By Thomas Waltcher | Interim Director
The Blossom Bus program has been operating in Mewat since 2008. Currently, the program supports 300 girls attending middle school and high school to continue their studies. This report serves to highlight the success and impact of the program from a unique vantage point— that of a school principal!
Lotus Outreach’s team met the principal of Girls High School Ahervan, where Blossom Bus safely and consistently transports many disadvantaged girls to and from school. In Ahervan, there are girls studying in grades 6 through 10 coming from a total of eight different rural villages. Out team came to Ahervan to talk with Mr. Satender Pal, the school’s principal, to hear his views on these girls’ education.
Mr. Satender Pal joined the high school in March 2014 and has improved the infrastructure substantially. The old and damaged rooms were repaired with support from the villagers, as the government does not give sufficient funds towards school repairs. Two new rooms are currently being constructed so that students can sit properly and fully engage in the their studies.
Mr. Satender Pal is passionate towards the education of girls and sensitive to the many negative stereotypes regarding their education. He mentioned during informal interactions that he was reluctant to join duty at this school in Mewat, fearing little cooperation and support from the local villagers. Mewat ranks among the most regressive districts in terms of girls’ education in all of India. The scarcity of schools combined with conservative local attitudes toward female mobility creates terrible obstacles to girls’ education.
After further conversations with Mr. Satender Pal, our team discovered he was very happy to discover transportation through Blossom Bus that supports these girl students coming from distant villages. Likewise, he made clear that he was very pleased the girls were traveling safely and were very happy.
He went to explain that it was very encouraging to see the generosity of people who are living thousands of miles away from these villages, but are still willing to support girl’s education. In fact, this gave him so much encouragement he said, that he worked the entire month of his summer vacation to build and further repair rooms for these girls with help from other staff and villagers.
Mr. Satender Pal thanks Lotus Outreach on behalf of girls traveling on Blossom Bus and the staff of Girls High School Aharvan and wishes our supporters a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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