Bihar Village Girls Insist on Education

March 20, 2007

Kishanganj, BIHAR (India), March 20 (IANS): It's easy to miss

Simalbari, the Santhal hamlet in Kishanganj, Bihar. The dusty track

leading to the tribal community is narrow and uneven. Electricity

too is a distant dream here. Yet, a change is taking place, albeit

slowly and silently.

In a state where 60 percent of the girls are married before the age

of 18, adolescent girls in Simalbari are beginning to stand up

against early marriage, writes Grassroots Features.

When 15-year-old Radha Hemdar refused to give up her studies and get

married, it sent shock waves across her community. It was hard for

the illiterate tribal hamlet to understand why Hemdar was ruining

her life by giving up the pportunity of marrying a 'good' boy for

the sake of studies. But Hemdar remained steadfast. She has become

the first woman in many generations to reach Class 9 here.

" I am studying because I want to become somebody and also because I

know that early marriage is not good for my health, " said Hemdar.

Inspired by her, several girls between 10-14 years here have told

their parents that they don't want to give up studies for marriage

till they are 18.

" Convictions like these have given us hope that our work with

adolescent girls on reproductive and sexual health is finally

bearing fruit, " said Sayeeda Hussain, chairperson, Azad India

Foundation (AIF).

But the path has not been easy for AIF, a NGO working on adolescent

reproductive and sexual health (ARSH). Funded by the National

Foundation of India (NFI), this project, which began in 2003 in 15

villages of Kishanganj, has seen numerous twists and turns.

One of their biggest challenges came from the Mirbhatta village in

Powakhali block. A majority of Mirbhatta's predominantly Muslim

population is illiterate. Girls are married young and have no

control over their bodies or the number of children they give birth

to.

Local religious leaders or maulanas play a crucial role in all-

important decisions pertaining to the community.

" The maulana had opposed all our efforts to talk about adolescent

health. He argued that young girls would become 'polluted' if

informed about their bodies or talked to about reproductive and

sexual health, " said Parwez Raza, AIF field supervisor.

So pervasive was the maulana's influence that even his brother

Qurban Ali, an influential community leader and one-time AIF ally,

resisted any ARSH intervention.

But AIF workers did not give up. They just changed their strategy.

Instead of talking about adolescent health, they decided to use

their existing non-formal education (NFE) centres to rally parents

around their cause. Ali and the other parents were invited every

week to see what their children were learning.

After four weeks AIF workers asked the parents to give them a chance

to talk about adolescent health if they were confident that their

children would not be taught anything wrong.

It was then that Ali changed his mind. " In the beginning I was

opposed to it. But after AIF explained that our children would be

able to protect themselves by learning about the biological and

behavioural changes that take place when girls and boys reach

puberty, I realised it was wrong to resist them. I have also managed

to convince my maulana brother to end his opposition, " he said.

AIF was quick to realise that they could sustain the intervention

only if a member of the community spearheaded the initiative. So

they decided to train Ali's daughter, 17-year-old Marguba, as a peer

educator.

But 55-year old AIF worker, Madhuri Das, needed more than just

perseverance when she was given the duty to introduce the initiative

to Mohiuddinpur village. Despite being a more affluent, educated and

urbanised village, the mindset of its residents was no different

from Mirbhatta's.

Here too, the maulvi was opposed to any discussion on adolescent

health. But Das was adamant. " I am a follower of goddess Kali. I

realised that I had to be equally aggressive if I was to succeed in

my mission. So I kept at it despite the abuses and taunts. Even when

some people pelted stones at me, I did not run away, " said Das.

" Fortunately, the maulvi understood that what we wanted to teach the

girls would help them to look after their health before they took on

the responsibility of child-bearing, " she added.

Once AIF was able to win over the maulvi, the 70-year-old religious

leader even invited Das to hold the classes in the madrassa

itself. " The Koran says that if need be one should go to China to

acquire education. So why not the madrassa? " said Maulvi Gyasuddin.

However, not all religious leaders have been helpful. AIF has had to

close down three of its centres because of resistance from both

Muslim and Hindu religious leaders. Nevertheless, AIF believes that

without religious leaders on their side, it will be difficult to

make a breakthrough.

The district of Kishanganj ranks 588 out of 590 districts in the

country on the reproductive and child health (RCH) index, according

to a government survey of 1998-99. Although AIF's work is showing

some results, they have a long way to go before they can improve the

abysmal record.

change in a Bihar hamlet. By Swapna Majumdar Mar 20, 2007, 12:47 GMT

URL:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/india/features/article_1280163.php

/Winds_of_change_in_a_Bihar_hamlet

TINY URL: http://tinyurl.com/yuaozh

March 20, 2007

It's about time that women stood up for themselves! That is one sad blight upon

India is the education of women. I'm glad that is changing!

Jai Maa!

Shankari Kali

Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta wrote: