By Team | Educate Girls
Pihu* belongs to a remote and tribal village in the Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Her village lacks employment opportunities, forcing its residents to migrate to neighbouring cities in search of menial labour work. The remaining fend for themselves through farming.
Pihu lived in this village until the age of ten, but her parents decided to migrate to the city as they found it challenging to get by on their meagre income. Pihu had just appeared for her final examinations but had to bid adiue to school. Her daily routine in the city now included taking care of her younger siblings or doing household chores. It remained the same for two years, and her education stopped until March of 2020 when uncertainty loomed over her family and many others like them.
COVID-19 hit the entire world at large and many people lost their jobs. The most vulnerable communities faced the largest brunt of the lockdown that followed, and many migrant labourers who were daily- wage workers in the cities were forced to go back to their villages - and that too on foot. Pihu's family was among them as well. They were disoriented when they first reached, but the community extended warm support to them.
In the next few months, they settled in and the pandemic situation improved and the was lockdown lifted slowly. Educate Girls began their mission of enabling and enrolling girls with door-to-door contact. During this time, Educate Girls’ Block Officer came across Pihu as an out-of-school girl and spoke to her parents with support from Educate Girls’ Team Balika (community-based volunteer). He realized the difficulties they had to go through during the lockdown and tried explaining to them the role of education and how it could help during testing times. However, they were still not convinced.
“We already face a lot of trouble surviving and sending Pihu to school would mean additional tension and financial burden. And when COVID is gone, we would again migrate to the city and then who would look after her here? We would again have to drop her out from school - why to go through all the fuss then?” asserted Pihu’s father.
Understanding their concern, Educate Girls' Block Officer told her parents about Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) – a Government-run free residential school for girls in Grades 6th-8th. The KGBV has a library, a computer lab, and promotes better learning. It nurtures numerous hobbies, sports skills and provides extra lessons on health and hygiene. Overall, it creates a safe environment where every girl flourishes to the best of her potential. He emphasized how these experiences will shape a brighter future for Pihu, and she will also bring her family out of poverty.
Listening to his conviction for Pihu’s bright future, her parents understood the benefits and opportunity in enrolling their daughter in school and relented. Finally, little Pihu was enrolled and will again take the path of education!
*Name changed to protect the identity of a minor
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