Empowering Dalit Women with Computer Education
Background:
Dalits are considered to be the lowest in the social hierarchy existing in India. Though things are changing, Dalits are subjected to marginalization and discrimination among all levels in the society. Sometimes they are treated as slaves and forced to work in bonded-labor. Other times they may be sweeping the streets to earn a few cents or scavenging trash bins to collect cans and recyclable items.
Dalit women suffer from the stigma of being born into an "untouchable" caste in addition to their gender. As a result their educational level is minimal. Dalit girls are not able is to go beyond high school level due to social constraints. Due to extreme levels of frustration some may even commit suicide. As a remedy to this situation, the NGO GLOW seeks to empower rural Dalit dropout adolescent girl students providing them with the option of a certificate in compute applications and paving the way for a job in their further life.
This project provides computer education training and a diploma in computer systems for seventy-five Dalit or "untouchable" adolescent girls from twenty-five rural villages in Tamil Nadu, in the south of India who are living below the poverty line.
NGO Background:Guidance Society for Labour Orphans and Women (GLOW) was founded by Mr. Annadurai in 1996. Mr. Annadurai, a local Dalit leader for his village was concerned about the plight of his people and the plight of their future. GLOW is a voluntary, development oriented, non-profit, social service organization that has been at the service of the poor the marginalized and the vulnerable sections of the society since 1996.
While carrying out micro-credit and HIV/AIDS prevention among the Dalit community, it was brought to GLOW's attention that many parents were disturbed and worrying about their daughters with a bleak future. The current solution to provide the girls with a computer education emerged from a series of discussions Annadurai and the field staff had with concerned parents. There was no specific work undertaken previously to address this issue, as it is of recent origin in the area.
Non-formal and supplementary education programs constitute on going activities of GLOW (twenty-five of these centers are operating with success). These activities will be strengthened by conducting computer education classes for a conferring degree in computer applications.
Project sustainabilty:
The scope and purpose of the project is specific and precise. In one year seventy-five rural Dalit adolescent dropout girl students are to be provided with a courses required for a Diploma in Computer applications. Every year this will be repeated for a period of five years by which time contributions from the beneficiary trainees, who would have been gainfully employed in the government and private sector will be sufficient to provide computer education to future generations.
Project Objectives include:
- To prepare Dalit girls for employment in government and private sectors.
- To raise educational level of rural Dalit dropout girls.
- To provide opportunities for higher education to graduates.
Grant award: USD $ 5,000.
Timeframe: 5 years.
Sponsor this project: This is a multi-year project. Help us work towards our goal of USD $20,000 to build a computer and educational facility for the empowerment of Dalit women
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