Stories from the ground

February 2010: Orissa
People in Gajapati district are used to political programmes; marriages are celebrated and so are other festivals. However celebrating girl child education was something new to the people of this area. 23 Feb 2010 was a different day. Hundreds of men, women and children came in their best attires. They sang, danced and listened carefully to the people who had travelled hundreds of miles to come to their remote village to educate their daughters. The village community members were surprised to know that strangers cared for the wellbeing of their children. This programme was attended by Mr.Ambarish, Mrs. Minati and Mrs. Nirmala Tandon from IIMPACT. Mr.Prashant, Chairman of Block Mohana and Ms. Bhagya Lakshmi Sahu, Zila Parishad member were also present.

August 2010: West Bengal
Mustakiya Khatun (Aged 9 years), daughter of late Mohabbat Ali Mullah lives in the village in Durgapur and is out of school for the last 1 year. Her father expired 3 years back due to prolonged illness. Her mother Rehena Bewa earns Rs 30 ($0.70 cents) a day to keep her family of 3 children going. They do not own any land, hence she is a labourer and makes nylon cotton nets. Rehena Bewa was enlisted for the widow’s pension scheme in 2008-09 and has been receive the same, however since early 2010 her name has been removed as she did not possess a below poverty line identification card thus depriving her the source.

There are 4 members in the family. Mostafizur (Aged 13 years), Shamim (8 years) are brothers of Mustakiya Khatan. Rehana Bewa wants to get her elder son engaged in some income generating activity and the younger is in class II.

Despite the grave economic condition and being a school drop out for a year, Mustakiya Khatun has shown immense interest in enrolling back into a school during a survey conducted by our field partners IIMPACT. She has currently been registered in one of our sponsored learning centers with a hope for a free future for herself and her family.