By Team | Educate Girls
Anvi is my second oldest child. She is 8 years old. She’s very imaginative and loves telling stories. Anvi, her older sister and younger brother, all go to school.
Initially, my family was resistant to sending my girls to school. We belong to a small, close-knit community where girls are confined to the household. They either go to work on the farms or help with household chores such as cooking, cleaning and taking care of younger siblings. I could not complete my schooling and had to drop out of school as a result of this deep rooted mindset. I did not want that to happen to my daughters. After repeated efforts and persuasion, I convinced my family to allow Anvi and her sister to go to school. My daughters loved going to school and often talked about becoming a teacher, a singer or a police officer after they completed their schooling.
However, over the course of a few weeks, I noticed that Anvi had started losing interest in going to school. She started missing classes and feigning illness to stay at home. One morning, I insisted on sending her to school even when she wasn’t “feeling well”. That is when she confessed to me: “I can’t read the books or write the answers to the questions, it’s too difficult, I don’t want to go there anymore!”
It was true. She could only read and write a little bit better than I could. I wanted to help her but I could not think of a solution. Over the next few days, I saw her struggle with her homework. She knew some words but could not read the stories in her textbooks. She barely managed passing grades and continued to avoid school.
One day, I met with Pooja, an Educate Girls’ Field Coordinator. I told her about how Anvi was struggling with school. Pooja spoke with Anvi and tried to persuade her to come to school with her. She told her about a new and an interesting learning curriculum - Gyan Ka Pitara (Repository of Knowledge) which would be taught by Pooja and Educate Girls’ Team Balika (community volunteer), Seema. The curriculum would have all children of Grade 3, 4 & 5 learning numeracy and literacy through picture cards, interactive games and worksheets. Pooja told her about how her friends were learning new topics through activities and worksheets and how their learning had improved. She convinced Anvi to attend school regularly.
Gradually, Anvi started feeling better about going to school. Her excuses became less frequent. She looked forward to doing her homework. One day, Anvi surprised me by waking up before me. She had her school uniform on and had braided her hair. She was waiting for me to wake up.
“Is everything ok?”, I asked.
“Yes”, she smiled, “I’m ready to go to school.”
“But what about your headache?”, I teased.
“I don’t have a headache”, she frowned.
“Do they have a festival at school? A competition?”
“Something like that”, she said.
When she came home from school that day, I asked her about Gyan Ka Pitara,“Yes! I love the English Gupshup book the most”, she said,”I know so many new words now, I use them all the time when I talk with my friends.”
After Gyan Ka Pitara was introduced in Anvi’s school, her grades improved and she became more confident. She stopped coming up with excuses to stay at home. Instead of getting disheartened with the difficulties she faced in her studies, she tries to find a solution. She is once again curious and excited about going to school.
This #GivingTuesday, gift a child the joy of learning by helping Educate Girls unlock $25,000 worth of bonus prizes and up to $75,000 in additional funds through GlobalGiving by donating on November 28th, 2017 between at 12.01 AM EST and 23:59 PM EST. Also, any new recurring donations up to $200, started on November 28th, 2017 between at 12.01 AM EST and 23:59 PM EST will be matched by Global Giving at 100%. Please consider sharing the link to our campaign on your blogs or social networks, use the tell-a-friend feature on the project page to email your network, or just bring us up in conversation.
On behalf of the Educate Girls Team and all the children who have been benefited, thank you for all you have done to help our cause!
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