Empowering rural women

Fourteen-year-old Piari Purti from Gaddara village in Jharkhand began working as a farm labourer when she was just eight to nine years old. She used to get 60 rupees a day. When she attained 11 years of age, she began working in a brick yard and was paid 80 rupees a day. She left home every morning at 6 am and returned at 6.30 pm. Back home, she also had to help her mother and look after her younger siblings.

Belonging to an extremely poor family, Piari says there were days when they could not get two square meals a day. Piari says that in her village the upper class families looked down upon them.

“They wash the charpoy if we happen to sit on them and if any of us used the tap before them, they made it a point to clean the tap before using it and there was no question of ever entering their houses. For girls it was double discrimination”, she says. “Boys are preferred over girls to be sent to school in our village, but I was lucky that I got a chance to come to Mahila Shikshan Kendra”, says Piari.

It was in April this year that Piari Purti was selected for admission to Mahila Shikshan Kendra in Jamshedpur. For Piari who had never been to school, it was a dream come true, for she always wanted to study. Before the completion of the 11 month crash course she was undergoing, Piari will have learnt lessons up to class V and then she would be admitted to Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya. “I want to become an engineer”, she says.

MSKs are run by the Mahila Samakhya scheme under the Human Resource Development Ministry of the Union Government. Recognizing that education can be an effective tool in women’s empowerment , the programme was first started as a pilot project in 1988 in three states including Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh but is now being implemented in nine states including Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Uttarakhand.

According to Dr Smita Gupta, State Program Director, Jharkhand Mahila Samkhya Society (JMSS), specially designed curriculum is followed to develop leadership qualities and audio visual techniques, computers, television etc are used to arouse interest and curiosity among the learners. These young girls at the MSKs also get a chance to participate in sports, karate, plays and celebrations of days like Wash Day or Teachers day etc. They are also taken to banks, post offices, railway stations etc., to acquaint them with the services, working and facilities there. Sometimes they also get to participate in workshops and seminars.

There are 14 MSKs in Jharkhand, one each in 11 districts, one for women prisoners in Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi, one in Khunti for survivors of human trafficking.

Trafficking of girls is serious issue of serious in Jharkhand which is considered a source state from where several girls are duped into exploitative situations due to extreme poverty. It was only last year that one MSK for women and young girls rescued from trafficking was started and the first batch has completed the 11 month condensed course.

It is the most marginalized women and adolescent girls who are selected for admission to MSKs. Mahila Samakhya groups identify the trainees for the MSK. What is however worrying is that girls like asanti Purti, sister of Piari Purti who is just 11 years old continues to work in brick yards or farms to earn a living. There are thousands of them like her, who instead of being in schools, which is their legal right, have no choice but to slog for 50 to 60 rupees a day or are forced into trafficking because of extreme poverty .

In the 4th Joint Review Mission of Mahila Samakhya, it was pointed out that poor quality of teaching, infrastructure and inadequate learning material in the MSKs was an area of concern. The silver lining, however, is that there are girls like Asha, Piari and Ashtami, who are not only looking forward to getting higher education but have already been motivated to become forceful agents of change in their villages.

By: Sarita Brara