Education in India

Posted April 4, 2017

by tbarbaree

Written by: Sharon Panackal 

I met with Susheela Devi at a KGBV in the Shrawasti district of Uttar Pradesh. Beautiful, with neatly tied hair and a nose ring, she is a studious and multitalented girl. She is the only daughter to her mother and a sister to four brothers. Her father passed away when she was 10 years old, and since then, her maternal grandparents have looked after the family of six. It was her grandfather who enrolled her at the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) after she graduated from class five.  

Posted March 3, 2017

by tbarbaree

Written By: Sharon Panackal 

Posted February 2, 2017

by tbarbaree

Written By: Sharon Panackal 

Sweta has had a hard life since childhood. Her father was an alcoholic who spent all his hard-earned money on drinks, and because he seldom paid school tuition, Sweta had dropped out of six schools by the time she was 11. The courageous little girl asked her father how she was going to get proper education if she was forced to change schools every year. To her disappointment, her father responded by saying that he did not have enough money to pay her fees.

Posted February 2, 2017

by tbarbaree

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBVs) are upper primary government schools in India that focus on providing free education to girls from secluded and minority communities. CARE supports 746 KGBVs in the state of Uttar Pradesh, providing the students with quality education and developing them as leaders who are capable of connecting with and demonstrating an appreciation for others. Students’ leadership qualities are developed through class activities and management roles within various committees in school.

Posted December 12, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Kiran comes from a rural village surrounded by a dense forest that is miles away from the nearest town. The small village’s primary offers children both mid-day meals and uniforms. As a child, Kiran broke her leg and due to inadequate medical attention it did not heal properly and she is no longer able to bend it without excruciating pain. Due to limited mobility, Kiran wasn’t able to attend primary school and she missed out on the chance to gain basic skills.

Posted November 11, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

The Hindi word “Muskaan” in roughly means smiling and Muskaan is also the name of a 13 year old KGBV student in the Shrawasti district of Uttar Pradesh. Although she’s from a poor background, Muskaan now has many reasons to smile.

When she was 11 years old, Muskaan’s parents sent her to upper kindergarten and her younger brother to lower kindergarten. Although her parents were not educated, they taught her as much as they could but knew that a formal education was necessary.

Posted October 10, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Posted September 9, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

The KGBV Gaindas Buzurg in the Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh is a beautiful school with colourful posters on the walls and student-grown plants in the vegetable garden. Pritee, Shana and Gulsan are class 8 students who told me how the three years at KGBV improved their self-confidence and changed their personalities around for the better.

Posted September 9, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Malati Devi’s daughter Sunita is a class 7 student at KGBV Giloula in the Shrawasti district of Uttar Pradesh. Malati has two daughters and four sons and she works as a helper at nearby houses to earn for the family.

When Sunita’s older sister was in class 6, her younger brother was studying in class 5. Seeing that her parents did not have enough money to educate both her and her brother, Sunita’s sister asked her parents to let her brother study and she dropped out after class 6 while her brother studied till class 10.  

Posted September 9, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

I met Mohini Singh, a KGBV teacher who teaches science, computers and art, at a KGBV in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. She has been working at the school since 2011, and is one of the full time teachers who live with the students in their dormitories. Although she had not been away from her family before, Mohini decided to take the opportunity to be a teacher at the girls-only school.

Posted September 9, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Posted August 8, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

I walked into a senior students’ classroom at KGBV Pachpedwa in Uttar Pradesh to a warm round of applause and a short welcoming song. Sitting with the class for a little while, I listened to their experiences at KGBV and future goals.

Posted August 8, 2016

by Anonymous (not verified)

I met Mansi Misra at Aouriya Nidhan, a primary school in Uttar Pradesh that Join My Village supports through CARE India. I had heard about Mansi and her learning disability which makes it hard for her to learn through typical teaching methods. Mansi’s parents tried to help by sending her to a private school but it was expensive and even after a year she was still struggling. Witnessing no change in her learning abilities, they enrolled her in Aouriya Nidhan where her teachers and friends have helped her succeed.

Posted August 8, 2016

by bpeterson

It was a cold afternoon when I saw Aftab Alam, science teacher at a KGBV school in Uttar Pradesh, teaching the students outdoors in front of their classroom. A handful of students were seated on traditional mats placed on the grass with a blackboard in front of them. Despite the cold weather, the sun kept the students warm and cozy. I had heard about Aftab from Gudiya Yadav, a smart class 8 student. Aftab was her favorite teacher since he constantly encouraged her to do her best. I was curious about his teaching, so I stayed outdoors watching him teach a class that afternoon.

Posted July 7, 2016

by bpeterson

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Sunita Devi and Sabhiya Banu, who recently graduated from a KGBV in Uttar Pradesh, began their friendship with an exchange of New Year greetings while in class six. Their friendship grew strong through the three years they studied together at KGBV.

Posted June 6, 2016

by ctyndall

Written By: Sharon Panackal

Rajrani and Anjali were always together at school. Every time I saw them in the campus, during assembly, lunch and while in classes, they stayed together. Rajrani and Anjali who are from the same village and are both in the new class at one of the KGBVs in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, became friends based on their similar backgrounds and common tongue. However, they are more than just friends to each other, they are also each other’s mentors. 

Posted June 6, 2016

by ctyndall

Written By: Sharon Panackal

 

Munni Thivari is one of many girls in Uttar Pradesh whose dream of upper-primary education came true thanks to CARE and a KGBV. Since the upper-primary school closest to her house was two hours away, Munni was asked to stay at home while her elder brother went to school every day. After many futile attempts at receiving a formal education, Munni settled for learning everything that her brother, a class 9 student, would teach her.

Posted June 6, 2016

by ctyndall

Written By: Sharon Panackal

 

Shanti Devi, who lives in the Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh, has three daughters and two sons. The family depends on what her husband earns by doing ironing in the streets. Despite having only a very minimal income, Shanti and her husband value their daughters’ education as much as they do that of their sons.

Posted June 6, 2016

by ctyndall

Written By: Sharon Panackal

 

Sangita Devi is the mother of Kiran Kanojya, a 7th grade student from KGBV Giloula in the Shrawasti district of Uttar Pradesh. In addition to her daughter Kiran, Sangita has one other daughter and two sons. Similar to the men in many other families in their village, her husband moved out of Uttar Pradesh in search of a better paying job in nearby cities.

Posted April 4, 2016

by careadmin

Surrounded by acres of farm lands, KGBV Hujoorpur feels far-removed from the nearest town in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. The two-story building is a typical school with classrooms, a library, dormitories, kitchen and an office. During a recent visit, the school was bustling with activity as the students prepared for the day. Sitting in one of the dormitories with Madhvi, the Hindi teacher, I learned about the changes that CARE has brought to the school.