What is a Taleemshala?
- It is a place where young girls are schooled. Taleem means Education and Shala means School. Hence the word.
These girls are from the lower sections of the society who have had to leave studies due to some problem of the other. Most of them are busy with house hold duties as well as farming, helping their families in whatever way they can. The girl child is considered a burden by most Indians, not the modern ones(maybe). But yes, the girl is normally not a first option in most cases. Having a girl child brings a lot of responsibilities on the family. There is a burden of getting her married. That is the main burden that the family envisages. Now, why is getting a girl child married such a burden? It is because of the way the Indian society is structured and functions. Having a girl child means that you have take care of her, let nobody hurt her and at some point get her a good husband who will keep her well. The Indian mentality is such that they do not treat their daughters well, so let alone the daughters in law who come in at some point. The poor father of the bride hopes that his daughter will be happier in the new house if he gives the family she is going to something in cash or kind. Thus came about the dowry. It is practiced widely in India even today by even the highly educated people. I have seen this even in my own family. Today it is more of a prestige issue and people want to show how rich they are by giving away as much as they can during a wedding.
Rural India is no different from this. It is pretty similar to the urban India in the way they treat the girl child, except for the fact that having less money and wealth to squander, they give the girl child less privileges. She is made to do more work in the house, in the farm, given less to eat and denied education. 'Padh legi toh Memsaheb ban jayegi', is the attitude. Well, in their defense, I will have to say that most of them are illiterate and do not really know what they are talking about.
Imagine that in such a situation you have to go out and convince families to send the girl to a school. They see no point in the whole process. They don't see any gain. Inspite of all this Ibtada has managed to convince so many villages to have Thaleemshalas and teach the girl child.
My experience with the kids was amazing. The little girls read out to me, danced, sang and even played games with me. They followed me around with their shy smiles and wanted to be noticed. There was a little girl called 'Rihana' who was so good at dancing. She kept on at it and she was good at studies too. Her mother was a little educated and so made it a point to send Rihana to school everyday. The little Ishas and the little Gauris only amazed me more when they read out their poems so well and looked so pleased when the class clapped for them!
The Thaleemshala was a small room in an abandoned building. Girls from the ages of 5 to 12 were in there in one room trying to study and understand what their teacher was saying. Hats off to the teacher who so patiently taught the lil ones! Finding such committed individuals is definitely a hard thing to do. But you do find some here and there, the ones blessed with a good heart! I saw dedication.
The day moved on and I visited the first Cluster meeting. The women from a lot of Self Help Groups, the three heads representing their village were present. The meeting started off with a song and the Munshiji convened the meeting. The women here were much more vocal as compared to what I had seen the previous day. It was very clear that they were the heads of their respective Self Help Groups and wanted to bring in front of everybody the issues that their group faced and find solutions to the problems. I experienced Empowerment in the true sense.
The day ended with me looking at some beautiful peacocks perched on the tree just outside the balcony. The peacocks never cease to amaze me!
Rural India is no different from this. It is pretty similar to the urban India in the way they treat the girl child, except for the fact that having less money and wealth to squander, they give the girl child less privileges. She is made to do more work in the house, in the farm, given less to eat and denied education. 'Padh legi toh Memsaheb ban jayegi', is the attitude. Well, in their defense, I will have to say that most of them are illiterate and do not really know what they are talking about.
Imagine that in such a situation you have to go out and convince families to send the girl to a school. They see no point in the whole process. They don't see any gain. Inspite of all this Ibtada has managed to convince so many villages to have Thaleemshalas and teach the girl child.
My experience with the kids was amazing. The little girls read out to me, danced, sang and even played games with me. They followed me around with their shy smiles and wanted to be noticed. There was a little girl called 'Rihana' who was so good at dancing. She kept on at it and she was good at studies too. Her mother was a little educated and so made it a point to send Rihana to school everyday. The little Ishas and the little Gauris only amazed me more when they read out their poems so well and looked so pleased when the class clapped for them!
The Thaleemshala was a small room in an abandoned building. Girls from the ages of 5 to 12 were in there in one room trying to study and understand what their teacher was saying. Hats off to the teacher who so patiently taught the lil ones! Finding such committed individuals is definitely a hard thing to do. But you do find some here and there, the ones blessed with a good heart! I saw dedication.
The day moved on and I visited the first Cluster meeting. The women from a lot of Self Help Groups, the three heads representing their village were present. The meeting started off with a song and the Munshiji convened the meeting. The women here were much more vocal as compared to what I had seen the previous day. It was very clear that they were the heads of their respective Self Help Groups and wanted to bring in front of everybody the issues that their group faced and find solutions to the problems. I experienced Empowerment in the true sense.
The day ended with me looking at some beautiful peacocks perched on the tree just outside the balcony. The peacocks never cease to amaze me!
No comments:
Post a Comment