The Child Brides: Send Them to School instead

This is the story of a girl who was a school dropout and now she is a favorite student of the teachers.

In a rural village of Rajasthan, lives an 8 year old girl named Soniya* who dreams of studying and becoming a teacher one day. This dream fuels her drive to study and to go to school. Every day when going to school, Soniya takes her younger brother to school and she even teaches him to read and write at home after school.

However, all of this didn’t come easily for Soniya. Owing to the economic poverty in the family, the elders were forced to work as daily-wage workers all day, while Soniya had to stay at home to take care of her younger siblings. Educate Girls field staff identified that Soniya was a dropout during a field survey. The survey helped Soniya see a way back to the school, however the last hurdle remaining to cross was her own father. 

Soniya’s father didn’t want her to go to school. Educate Girls Team Balika (community volunteer) Bharat tried a lot to convince her father, however, nothing seemed to work. Undeterred, he went to Soniya’s house once again to convince her father, and this time he took the Ward Panch i.e. the village head along with him. After numerous attempts, their words seemed to have a positive effect on him and he finally started considering the benefits of education for his daughter and agreed to send her to school.

Today, Soniya is an esteemed student of Class 3, and also a favourite of her teachers at school. She loves studying English and Hindi, and at home, she is teaching her brother and father also to read and write.

*Name changed to protect identity of the minor