Stories
Paving the way for higher education for girls
Pooja, Pinki and Hemanti are the first few girls to complete school till Class 10. All hail from the remote village of Rajpura of the Sankh Panchayat in Jharkhand. Girl children find it difficult to access higher education past 8th standard in this village. The nearest school is 15 km away and the commute is difficult as well. Children have to walk through 3km of dense forest and the rest is covered via transportation to reach a school at Gawan. Until 2018, no girls studied past 8th standard in the village. In 2018, Pooja’s father suffered a paralytic attack and their family lost little of the income he used to earn from collecting Dhibra(Mica) to sustain the basic minimal needs of the family. In order to survive Pooja quit her education and started collecting Dhibra with her mother to sustain the family.
As a member of Bal Manch, Rajpura, Pooja shared her situation in a meeting. Subsequently, a Jago foundation volunteer visited their house and motivated her mother to re-enroll Pooja in the school. The Jago team members also understood the family’s financial situation and gave them a scholarship of ₹ 1000 per month under their RMI initiative.
The Jago team spoke to the children of Bal Manch to identify other girls who were compelled to give up education. In another meeting, Pinki Kumari and Hemanti Kumari also expressed their grief of not being able to study after the 8th standard. Jago volunteers visited the families of girls to persuade their parents to send them for higher education. After a series of counselling sessions the parents agreed to send their daughters.
Today Pooja, Pinki and Hemanti are studying in higher classes and paved the path for other girls from Rajpura to do so as well.
The girls of Rajpura village are thankful to Jago and RMI project.
A nutritious beginning for a healthy life
Krish was a 2-year-old malnourished child who was identified during a nutrition survey by Jago’s team. Jago's nutrition worker Tunni talked to his parents and got Krish treated at Malnutrition Treatment Center Rajdhanwar. After being fed for 15 days under the supervision of a doctor, Krish’s health improved significantly and is walking well. Jago Foundation works in collaboration with RMI under the CESAM project for the education and health of people in the mica mining area.
Staying in school for a brighter future
Yashoda Kumari is a Class 10 student at U.H.S. Dhanaydih. The family is sustained by daily labour performed by her father in Jamshedpur. At the age of 17 while Yashoda prepared for her board examinations, her parents decided to get her married. They were concerned about the issues of dowry and the safety of their daughter.
Jago’s team member came to know of this information from other teenagers. With the cooperation of the community members, teachers and the Panchayat the importance of education and the legal ramification of child marriage were explained to her parents. This persuaded Yashoda’s parents not to go ahead with the child marriage.
Yashoda is very happy with this and has resumed preparations for the board examination. At the same time, the morale of other teenagers of the Kishori group has increased and they are ready to stop such child marriages even further.
Child marriage can be easily prevented due to timely information about child marriage and the cooperation of responsible people.
Education and a Safe Childhood
Hasina Praveen- age 10, Rabina Praveen- age 9, Khusbu Praveen- age 12, and Aswa Praveen, age 8 years are all children in the village of Yogitanr, Giridih Block. All four of them are enrolled at the primary school in the village.
In the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of schools. The pandemic has also affected the lives of daily wage workers and small businesses. This compelled these girls to work as daily wage workers at a brick kiln to support their families.
Jago Foundation is rendering its services in the village with the support of CRY Kolkata and doing regular sensitization on Child Rights and Protection. Few children of Bal Sabha informed the Childline and Jago Foundation about the girls. Without wasting any time Nilam Devi, field volunteer of Jago Foundation consulted the UPS Yogitanr teachers, Rina Devi & Sehnaz Bano, and also a SMC member.
They visited the parents of the girls and lastly visited the owner of the Brick Kiln. First they sensitized the parents of those girls regarding the importance of education and also the Child Labour Act . They also informed the brick kiln owner of the consequences of hiring children. The Mukhiya and Ward members were also taken in good faith and were supportive of the issue.
After the visit, the parents and the brick kiln owner realised the mistakes of involving children in labour. All four girls are now back to school and have also joined a study group. Jago is also trying to liaise with their parents to introduce them to Government Schemes.
Staying in school with the help of friends
Amit Kumar, a 10 year old resident of Chadgo village, Giridih, Jharkhand is part of a 5 member family. Amit’s parents work as Dhibra pickers and this serves as the main source of income. While Amit was enrolled in the primary school of Chadgo, he was compelled to take up work along with his parents to supplement the family’s income. This was affecting his performance at school.
During this time, Jago Foundation in collaboration with JKB Project started Bal Manch in the village. Jago persuaded Amit’s family to allow him to join Bal Manch.
Jago also connected Amit’s mother to the village group and gave financial support of ₹ 5000/- to start a business from their home. The family bought two goats and through goat farming, their financial condition is steadily improving.
Amit no longer works as a Dhibra picker and regularly participates in Bal Manch like other children of the village.
In Addition to this, Jago has also provided Amit with education material to help improve his performance at school.
Khushboo Kumari, Age- 20 Years
Daughter of Suresh Prasad Verma and Chandrika Devi,
Village- Kowar, Post- Senadoni, Block- Giridih, District- Giridih (Jharkhand)
Khushboo Kumari age 20 years, currently student of BA. She is a resident of Kowar village of Senadoni Panchayat. Last year she got married in Bengabad. She was a member of the Kishori group formed by Jago Foundation and completed her computer studies from Dhanayidi Resource Centre.
Khushboo says that she had a lot of desire to run computer since childhood but due to lack of any computer institute around the house, she was not able to fulfil her dream. The distance of Computer Institute from her house was about 15 kilometres away. Her family members did not allow her to go to far place to learn computers. When Jago Foundation started computer training for adolescent girls in collaboration with CRY in 2020, she immediately spoke to Preeti Didi (Field worker of Jago Foundation), that she also want to learn computer. Then she got enrolled in the first batch itself and started learning computers.. After completion of computer training, she was given a certificate from Jago Foundation. When she got married last year and came in-law’s house, her husband who used to run Community Service centre at Bengabad near Block Campus told that I am unable to run the CSC Due to lack of computer knowledge and could not do the work of CSC properly. Then she told him that she knows computers operating. Listening that the Husband offered her to run the Centre and now she is earning Rs 500/- to 600/- Per day.
Khushboo said that I am thankful Jago Foundation and CRY for giving me computer training and making me self-reliant. I want all the girls around my village to learn computer and become self-dependent.
