Teacher's Diary: ‘Now girls are coming to school and not falling prey to child marriage’

My appointment as an assistant teacher was made in 2008 at the Upper Primary School Khairahana. Most of the people in this village are from the Banjara community and most of them keep wandering from place to place.

This also adversely affects the education of their children. They don’t send their daughters to school and get them married at an early age. When I arrived at the school, the enrollment of girls was almost negligible, and only about 15 children came to school with great difficulty. With the help of the School Management Committee, we decided to educate them, but they were not interested in understanding.

They had their own problems. Once we found out that a girl's early marriage was being planned, we went to her house. At first, the family was not ready to talk, but when we somehow started talking, the girl's father said that he had taken 10,000 rupees from the boy's family. Now how could he refuse the marriage? Then we, the teachers, collected the amount and gave it to the girl's father, and the marriage was stopped only then.

Now every girl in the village studies until eighth grade. Many girls are even continuing their studies further. As a result of my efforts, today girls are being enrolled in schools alongside boys. Not only this, but we also worked with the School Management Committee members to raise awareness about girls' education, anti-drug campaigns, blood donation campaigns, and other initiatives.

Also Read: Being visually challenged in no way hampers Ralal Jingar’s love for teaching

We encouraged parents to take up self-employment to prevent dropouts among children. We taught subjects like science through interesting activities and through the Teaching Learning Material [TLM] methods. We collaborated with former female students of the school to provide practical knowledge of sewing and embroidery to the girls which was a successful attempt. We taught children and rural people the method of making manure from dry waste, which they are now using in both the school and their homes.

Also Read: A village school where children fly model aircraft and dream about becoming scientists

One of my students was selected for the National Invention Campaign. We established a computer lab in the school. I was selected for the state-level ICT competition [Information and Communications Technology] and the "Tell a Story" competition. I was honored by the honorable Minister of Uttar Pradesh government, Director General of Education, District Magistrate of Raebareli, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) Principal, and District Basic Education Officer for the innovations being done in the school.