educate a girl – change the world

Simoni Bhansali

educate a girl – change the world

“Educate a boy, you educate an individual; educate a girl, you educate a community.”

- an african proverb

Turns out we have mastered time travel, a couple of hours will take you to

another era.

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Turns out we have mastered time travel, a couple of hours will take you to

The India that I grew up in is the India that everyone talks about today. The India that has an economic growth rate of 9% per annum, the India that has opportunities, the India that is slowly turning into a hub of culture and creativity. This is the India of big cities and fast paced urban life. But, the fact is, India lives in her villages.

Forty two percent of India’s population still lives on less than one dollar a day. Where do these people fit into this booming economy, or more importantly, how can they fit in? Those that live in the villages believe

that moving to the metropolises will be their ticket to a better life, but how far can an uneducated villager go? With a fifty percent drop out rate after the 8th grade, one can only wonder what kind of jobs, if any, these migrants will end up in. A meager few link arms with lady luck, and the others are left scraping at the bottom.

I have spent 21 years of my life growing up in urban India, living the “good life.” All along I have been very aware of the existence of another India, where people are stuck in a century gone by, where women are imprisoned by social and cultural barriers. Here, girls submit to a predestined fate of child marriage, early pregnancies and a domestic life. A girl from that India could almost never imagine a life that is any different. The irony of the situation is that one has to only drive a few hours away from any big city to find this India. Turns out we have mastered time travel, a couple of hours will take you to another era.

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Most of India is a patriarchal society, where women are forced to simply obey men. Thus enabling the men to re-enforce and strengthen these inequalities. If men and women are not even looked at through the same lens in most of this country, what is this progress that everyone talks of? India and our world will only truly progress when every single individual has a share in its development.

Why are girls made to marry at a young age? Why are they pregnant at an age when they can barely reason for themselves? Why are they not allowed to dream of being self-sufficient? Why does female infanticide still exist? Why is the dowry system still in place? Why are girls suffering for things that they have no control over? The answers are societal, cultural, social and even political. “This is how it is”, “it’s a vicious cycle”, and “it is the system” is what one hears when these questions are raised. While most would advise against trying to change this system, I argue that change is the only thing that’s definite in this world. In a country of over 1 billion people, and a history of over 70,000 years, change is what has kept us going.

With the shift from rural to urban living, it is this girl in rural India that can be the catalyst for change. When you educate her, and you educate two families, the one she comes from, and the one she marries into. She can change her own, her husband’s, her parents’ and children’s future. She has the power to educate the next generation; it is but a matter of giving to her, what she rightfully deserves. It is a matter of changing the system by educating her.

Education starts with numbers and letters, and goes on to the highest forms of expression. Its power lies, not in the ability to read and write, but in the ability to think and understand. Being educated results in ones ability to rationalize for oneself and for another. The power of education is the power to dream- of a better tomorrow, a better life, a better India and a better world. All the worlds, and India’s, inequalities and therefore problems can be eradicated if every man, woman, and child was educated.

She is the solution.

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Why are girls made to marry at a young age?

Why are they pregnant at an age when they can barely reason for themselves?

Why are they not allowed to dream of being self-sufficient?

Why does female infanticide still exist?

Why is the dowry system still in place?

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Why are girls suffering for things that they have no control over?

she is the

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solution

The mere knowledge of “another India” is not enough,

knowing must, lead to acting.

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Only feeling sorry for the less

fortunate is not the answer.

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At the outset of this project I had my own views and beliefs about the situation in rural India. Books, films and the media had led me to believe

that most people in rural India were against female education. Though there are a number of organizations that are making an effort to change the situation, in the grand scheme of things women are still at odds.

There are two main reasons that keep girls out of schools. The first of which is mere physical hindrances. Issues such as schools being far from the village. Or a potential danger to the girls along the journey to school. Very often the lack of bathroom facilities makes it hard for adolescent girls to attend schools. And even possibilities of sexual harassment from male teachers or students dissuade parents from educating their girls.

The other reason is the mentality of the people. The people who think that education is a waste of a girl’s time, when all she is going to do in her life is take care of the house. Or that educating a girl is adding burden to her father’s life as he would have to pay more dowry for an equally or more educated man for his daughter to marry. There are even some who believe that educating a daughter would mean

giving her power; instead they would rather she remain uneducated and in the control of the men in the house. And very often, when there is limited money in a household, only one child is sent to school; and the male child will unfortunately always get the preference. Like in every ancient tradition, the logic here, if any, remains the same: educate the child that will stay in the house and earn in the future, not the one who is going to marry and leave the house.

Most of the aforementioned scenarios arise due to institutions that have been in place for many years. Through history the man has gone out to fend while the woman has stayed at home to care for the house and family, resulting in an almost universal state of gender inequality. But learning and education has managed to shift that state, making men value women. Teaching children from a tender age that women and men are equal empowers women, and enlightens men. It alters the way men think about women, and the way women think about themselves.

These thoughts lay the basis of the problem I ventured to understand and solve. The lack of female education is not a problem that can be solved over night or by one person, it is one that will take years of effort, but every step in the right direction, is one step closer to the solution.

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A few people are conscious of the two parallel India(s) that I speak off but the number is increasing everyday. Those

who do are making a noted effort to bridge the gap between the two. There are a number of social organizations all over India that tackle various societal issues, ranging from hunger and poverty to injustice and corruption. After much research on education in rural areas, gender inequalities and education for children, I found, Iimpact.

Iimpact aims at solving the same problem I chose to address: education for young girls in rural India. The organisation was set up in 2002 and has been growing ever since. It was started by the alumni of the IIM (Indian Institute of Management). Currently they have 560 centers in seven Indian states educating 17000 village girls.

“The organization targets girls from socially and economically backward areas, and gives them free primary education”. Their main focus is on girls of age 6-14. They are given a strong basic education, after which they are encouraged to join the mainstream government schools to continue their

education. The hope is that after the age of 14 they will be self-motivated and more determined to study. The government has a better system set up for secondary school and parents tend to be a little more willing to send their girls to schools that may be further away at an older age.

As an organization, Iimpact identifies areas in India that have particularly low female literacy levels and aim to set up learning centers in those areas. There are a number of surveys conducted to understand the community within which the center is to be set up. Setting up a center often requires coaxing the villagers to accept the institution and re-assuring them that it is in the best interest of their daughters to educate them. In the beginning most villages are opposed to the idea of people from the bigger cities barging into the village and uprooting their normal way of life, thus Iimpact often joins hands with NGOs that are already working in the area, and uses them as a pipeline to enter the village. The learning centers are set up within the village itself, on premises provided by the local village community. This helps to garner their support and gives them a stake in the project itself. This results in the girl’s parents being more comfortable with sending their daughters to school.

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Each community is a new battle that needs to be won over for a better tomorrow, as the villagers all have their own reservations in relation to education. While some are worried that through the education the organization is trying to convert them to another religion, others are worried that educating the girls will delay their marriage. All these anxieties need to be pacified before a center can be set up.

Each learning center has approximately thirty girls with one teacher. The class is divided into three main levels of ascending hierarchy. The youngest girls are put in the lowest level, where they are given one-on-one instructions from the teacher. The second level girls are expected to be a little more independent- the teacher assigns work to an appointed monitor who then ensures that all her peers do the work correctly. The oldest girls are first taught and then assigned work on the blackboard, after which the teacher goes around and assesses it. Within the classroom, different techniques like charts, pictures, drawings and poems are used as educational tools, while computers are also being slowly introduced. The girls are made to do physical activities in the form of games once every week.

The learning center meets five times a week where the girls are taught four

main subjects- English, Hindi, Math and environmental education. They take a government exam at the end of four or five years, depending on each individual girls development. After which they will hopefully move on to the municipal secondary schools. The hope of the organization is to leave each village in India with a self-sustaining education system that will educate all the girls of the village for the years to come.

Iimpact has set up an education model that is both flexible and rigid. It allows for adjustments based on community needs in different parts of India, without compromising on the curriculim. In a certain village in the east of India, young girls weave carpets in the day for an income; for them Iimpact set up a learning center as an evening school, in a room with a single light bulb. While some of the girls do not go onto secondary school, the number that do has increased steadily over the years. The same social, economical and cultural reasons hinder the girls from going onto secondary school, but having been through primary school, the girls have already shifted the cycle of uneducated women in India. They have acquired the ability to reason, and become individuals of their own being. They now enter the world braced with the power to think, dream and understand.

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“The organization targets

girls from socially

and economically backward areas, and gives them

free primary education”.

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...the girls have already

shifted the cyclical

process of uneducated

women in India. They

have acquired the ability

to reason, and become

individuals of their own

being. They now enter

the world braced with

the power to think,

dream and understand.

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An hour and a half outside one of the largest cities, Delhi,

is one of India’s most socially

and economically backward

regions, the Mewat District

I finally made a trip to India to further my reaseach for this project. I flew from Mumbai to Delhi to visit Iimpact and its learning centers. At long last, I was finally there. I had a number of preconceived notions of what I would experience, but my

excitement was out of bounds.

The Iimpact office is located outside the capital city of India in a city called Gurgaon. There I was greeted by, Urvashi Nair, the Marketing Director of Iimpact. After being oriented with the organization and its workings, we planned to visit the learning centers early the next day.

Many say that the beauty of India lies in her diversity; my trip to the Iimpact learning centers in Rahadi is testament to that. An hour and a half outside one of the most populated and biggest cities, Delhi, is one of India’s most socially and economically backward regions, the Mewat District. Located in the state of Haryana, this area is known to be very agriculturally fertile, but in many other ways rather infertile. With a female literacy level of approximately less than fifty percent; Iimpact identified the Mewat district in Haryana as one that requires their acute attention.

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I had the good fortune of visiting two centers in the same area. Allow me to put the village of Rahadi in perspective. When we reached the village, we heard chants of “shehervale aa gaye” (the city people have come). One of the first sites that greeted my eye was a huge buffalo lounging in the courtyard as a woman washed clothes nearby. Most of the roads are dirt and mud with a fair number of puddles filled with some murky black liquid. The village has a total of four television sets and water is still pumped from a central well and taken into the houses. While most things seem dated, the vessels for water have progressed from earthen to plastic pots.

There is an old Indian phrase, “mehman bhagwaan saman hota hai”, a guest is equal to god, and that is the kind of hospitality we were shown when we reached the learning center. Flower garlands and a floor deocration of powdered colors welcomed my mother, Urvashi and myself as we walked in. Once seated the teacher served us fresh tea and a local Indian snacks. At first, the girls were shy to speak with me, their voices were soft and their heads hung low out of respect. By the end of my day there, I had the girls jumping on me, hugging me and begging me to return.

I was as amazed by them as they were by me.

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While most things seem dated, the vessels for water

have progressed from earthen to plastic pots.

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I was as amazed by them as they were by me.

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At the learning center there was a display of knowledge showcased for me, and I was blown away by what I saw. At first the girls seemed embarrassed to speak to me, though I was as embarrassed to speak to them thanks to my horrible Hindi accent from growing up in the city. Eventually we got acquainted and the ice was broken. After that, there was no going back, they were bursting to show me what they knew and I was eager to see. They had been taught names of body parts, colors and fruits that they hadn’t even tasted. They were able to count, spell, read, write, multiply and divide, but most importantly they were able to think. I put math problems on the blackboard that they were able to solve; one girl was even able spell my name in English!

The girls at the schools ranged from age six to fourteen, and each of them was happy to be at school. There was an unmistakable zest to learn, contrary to the average 5th grader I encounter. On closer conversation with some of the older girls, there surfaced aspirations of growing up and giving back to the community. One girl wanted to study medicine in the city to come back and heal the elderly in the village; another hoped to become a teacher to impart education to the younger girls. While talking to them I realized that I was witnessing my dream come true, 10 years ago a girl from this region would not have ever considered leaving the village for any reason apart from wedlock.

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while

change is in place,

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it is a slow process.

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sanjeeda48

While change is in place, it is a slow process, and it was 13-year-old Sanjeeda who made me realize that. One of the brightest students in her classes, Sanjeeda too had dreams of continuing her education, but that was a dream that would never be realized.

Islamic by faith, Sanjeeda wakes up every morning at dawn to pray and then start her daily chores of cleaning, working the fields,attending school, doing her homework and helping her mother cook. Her real passion lies in crafts. It is what she enjoys doing in her little spare time. She has decorated her kitchen with garlands made of plastic wrappers and knitted quilts for her house. She has even made decorative hand fans and flower vases. Fortunately or unfortunately, in a small village, a skill like this cannot go untapped, all her creations are displayed in her house for everyone and a possible suitor to see.

According to Sanjeeda’s family at the age of 13, she is of marriageable age. Her parents have found her a suitable boy in Delhi and soon after she is done studying at the Iimpact learning center, she will probably be married to him. The boy has a stable job and is a few years older than her. At the age of seventeen, Sanjeeda will probably be a mother. The legal age for girls to be married in India is eighteen.

Sanjeeda too has dreams of continuing her education,

but that is a dream that will never be realized.

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Since the Iimpact learning center meets in Sanjeeda’s house, one would assume that her parents are forward thinking but her story seems to say quite the opposite. That is when I realized that the situation is still evolving. While Sanjeeda’s parents are supportive of education, her marriage is still their number one priority, as is the situation for most girls all over India. Simultaneously, in the other learning center there was a 19-year-old Hindu girl doing her Bachelor of Arts degree through correspondence from the closest town. In her family eighteen is a suitable age for matrimony. Change is happening, but cultural differences have an impact on them.

When I spoke to the parents of other girls at the learning centers, both Hindu and Islamic, they were all very happy and hopeful for the education being given to their daughters. I heard some go to the extent of voicing my core belief, “without education our girls will be left nowhere”. The enthusiastic sentiments of the men and women were a pleasant surprise. I am aware that ceremonial practices are still of greatest importance to them, but that will only change as the result of the education being given to the girls. All said and done, one cannot deny the delight in hearing the poorest, most primitive, people in the country supporting the change that would one day make this world a better place.

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“

”

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-a village girls mother

without education our girls will be left nowhere

We are making real progress, girls are thinking, mentalities are changing, the shift is materializing

After my trip to the village, and my interaction with the girls, their parents and the Iimpact representatives, I altered my

understanding of rural India. It is not as far from my India as I imagined. They too, are a cog in the never-ending change all around us.

Education is slowly seeping into every hut in the back of beyond, and women are more respected today than they were a decade ago. Even the most rigid people are realizing the value of the written word, albeit after much convincing. Educated girls are giving birth to a new generation of children for who education will be a right not a privilege. The villagers that I met, wanted to see their girls read and write, so long as it does not change any of their cultural norms. I understood that education is encouraged, but not at the cost of traditions.

India has progressed more than I thought it had. We are making real progress, girls are thinking, mentalities are changing, the shift is materializing. You and I just need to help it along.

India has progressed more than I thought it had.

We are making real progress, girls are thinking,

mentalities are changing, the shift is materializing.

You and I just need to help it along.

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Being Indian myself, this project is based in India, but all over the world there are girls who are not getting education. Help can be given in many ways. There are organizations in every continent that are working at the same cause through different models. From simply making an online donation to an organization of your choice, to actually making a trip to some part of the world, a small gesture goes a long way. The countries that are in most need of aid are largely from the developing world where one US dollar is worth infinitely more in the local currency. In India with two dollars, a person could eat two meals in a city;.It would be worth inifinitely more in a village.

In different parts of the world, girls face varied hurdles in getting education. Men usually enforce most of them. By educating girls today, you are educating the women and men of tomorrow.

She can unlock all the doors to progress that have been closed by greed, injustice, inequality, and so many other evils.

Just give her the key of education.

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She can unlock all the doors to progress that

have been closed by greed, injustice, inequality, and

so many other evils.

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1. My name is Safina. 2. I study in the third grade. 3. I am eleven years old. 4. I want to become a doctor. 5. As a doctor I want to be able to take care of other people.

Teach Her is the result of a communication design thesis project at Parsons The New School for Design. It is an effort to communicate the situation and the need for a reformation in the sphere of education for young girls in rural India.

There are a number of people that need to be thanked in view of this project, all of who had different but important roles. I express gratitude towards Urvashi Nair and Iimpact for allowing me to visit their learning centers, and giving me a life changing experience. I thank my mother for following me to Delhi and dealing with my tantrums through this project. I would also like to thank my thesis teachers, Jane Pirone and Jessica Irish who guided and encouraged me. I thank my other teachers, Steven Kennedy, Julia Gorton, and Juliet Cezzar for finding time to help me, and my friends in New York for encouraging, criticizing, critiquing and motivating me through this venture. And lastly my family back home, without who I wouldn’t have even started this project. It is but a matter of taking one step forward.

Educate a girl - change the world

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educate a girl -

change the world

- Simoni Bhansali

Thank you for reading this book, I hope you will help me create awareness, and spread the message and address the issue.

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