By Keval Shah | Programme Manager
This year we have started in some new communities. One such community is a slum of a poor Sikh tribe. Here. according to the elders and their traditions, none of the girls are allowed to study past 8th standard (14 years) when they would normally be married.
We have two main activities in this slum. The first are daily study support classes for the girls so they can actually keep up with what's being caught in their often overcrowded classes. The second is a regular meeting of the girls groups, where the girls learn about their right to education, their situation as young women in India, their constitutional rights, discrimination, violence, and many other things that they would not otherwise be able to have frank conversations about.
The girls groups help to give the girls confidence, so they can aim for much more than they previously imagined.
Here we asked, 'who's going to study until 12th standard?' (the equivalent of college or sixth form). All the hands shot up. This wouldn't have been imaginable three months ago.
But it's going to be a long road ahead. Counselling the parents, working with the teachers, empowering the girls to stand up for themselves, and each other. We've seen from the other slums where we've worked that it's not easy. But it's possible.
I look forward to continuing to update you on our girls. Thank you so much for continuing to help us.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
