Girls' Education in India: NGOs Working Tirelessly To Provide Education to the Underprivileged

Extreme poverty, illiteracy of parents and entrenched patriarchy have all played a role in keeping the girls from reaching their full potential through education. Girls from marginalized communities in both rural and urban areas are often forced to do household chores and take care of their siblings rather than study in school.

Since India gained independence from British rule in 1947, it has made steady progress in primary and secondary education. But there are several stumbling blocks on the road to achieving the goal of universal education. These include lack of adequate funds, physical infrastructure and quality teachers.

The pandemic has made matters worse. According to the Right to Education Forum, over 10 million girls in India are at risk of dropping out of secondary school because of the pandemic as low-income families cannot afford to spend money on education.

Here are 3 NGOs encouraging girls to pursue education:

1. Community Action for Rural Development

CARD works in various fields such as health, livelihood, women's development projects and even the environment. But educational support to school children has been one of the focus areas.

Their initiatives in various rural districts of Tamil Nadu have helped girls from destitute backgrounds to go for secondary and higher secondary education and achieve their goals in life.

One of its programmes is focused on enrolling more and more girls on the government-run high schools in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu. It aims to motivate economically backward parents to send their girl children to school for higher education.

Visit their website to know more.

2. Seva Mandir

Seva Mandir is a Rajasthan-based organization that provides educational support and hygiene kits to children and small group teaching through daily visits by teachers, who are encouraged to engage parents of girl children to continue their education.

Seva Mandir has a strategy that focuses on ensuring education for school dropouts, mostly girls, between the ages of 6-14 years in tribal areas of Rajasthan.

The organization also runs Shiksha Kendras (SKs) or bridge schools that help children acquire basic Hindi, Math and English skills. It also motivates them to enroll on government schools to continue their further education. Under the unique concept of Shiksha Kendras, they involve the whole village in monitoring the school.

Visit their website to know more.

3. Vidya & Child

Vidya & Child began in 1998 with the single aim of making a difference in the lives of underprivileged children belonging to socio-economically marginalized sections of society. The majority of its learners are first-generation school-goers.

The children’s parents are illiterate or semi-literate working as domestic servants, industrial workers, rickshaw-pullers, street vendors, plumbers and carpenters.

Vidya & Child helps over 1,800 children across five locations in semi-rural and rural settings through its school and after school support programmes. At these schools, the students study until they complete primary education. Girls’ education is an area that Vidya & Child looks at very closely.

Visit their website to know more.

Roshini Muthukumar

Roshini Muthukumar, a native of Chennai, started her career as a content writer but made a switch to journalism to pursue her passion. She has experience writing about human interest stories, innovative technology, entrepreneurs, research blogs, and more. Previously, Roshini has done internships with The Hindu, Metroplus and worked as a correspondent with The Better India.