From Child Labour to College: Support Her Future

Shivani lives in rural poverty, in hut made of waste materials and sheets of plastic. Her father works as a labourer who helps farmers mend their machinery. When he can get work, Shivani's mother also goes to help. Illiterate and poor, Shivani's parents didn't really value education for their children, or even know how to care for them in some basic ways, being more concerned with finding work to try and have enough food. 

Shivani is in 3rd standard, with a younger sister in 2nd standard and a 5-year-old brother in kindergarden. Because of the intense poverty and lack of hygeine in their home environment, the sisters would attend school smelly, and in dirty clothes. This meant the other children wouldn't sit near them or speak to them. They slowly started to attend less and less, which didn't concern their parents either.

One day NISD ran a Hygiene Education session in the school, and Shivani came into contact with the project. After this initial contact, an NISD social worker visiting Shivani's family regularly over a long period of time. In the beginning they were not receptive to suggestions about cleanliness or the importance of education, but slowly they came to see the value in these things. After Shivani and her sister began coming to school washed, and in clean clothes, they began making friends and were encouraged to keep going. Shivani also received educational materials which her family could not afford, and was able to benefit from extra tuition classes run by the project.

Now Shivani loves going to school. Her reading and writing have now improved and are appropriate for her age, and her handwriting is praised by her teachers. Her prospects for the future look a lot better than they did a year ago.

Thank you for transforming the lives of girls like Shivani in this way with your support. 

Pritika, 7 years old, is from the village of Kharadi in Maharashtra, India. She lives with her mother, father and younger sister in a two roomed house made of mud and tin roof. Her father works as a daily laborer and makes around £40 per month.

Both Pratika’s mother and father are illiterate and so were not able to help Pratika in her studies. With little help in her studies from her parents Pratika started falling behind. Her family struggled to afford school materials for her. Pratika had no school bag or note books or stationary. She was teased by other students and didn’t want to attend classes. So she began to miss a lot of school days. Pratika’s mother also began to keep her at home to help with domestic chores.     

The project team became aware of Pratika’s case through her school teacher. The team visited her parents to talk with them about the importance of getting an education for Pratika. They explained that educating girls meant she would be able to get a job just like a boy and take care of them in old age. The team also provided Pratika’s parents with school material for Pratika so she would not be teased in class.   

Now Pratika is attending school regularly and is doing well in her studies. Without the intervention of the project team Pratika probably would have dropped out of education and would be following her mother into early marriage and domestic chores. Thanks to all the project’s supporters for helping Pratika to build a new future for herself.