Kashish (name changed), a student of Class XII in Government Senior Secondary School, Panchayat Dhaua, Jaisalmer, is pursuing humanities. After completing her Class X and achieving meritoriously, she was awarded the Indira Priyadarshini Puraskar for attaining the highest marks in the district.
The award is the highest honour for the topper of Rajasthan’s district for Class VIII, X and XII and is funded by the Rajasthan Government to encourage girl education in the State. She was awarded Rs 1 lakh by the State government, along with a two-wheeler scooty by her school.
During my visit to her school, Kashish told me about her love for mathematics and how she supports her community children with this. On being asked about her future endeavours, she said she wishes to continue her passion for mathematics by pursuing teaching in her own school.
But the unavailability of medical and non-medical subjects in government schools makes it difficult for students, especially girls, to pursue STEM subjects, keeping in mind the challenges girls face due to the unavailability of nearby schools and the unwillingness of parents to send girls to far-off places.
Once Kashish completed Class 10, due to the ongoing pandemic, her school education came to a standstill, just like that of many other students in the country. As a precautionary means, schools were shut.
Being an Aspirational District, her village did not have as much access to internet/network facilities or the availability of smartphones for kids’ education. Adjustment at home to the new normal remained the biggest challenge.
My observations during the pandemic remain in the concern of gender bias that a family creates while creating more opportunities for boys than for girls. Girls, because of the pandemic, have to be more involved in household chores to support their families as all of a sudden, multiple lockdowns have been implemented.
Due to the said reasons, Kashish’s family is keen on getting her married as she is the eldest girl in the family and she must support and start her new family. However, with the support of Principal sir, we organised a parent-teacher meeting with parents to counsel them about the importance of education for Kashish and many other dropouts.
According to her parents, the to-be groom is a small-scale farmer and aged 40 years. He would be able to support their child and future family and reduce a mouth to feed for their family. After convincing her family, her parents just agreed to complete her Class XII as the to-be groom is against her education.
There are millions of girls out there like Kashish who not only achieve militarily in their studies. However, they support their families throughout the day and end up sacrificing their dreams for the greater good of the family.
The first thing Kashish conveyed to me during our initial interactions was, “ Ma’am mujhe bahut acha lagta hai jab koi itni dur, jaise dilli, se hamare yahan aaya ha, ek ladki ho ke. Kaash kabhi me bhi dur jaon aur kuch kar sakun (I feel proud when I see girls going a distance to prove something in their lives, I hope to do the same someday).”
The author is a Kaksha Correspondent as a part of writers’ training program under Kaksha Crisis.