary schools combined with conservative local attitudes toward female mobility has terrible consequences for an adolescent girl in Mewat: if there is no school in her village, she is forced to drop out.
The Blossom Bus project will hire 12 local mini-buses to each transport 12 girls to school daily in a pilot program that will demonstrate reliability to protective parents as well as set an example of responsible governance for local authorities.
By supporting female education, the program will mitigate gender imbalances by delaying marriage and childbirth, bolstering individual self-esteem and fostering a greater, more active role in society for women.
"Why can parents send girls alone to fields for work but cannot send them alone to schools? All these girls sitting here have proved their competence - give them a chance to shine."
- Shina of Pachanka Village, Mewat native, college graduate, LEARN role model
Total Funding Received to Date: $69,447
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $30,553
Total Funding Goal: $100,000
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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