Educate a girl child by supporting her fees by Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra

This program has helped in breaking the old beliefs of the community in various villages of Chouparan Block of Hazaribag district in Jharkhand. The village communities earlier never used to send their girl child to school. It was believed that girls are meant to be married and sent away, so there is no need to invest in their education. But the regular mobilization of the community by the organization and the school team helped in bringing girls to school. Fee support for girls' education is providing the opportunity for equal education to girl children. Under the program, at present, 126 girls are receiving support and many have successfully completed their secondary education and are continuing higher education. Parents are now aware of the importance of educating girl children. This program has encouraged parents to send their girls to school and get an equal chance for a better future.

The main challenge was to change the mindset of the community about educating a girl child, which is now changing and girls are going to school. The rate of child marriage has also decreased in project villages. Another challenge was continuing the education of girls during the pandemic lockdown. Teachers were continuously in touch with girls and used to provide notes through mobile. Teachers also visited students' houses to provide syllabus and notes. In the next 6 months, online classes will continue and it is expected that schools will open in the month of August for higher classes. Then with all the precautions, offline classes will be conducted and preparation for finals will be done.

Stories from the ground: Anshika Kumari is an 11-year-old girl studying in class 6th in a small village called Doiya, which is located in Chouparan Block of Hazaribag district. She is a hard-working girl and loves to learn new things at her school. She loves making new friends and always tries to be studious at school. She is a well-behaved girl. Anshika’s father is an agricultural labourer and small farmer, the whole family work together in the field during the crop season. Anshika along with her parents and 3 siblings live in a small house in her village. Sometimes her mother also goes out to work as daily labour to earn money for her family. Her family often suffers from economic problems. Her father tries hard to provide for basic needs along with education to all children. But it is not so simple for Anshika to afford fees for continuing her education. Anshika wants to get a good job after completing her education so that she can support the education of her young brothers and sisters. Anshika is able to continue her studies and is doing well with her studies.

Warm Greetings. Education is the basic right to all, but it not so easy for everyone. Thank you to all donors for their continuous support and love for education of a girl child. Program “Educate a girl Child by supporting her fees” is providing support to many girls from rural areas of Jharkhand, who dropped out from their schools due to financial crisis and poor condition of their family. But this program and generous donations from donors helped us to bring back these dropped out girls back to their schools and gave the opportunity to once again gain education. Due to COVID-19 lockdown in India all educational institutes and schools got closed which stooped the offline classroom education, for poor students it was not easy to continue their studies during this pandemic crisis. Teachers from rural schools were continuously putting effort to provide education support to girls by visiting their homes monthly. In month of May when situation became better teachers contacted girls and connected them with online classes. Most of the girls does not had access t smart phones, for which home visit was done by the teachers or by girls to clear their doubts. Teachers also conducted test, by sharing questions with girls’ online and providing time to answer the questions. Sometimes girls use to take classes in open area in grounds with maintaining appropriate distance. From month of December, offline classes for class 9th and 10th have been started at schools for preparing them for upcoming board examination. Attendance of girls is good and girls are also participating in extracurricular activities. Hope this year will be a better one for girls with new success and opportunities for their future.

Ensure a better life for a girl child with bright future by providing fees for their education

In Jharkhand the dropout rate of girls is very high and the maximum number of dropouts and deprived girls belongs to remote and hard to reach areas. One of the biggest reasons for this is the distance of schools and no or very few transport facilities in their area.

NBJK has established a Chandrakala Devi Daga High School in one of the remote areas of Chouparan block of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. The school was established for those girls who are educationally deprived or are dropouts to whom the organization is providing books, tuition fee and dress. The school is affiliated to Jharkhand Board and result of the school is around 98%. Most of the girls of this school are sponsored by GiveIndia.

Apart from this the other beneficiaries are the girls who are studying in village govt. school or want to study but due to low family income or social and personal issues they are deprived to go to good schools or they have left the schools. They are also forced to marry at an early age. So under this project identification of these beneficiaries is basically done by our NBJK ground/ field staff. They are enlightened through proper counseling of parents and regarding the role of education in nurturing a career and thus they agree to send them to schools. During the period a total fifty five (55) girls who wanted to continue their study have received support. They celebrate republic day at school. These beneficiaries received quality education provided by qualified and experienced teachers in the school. Good Learning and teaching environment is provided. Books and school uniforms are also provided to these girls.

Girls indulged in studies and extra-curricular activities

Program Update

This program supports one-year educational expenses of the girls who belong to remote area. If we compare present time from the past time, there is a huge difference we see. People of remote area now understanding the value of education. Girls are showing interest towards the education. People are getting aware what the important role education play in their life. This program reduced the drop outs rate and child marriage which was on the peak point before some time. It has also reduced the child labour. Girls were used to work in kiln factory. So, the things are changing with the time and efforts. Apart from this, girls are doing well in academic also. They participated in so many science and games competition. Girls of CDDH play on block and district level. Generally, girls play volley ball and kabaddi. Girls also make aware their parents and community if some one making fool them regarding government plan.

Story from the field

Suruti Kumari is a 12 years old Girl, lives in Mahudi village of Hazaribag district. She belongs to a very poor family. 8 years ago her father was died due to a disease. Her mother is only her care taker. Her mother has the responsibilities of 5 children. Suruti has one brother and three sisters. After the death of her father her mother was not able to fulfill all the essential need of her children even not able to arrange two times meals for her children. So due to poor economic condition Suruti had to leave her study and she began to support her mother with her siblings. When school teachers came to know about this from NBJK field staff , they immediately met with her mother and assured her that her daughters will be supported by donors for continuing their study. Suruti's mother got agree. Now Suruti is continuing her study and happy. She always says to her mother that, "Don't worry after sometime when I will complete my study and be a teacher then everything will be good"

Program Update

In Jharkhand the dropout rate of girls from primary school to high school is very high. Generally maximum number of dropouts and deprived girls belongs to remote area. Due to far distance of high schools and no transport facilities in villages, the girls are forced to drop-out after primary schools. So NBJK established a Chandrakala Devi Daga High School in very remote area which is one of the 5th schools running in Chouparan block district Hazaribag especially for girls educationally deprived or dropouts to whom the organization is providing books, tuition fee, and dress. The school is based on Jharkhand Board and result approx more than 98%. Initially, the school was supported by USHA MARTIN but now NBJK is supporting. Most girls of this school are sponsored by GiveIndia and others are supported by other donor and concessional fees. The beneficiaries are the girls who are studying in village govt. school or want to study but due to low family income or social and personal issues they are unable to go to good schools or they left the schools. They are also forced for marriage at early age, and if they do not take admission in school they are mostly married by class 7 or 8. So under this project identification of these beneficiaries is basically done by our NBJK staff after than counseling of parents is done to send them to schools. They receive quality education provided by qualified and experienced teachers in the school. Good Learning and teaching environment is provided. Books and school uniforms are also provided to these girls.

Story from the field

Jyoti Kumari is a 13 years old girl studies in class 10. Her father’s name is Rajkumar Saw and mother’s name is Anita Devi. She lives in village-Darjichak Karma, PO-Vrindavan, PS Chouparan, Dist-Hazaribag, Jharkhand,825406. Her father is a poor farmer and does agriculture work on a small piece of land. She has 3 siblings. Income from agriculture is not enough to afford educational expenses of the children. So her father stopped her education. Jyoti had to leave school for a year. But Jyoti wanted to continue her education. She was helping her mother in household chores and rearing of animals. When school teachers came to know about this they met with Jyoti’s father and explained him free education will be given to Jyoti by NBJK. Her father agreed and Jyoti again started going to school due to the kind shower of GiveIndia and donor. She is very happy now. She is focusing on her study. After her education she wants to help other people of her community. She also wants to be a teacher after completion of her study. Her father inspires other people of his village to enroll their children in the school.