Help Bring 121,000 Girl Children Back to School

n a small village in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, women sit in the shade of their huts rolling beedis. Many of their young daughters also pitch in. The back breaking task of sitting for long hours and what the constant exposure to tobacco does to the body is scary to say the least. But for these girls….this is life. But shouldn’t young girls this age be in school at this time of the day you ask? But when a school is 10 kms away and there is no proper transportation, beedi making is the alternative thrust upon these children. This is the life that Sathya was born into.

The challenge:

In Sathya’s village, a girl completing her education was a thing of fantasies and the reasons were many:

1. Gender discrimination was not only practiced enthusiastically but was considered the norm, girls were at a disadvantage from birth itself.
2. The only available high school or secondary school was at least 10 kms away and the only means of secure transportation a government bus that had no fixed schedule. The only other alternative was a private bus service but of course parents wouldn’t even dream of spending extra money on transportation to let their daughters go to school!
3. The dropout rates were over 80% once primary school was complete. And this rate was even higher for girls.
4. Parents were also worried about their daughters’ safety once they hit adolescence and would rather keep them at home.
5. Once a girl dropped out of school, more often than not child marriage would inevitably follow.

Shattering the norms:

But it sometimes takes just that one small push to set in motion a chain reaction and Sathya and her parents turned out to be just that catalyst of change that the community needed.

• Sathya was not willing to just accept what fate handed to her on a plate. She was willing to fight and she was willing to question.
• Sathya’s parents as well – unlike other parents in the village had the courage to stand by and support their daughter.
• They approached CRY supported project KALAM to try and see if they could find a solution to help continue their daughter’s education.

Strategy for resolution:

The project team decided to act fast!

1. As a first step, they helped connect Sathya to government schemes that provided transportation to girls who attended high school.
2. When Sathya managed to score an 83% in her final board exams – they also helped them make demands for subsidies and scholarships that would help the girl enroll in an engineering college.

The project workers were determined that Sathya would be the model and inspiration that the village needed to understand the possibilities open to a girl child. The day Sathya started her civil engineering exams was a triumph not only for the girl and her parents but for CRY as well.

With the help of our education campaign, Sathya and girls like her have a chance to chase their dreams by remaining in school. And YOU have made this possible.