Kalpana Mandal, 35, was taken out of the school system when she was in class VI. Her parents could no longer afford her education, and so, like thousands of girls across the country, she was relegated to the domestic space.
Although mandatory till the age of 14, formal education is still inaccessible to a lot of people. Speaking from her own experience, Kalpana asserts that although the government does help children till class IX, a lack of aid beyond it compels students to drop out or seek alternative financing methods. Her brother, whose education their parents could afford till class VIII, worked as a labourer during the day and studied at night to complete his education all the way through college.
For girls, however, this route may also remain closed. Kalpana was married at 16, and she is now a domestic worker in Kolkata. Her story mirrors the fate of many such girls who are unable to continue their schooling because of socio-economic constraints.
She says, “The support is not there when we need it the most…we can still somehow manage for the lower classes, but it gets more difficult later. After class IX, it is like we go backwards.” Even though formal education has remained out of her reach, Kalpana has managed to educate herself for a functional living. She keeps up with the news, is able to read a Bengali newspaper, and can understand bits of English.
This kind of informal education is very prevalent among women who did not complete school. It is a model of empowerment and independence that allows them to manage their own lives. Indeed, for women who are pulled out of the school system, informal or “street smart” education becomes almost necessary, a tool of survival that enables them to practice their autonomy.
Kalpana has been estranged from her husband for several years now, but the knowledge she garnered outside the classroom has kept her on her feet. She can plan her finances, sustain her family, and remain self-sufficient. Knowing how to work her way around the world has given her a choice to live the way she wants to, without depending on anyone else.
Informal education also produces more direct, immediate results. While formal education is a process that needs to be sustained for several years before yielding tangible impacts to one’s quality of life, ‘street-smarts’ allow one to experience benefits quickly. To women who are unable to continue their studies, the skills and awareness they gain through the informal realm help them navigate their lives.
For instance, Kalpana did not know how to open a bank account or save money till a few years ago. Now, she administers her finances through her bank and is well educated about why it is more beneficial and what she stands to gain from it.
However, acquiring this knowledge is not structured and comes largely from a place of experience and observation. Opening a bank account is not something that Kalpana was taught or told to do; it was something that she knew to do because of her experiences working in different places and understanding how the world around her was functioning.
“I went to five different places and saw five different things,” says Kalpana, “By listening to what others were doing and observing what was happening around me, I decided what was best for me and what would benefit me the most.”
She attributes much of this to her sheer desire to make a better future for her daughter. Her daughter is now 11, the same age as she was when she dropped out of school. Her life’s purpose now has become to ensure that her daughter is educated and does not have to face the same difficulties as her. One of the key differences that she sees between her childhood and her daughters is that her daughter has people beside her.
To Kalpana, while financial backing is very important and necessary, moral and, community encouragement is equally essential. She says that many girls give up on their education because there are not enough people beside her to tell her that they can do it, despite the circumstances.
She reiterates, over and over again, how important that aspiration to get educated is and how that aspiration is often squashed without a holistic support system. She says of her daughter, “I am there. My brother is there. My family is there. We are here to be there for her and all her dreams.”
The author is a Kaksha Correspondent as a part of writers’ training program under Kaksha Crisis.