MY ANANDA EXPERIENCE: Sherly Mathews, India Country Director

Ananda Projects

5. Girl’s Education in Virat Nagar, Rajasthan

Humana People to People India (HPPI) based in New Delhi sent a proposal to Ananda Foundation to start bridge schools for girls in Virat Nagar. They were organizing women in Virat Nagar block for economic activities. Direct interaction with the villagers helped them to understand the gravity of educational problems in Virat Nagar.

Rajasthan is one of the most backward Indian states with regard to literacy and education. In 1991, only Bihar had a lower literacy rate than Rajasthan. In 2001, its position is slightly improved: Rajasthan is ahead of Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Rajasthan's literacy rate in 2001 was 61.03 per cent against 38.55 in 1991, still lower than the national average of 65.38. Male literacy is at 76.46 % which is above all-India average of 75.85 whereas female literacy is at 44.34 against the all-India average of 54.16. I use these figures to show how bleak is the situation of women in Rajastan in the educational front. If we take the rural-urban divide, it is still worse.

With this background, HPPI’s proposal to start bridge schools for the reintegration of girls into formal schools is very relevant. With Ananda’s support they started two village schools. The selected villages have a majority girls who have dropped out or never attended school. No value is attached to girl’s education in these villages. They do not know the importance of education in general.

Girls start working in the field and carpet looms at a very young age. Child marriages, low preference for girl children, inferior status of women and low quality schools all has aggravated the situation. The project was started with the aim of enrolling 30 students each in a school and helping them to acquire basic education to join formal schools.

When HPPI started the schools, they realized the fact. Many teenagers are illiterate and in the upper age group; their aspirations for higher education is limited on account of their marital and occupational status. The younger girls are convinced to continue education and HPPI plans to help them attend