By Dr. Ashok Dyalchand | Director
“Life skills education classes taught me that a girl should not get married before 18. I told my parents and stuck to it. I will only get married after I become an engineer”
Puja (name changed) lives in a nearby village which is at a distance of 30 kilometres from Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP). She is highly motivated and inspires girls in her village to continue with their education and also helps them in taking part in extracurricular activities. Her parents are illiterate and work on their agricultural land, where they earn a very limited income from subsistence farming.
She studies in the 12th standard (higher secondary class) in a school in a neighbouring village (5 km. from her village). She cycles every day to the school. She completed the Life Skills Education course organized by IHMP in her village in 2014. Being an articulate and motivational speaker, she was chosen as a Peer Leader by other girls in her Girl’s Club (Kishori Mandal). She organized a visit for the girls to the nearby police station, bank, village council office, etc. with the help of the ASHA in her village. She also took the initiative for organizing street plays in her village. The plays were mostly about the risks and disadvantages of child marriage and the need for continuing education of adolescent girls. She encouraged other girls to take part in the street play and also convinced their parents to allow them. During the Life School Education course Puja learnt mehandi (henna designs on the hands) and rangoli (designs with coloured powder on the ground during special events). On (Independence Day) 15th August she was invited by her Village Council to do a rangoli at the entrance of the Village Council office. She learnt different techniques for personal care through the beauty parlor course organized in her village by IHMP. Now she undertakes this work for other girls and women in her village and earns money.
After learning computer skills on a tablet provided for adolescent girls in her village by Institute of Health Management, Pachod, she enrolled for a formal certificate course on computer skills. She completed the course successfully with more than 90 percent marks. She is able to access information through the internet on various topics like farming, scholarships and also learning different skills through YouTube tutorials. It came as a surprise to us that she also follows IHMP’s twitter handle and re-tweets on a daily basis about child marriage, women empowerment and nutrition.
Puja said, “Because of the Life Skills Education conducted by IHMP, I can speak confidently in front of others and express my opinion without hesitation. I have told my parents that I want to become an engineer and start working. Only after that I will think about getting married”
Institute of Health Management Pachod is empowering 154,000 girls with skills for adaptive change. We want them to access information, acquire skills and benefit from it the way Puja has benefitted.
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