Pardada Pardadi Education

I had written about the saas bahu sammelan a while ago. Now read about the Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, an educational progam based in Anoopshahar in the Bulandshahar district of Uttar Pradesh. The PPES opted for a unique approach of education through academic, value-based, and skill-based education allows PPGVS to address the interrelated issues of poverty, gender-bias, and education in India. At present PPES working with girls from 46 villages of Anoopshahar in Uttar Pradesh.

To me, the following rationale make this a remarkable program…

Economic : this is one of the prime reasons for parents to not send their children to school :

– many poor people who want to educate their children cannot afford to send them to school – especially their girl children – where there is a need felt, the priority is for the boys to be educated
– and there is a clear (perceived, and maybe even real) lack of link between education and opportunities for work or economic betterment in any way. Mera beta (and much more, beti) school jaake kya karega – usko naukri to aasani se nahi milega na (what will my son / daughter do going to school – he will not get a job so easily)

PPES takes care of this with by providing free education for girl children. In fact, this report says that students, all girls, are paid Rs 10 a day for attending classes. Wisely, the money is not given in the hands of the girl or her parents on a regular basis but placed in a joint account n the name of the girl and her mother – the money can be withdrawn only after the girl completes Class X.

More on this here.
For every day a student attends school, 10 rupees (US$0.30) is put into her bank account. By the time a girl completes the program (about 7-10 years), she should have approximately 100,000 rupees (US$2,200), assuming she has attended most days of the school year. Ideally, the products produced by the students bring back Rs.30 (US$0.90) per day. Of that, 10 rupees goes in their account and 20 rupees goes back into sustaining the school.

And what is even better is that the PPES has a clear focus on prividing vocational training to the girls, along with bookish learning. The vocational school run by the Society produces fine hand embroidered linen appliqué work and block printing which can have various uses, along with table clothes, luncheon sets, bed covers and sheets, curtains, and cushion covers says this website describing the activities of the school.

Social : the school, in addition to regular education and vocational training includes training in other social aspects such as personality development, health and hygiene, leadership development, legal awareness, money management, business management, and values and ethics. Ideally, the girl comes out of school, not just educated but also confident and trained in social skills.

Apart from this, I think the money incentive is also great for making parents push the age at which they will get their daughter married off. Right now, girls in this district are married at the age of 13-14.

Cultural : and this is what I love most about this concept – the idea of drawing on the wisdom of our great grandparents. Bringing educatoin into their lives by associating it with a concept that such people know and respect – the knowledge and wisdom of the elderly. As opposed to introducing an education system completely foreign to their ideas and values – and forcing it on them.

And finally their business model : in other words, their plans for sustainability and scalability. As the students work and get trained in different skills, they also contribute towards the expenses incurred in running the school through the products they make and sell. At present ( yr-2004-2005) school has 280 girls and it costs app. Rs 2 lac10 thousand per month towards running cost of the school. Running cost of PPES is Rs. 35 per girl per day. Vocational training of the girls is planned in such a way that with a training of two years students can earn wages of Rs.35 per day through the vocational skill they learn. In the month of Jan 2005 school earned Rs.1 lac 35 thousand. Deficit of Rs. 85 thousand is because the newer batches of girls have still not reached the required levels.

Their website is called, rightly, education for change; you can sponsor the education of girls there if you wish.

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And then this extremely heartening (but seeming to me over-optimistic in tone) article on rediff, The Quiet Revolution – that has been taking place in India’s elementary education that, if successful, will equip an entire younger generation with skills to improve productivity and reduce the burden of disease, high birth rates, hunger, and poverty, while changing societal attitudes toward gender, caste, tribe, and disability. I need to go back and read this piece again…