English: Right to Learn Project implemented by Kasturba Balika Vidyalaya, Sarnath,

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 

Uttar Pradesh, India

April 2010 

project co-financed by the European Commission

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In 2000, the Government of India launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or 'Education for All'. The programme, largely funded by the Indian government, has received substantial contributions from the World Bank and the European Commission (250 million Euros). In 2002, India made a historic 86th Indian Constitutional Amendment Act that declared elementary education as a Fundamental Right for all children between 6-14 years and obliged the State to provide them with free and compulsory education.
In 2009, the Indian Parliament took a further step and passed “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act”. With 304 million Indian citizens still non-literate (UNDP 2009), this objective was indeed a challenge for India. However, 98% of India’s rural population today has access to primary schools within few kilometres of their habitation; and primary school enrolment among girls has risen from a mere 16.1% in 1950 to 46.7% in 2005.
Although in 2011, women’s literacy rates are only 65.46% while those for men are 82.14%, the gender gap in the past decade has narrowed with female literacy rates at 11.8% as compared with 6.9% among men. With the objective of increasing the enrolment of girls in primary schools, the Indian government set up 3598 residential schools across the country for girls aged 6 to 14 years. Called Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, these schools target girls from the most marginalized communities. In these schools, besides academic curricula, the girls learn life skills and performing arts, acquire self-confidence, learn to defend themselves from injustice, understand their value in family and society and acquire the pride of being a woman. The EUGAD team went to visit one such school in the town of Sarnath, near the sacred city of Varanasi along the River Ganga; the town where Buddha gave his first sermon.
The EUGAD team visited a Kasturba girl's school in the town of Sarnath, near the sacred city of Varanasi along the River Ganga; the town where Buddha gave his first sermon.
The principal of the school informed us that the Kasturba schools are boarding schools for girls, between 6 and 14 years, because the government thought girls here would be able to dedicate full time to studies and receive healthy food rather than stay on in the villages where they would have looked after their younger siblings and ultimately dropped out of school. Staying 24 hours in the school would ensure that they get good nutrition, education and life skills. Education is key to nation building and this does not imply just literacy but a change of attitude and mind sets of people. We can lead out the talent of the girls and make them valuable citizens.”
One of the girls proudly tells us, “My parents now say that they want us to study and complete school, even if this might need selling the family house. They say that girls today are reaching new heights in professional achievements and that is why they want us to study as much as we can. You are like our sons, they say.” “I teach and receive payment like all other teachers do but working with these children, getting their sympathy and creating an emotional bond is something unique to such schools. These girls are drop outs from public schools. Their lives would have been wasted but we will transform them into good citizens who will develop the country. Parents tell us that they have changed because of the change in their daughters. They no longer want to get girls married off early and they want to educate their daughters, This gives me great satisfaction,” says a teacher in the school.
In 2002, India made a historic 86th Indian Constitutional Amendment Act that declared elementary education as a Fundamental Right for all children between 6-14 years and obliged the State to provide them with free and compulsory education. In 2009, the Indian Parliament took a further step and passed “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act”. With 304 million Indian citizens still non-literate (UNDP 2009), this objective was indeed a challenge for India.