Who says the paper route is a thing of the past ?
The girl who delivers the newspapers at our house every morning (here in Madras) is studying in college. I like chatting with her whenever I manage to catch her. She proudly tells me that she pays for her own fees and books. She is full of beans and makes me mornings more bearable !
Our flower girl who comes by late in the evenings is also studying. She is training to be a nurse. And her younger sister goes to school. Her mother is a maid somewhere in our building. And no, she does not have starry-eyed dreams of moving to the UK or the Middle East as a professional nurse.
Our maid at home has four children, two of whom go to school and one who is in a technical college studying electrical repairs. They will not go through what I have endured in my life, she says. And I can actually see the glow in her eyes when she talks about her children’s future.
These women are not figments of my imagination; I meet and interact with them everyday. And they make me feel so so so good…. So optimistic about the future of our country. Ohmygod, do I sound like a patronizing Shobha De talking about “interesting” women that she has met? I hope not, for meeting such people truly gives me a high.
I had written about a couple of girls I met in Madurai a while ago on work. Mind, these women do not speak good English, a few not at all. What strikes me most about these women is the confidence they have. In themselves. The unshakable faith that they have in education as the ultimate deliverance. From their present miserable lives.
Some food for thought : the proportion of “never enrolled” children (meaning children who have never been to school, as opposed to drop-outs) has been declining steadily : from 50% in 1986 (6-14 years in the most backward states) to 20% in 1996. More and more parents who cannot strictly afford this are willing to give education a chance.
But is their faith justified ? Is our education system (I am talking about elementary education here) living up to their expectations ? Ah, that is several blogs by themselves…..