Samruddhi:

Education. A privilege that my life has been enriched with for the 20 years I’ve been on earth. Learning has shaped the person I am today, and my drive to keep learning shapes my future. Education fuels progress, effaces ignorance, and conducts prosperity

I vividly remember those childhood mornings where my mother forcefully sat me down to tie two little braids so I would look neat and smart. Car rides with my father on the way to school would turn into choruses of reciting the times tables. School was a wondrous place that never failed to produce gasps of joy in a roomful of 6 year olds when they were taught something new. School nurtured my aspirations and encouraged my dreams.

Coming from India, a country infamous for both it’s gender inequality and low literacy rates; I feel a firm duty to contribute towards the driving force for making this change. The average female literacy rate in India is estimated to be 20% lower than their male counter parts, with some areas exhibiting rates as low as 33%! In many parts of India, the arrival of a baby girl calls for mourning rather than celebration. Abandoning them at birth or marrying them off as children is common practice. Looked upon as huge economic burden, many families in India deem the education of girls as futile and do not send them to school.

Statistics from the Government of India reveal that only 3 out of 10 girls who enter Grade 1 complete Grade 10. While enrolment rates of girls are improving marginally in India, dropout levels remain alarmingly high. Research has shown that reasons for this dropout may be as minor as the girl child not being able to afford a school dress/uniform to go to school and could also include more complex factors like girls taking on the responsibility of household chores at a very young age as a result of gender stereotyping.

Project Nanhi Kali (literally meaning “little bud”) is a program that aims to provide both primary and secondary education to underprivileged girls in India. Since it’s inception in 1996, it has supported 300,000 girls’ education in India, with truly inspirational success stories! (http://www.nanhikali.org/what-we-do/success-stories.aspx)

Sponsoring a girls’ education for a year between the ages of 6 and 11 costs just £30, while sponsoring a girls’ education for a year between the ages of 12 and 16 costs £42. A comprehensive sponsorship is created to take care of a range of their educational requirements, providing not only academic support that enables them to make a success of their schooling experience but also material support including uniforms, school bags and shoes. The girls (affectionately called “Nanhi Kalis”) receive academic support through a 1-2 hour class conducted before or after school hours called the Academic Support Centre, where concepts in Maths, Science and Language are taught to bridge the gaps in learning and enable children to attain grade-specific competency levels

Integrating my passion for education with my enthusiasm to give back to the society that I come from, my goal is to sponsor 10 girls’ education for a year through the Nanhi Kali Project. My target of £360 will sponsor 5 girls from Grades 1-5, and 5 girls from Grades 6-10.

To help me reach this goal, I'm participating in a "Doodle a Day" challenge which will involve creating a piece of art every day (surrounding the theme of women in India). I hope to hold an auction at the end of the process to help me towards the goal!

Thank you so much for your donations!

Vinay:

Having lived in India for a huge chunk of my teenage life (9 years to be precise), I hold the country very dear to my heart. I admire its rich culture and unique traditions. However while living there, I wasn't blind to the shortcomings of the society, including the discrimination against women.

India has one of the highest rate of female foeticide, which shows that girls are subjected to prejudice even before they are born. Life doesn't get easier afterwards with girls not having the same access to education as boys do.

It's not that nothing has been done to tackle these issues. In 2015, the Indian government launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save the girl child, educate the girl child) campaign to tackle these very issues. However, an issue this big cannot be resolved without everyone working together.

With all this in mind I’ve decided to raise money for an organisation called Nanhi Kali which funds the education of girls between the age of 6 and 18, to give them an opportunity for a brighter future. Opportunities which I was guilty of taking for granted.

A country cannot function when half the population is choked. Education and equality, are key stepping stones into a better world, and this organisation supports the idea of both.