The Other India

In our country India, where several female Goddesses are revered with a sense of respect and fear, a huge section of the society still continues to be uneducated. A major segment of girls in the rural areas, more than 75% of the total women population in 6 out of 29 states of the subcontinent are denied their basic right to education, mainly in an attempt to hinder their insight to the outer world. Despite various campaigns by Government and Non-Government organizations in the past and present that aimed at social-awareness, the mentality of the rural population of India hasn’t undergone any complete change. The main reason for this injustice remains to be the open resistance by the old minds in the rural areas, to new ideologies, since any ideology which is not parallel to their mind set is seen as an insult and as an attempt to demean their culture. The spiritual books that are worshiped had not expressed any disapproval to girls being educated, but on the contrary has championed the...

The turning point - Part 2 At that time, Chandni did not even knew how to hold a pencil. But she tried hard and received her education, after enrolling into an open school program. When began her education , she was 10 and now she is pursuing her higher Secondary Education . This was the turning point for the young girl who went onto make Education of Street children the Mission of her life.   While serving for Badhte Kadam, she met her first challenge where she found a couple of children imprisoned after being accused of stealing. “I remembered the horror of the day I was in prison and went to the police station to get the children released. It was one of my proud moments and it was then when my life took a turn for the better.” She added. As Chandni’s motive was to serve for the underprivileged children she was determined she wanted to continue working for Badhte Kadam, as a result new education centers were opened, and more and more connected to these centers. Considering her ...

There is a saying “ It takes only one voice at the right pitch, to start an avalanche ”. Hers is a story about a girl from the slums who herself held a pencil at the age of 10 and now she is reshaping the life of many children who dare to dream and desire to fulfil them. This story must be told to everyone and this is a voice that must resonate ,so that children in the streets are taken care and are equipped to lead their lives better. It’s also Story of a past filled with suffering, a Present full of hope and endurance, and a Future that promises to be brighter than ever before. I am talking about Chandni Khan who was born in the slums of Noida, a place where several kids are born and die in oblivion. But she refused to lay back and make her peace with her grim destiny as she climbed out of the darkness and now she is extending her hands to pull others out of the same misery too. This girl started working from a very young age. “From the age of five, I used to travel along with my fa...

I was 16 when I joined an NGO that gave education to underprivileged students. My very first day was in Dharavi - Mumbai. As my taxi went through the road deeper and inside the lanes of Dharavi, I could feel the Mumbai which is shown in movies and which is written in books is gone far away. The place I was in was full of life. It looked like the scene where ants are working together in places everywhere. Every house had ladders and life built upon life, families lived upon families. I was directed to a room where I was supposed to teach the kids. I passed door after door. Doors that were open wide. Houses had women working on sewing machines, creaking table fans, swings made of saree for just born kids, piles of vessels filled with water and small photographs on the walls with garland on them. In the rooms of 10*10 square feet, people created homes. The room I entered had no roof. Walls were broken. It had a black board and a chair. One hour went by, nobody showed up. Just when I was...

Ranjitsinh Disale, a Government School Teacher from Paritewadi, Maharashtra, had made history and made India proud. This is not because he won the 1 million USD Global Teacher Prize 2020 which brings incredible honour and glory in itself, but because in a never-before-seen instance, he decided to share half of his Rs 7.4 crore winnings with the rest of the nine finalists for the Global Teacher Prize to support their work. “The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed education and the communities it serves in a multitude of ways. But in this hard time, teachers are giving their best to make sure every student has access to their birth right of a good education," said Disale, as per PTI. Disale aspired to become an IT engineer but it didn’t turn out to be the way he wanted to that’s when his father suggested him teaching as a career. However, his experience in a teacher training college changed him as a person completely. He started off with his incredible work in Zila Parishad Primary Scho...