Educate Destitute Girls in Kolkata, India

I worry a lot about our sponsored girls. Schools have been closed for most of the last 15 months. Their parents are struggling to find the money to feed their families because they have been unable to work during lockdown.  In families where the children are first generation learners, the motivation to keep studying under these circumstances is liable to fade.

Our programme leaders, Shreya and Aamna, have worked very hard to keep the girls going.  We have ensured all those who have access to classes online have smartphones and we have done everything we can to support those who don’t. Many of the smaller girls collect assignments from their teachers and return them completed to the school. Not perfect – but better than nothing.

Last time I was in India, February 2020, just before the pandemic hit India, I met up with most of the girls on this programme.  I have always admired Sabahat and her mother. Sabahat’s mother, though illiterate herself, is desperately keen for her daughter to get a good education. And all had been going well: the girl completed her class 12 and went off to Victoria College, part of Calcutta University, to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree.  When we met last year, however, Sabahat had failed her first year twice. We had a long discussion and tried to understand what was going wrong. It seemed she lacked confidence and motivation. She was not attending her lectures and classes as often as she should. Youngsters from impoverished backgrounds can feel very intimidated in the hustle and bustle of university life. The majority of the students are confident, often privately educated and middle class. Sabahat is a simple girl from the slum. We asked her to take a couple of days to decide where she wanted to go and how to get there.  She came back the next day and promised that she absolutely was determined to get her degree so that she could become a teacher. She would renew her efforts.

I am very happy to report today that she has now passed her first year and is proceeding with her year 2 studies. I am so proud of her.  For a youngster from such a deprived background a very special effort is required and she has really put in the effort. Perhaps remote learning has helped her but most of all it is her determination. She is also helping out her family by earning a little money from tutoring. One day, I’m quite sure, she will be the qualified teacher she hopes to become, helping to lead other girls away from early marriage, illiteracy and drudgery and into a brighter future.

This programme provides each beneficiary with the tuition fees, the books, the uniform, medical expenses and any other essential items to enable them to remain in education. During the pandemic your contributions are also helping to provide the neediest families with food rations and any medical help they might need. But perhaps the most important intervention is the guidance, encouragement and counselling the girls receive from Shreya and Aamna and the other staff at Tiljala SHED.

Your contributions are working very hard indeed to keep girls like Sabahat on track. Thank you very much on behalf of them all.

Gayatri and her four daughters live in a single room in a slum in central Kolkata. She desperately wants her daughters to complete their education so that they can have a better life than hers. Gayatri supports her family with the help of an ancient Xerox machine. The tiny income she earns from photocopying is barely enough to feed the family. When the machine breaks down the family goes hungry because she needs to have it repaired. Her greatest fear is that the machine will fail completely leaving them destitute. During the pandemic Gayatri has diversified and now sells facemasks as well.

Two years ago Gayatri came to us as she had heard that Tiljala SHED runs a small education project for very needy girls. She asked us to help with her youngest daughter’s education. We didn’t find a sponsor for Akansha, but we have managed to squeeze her in to the project. She is only in class 2, but we could see that she is a bright girl with tremendous support from her mother (which is really the key for these girls).  Akansha’s older sisters share a smartphone and now need it it to access their online education whilst India’s schools have been closed. Once Akansha also needed to go online for her learning the situation became impossible for all four daughters. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Akansha has received her own smartphone and has all the basic costs of her education covered. This includes things like uniform, shoes, a school bag, books and stationery. Where needed we cover tuition fees, travel expenses and the cost of our own meetings and workshops. During the pandemic, any costs we saved on uniforms, travel and shoes we were able to distribute to the families for extra food. It was very much needed.

Schools in West Bengal opened again last week and Akansha and her sisters will be able to enjoy a return to some kind of normality.

We want to thank you and all our donors for your continued generosity especially now when our beneficiaries have suffered such terrible hardship.  Of course your support is more necessary than ever, so please consider a donation today so that Akansha and so many girls like her can continue to reach for a better life through education.