"Pink Bags" scholarships for young girls

Child marriage deprives girls of their childhood and threatens their well-being. Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to receive a proper education. They have worse economic and health outcomes than their unmarried peers, which are often passed down to their own children, further straining a country’s capacity to provide quality education and health services. For these reasons, increasing awareness about the problem is important as much as supporting deserving young girl students with scholarships (Pink Bags) to grant them a different future.

UPDATES FROM INDIA

In the last period, thanks to the awareness rising activities organized in Markapur and Bollipalli area, there have been no more marriages in this geographical area where we operate. Some families have tried to organize them, but the majority of the population is sensitized and reports the cases to the government, which blocks them in time because they cannot be celebrated in secret. Now the next goal will be to try to postpone the marriages of girls who marry shortly after the age of 18, so that they can more easily access higher education or find employment that will enable them to support themselves. In the meantime100 girls in Markapur and 70 in Bollapalli were helped in continuing their college education, were motivated and successfully enrolled in different colleges as per their choice and subjects. As part of supportive assistance, all the 170 girls were given college bags, textbooks, notebooks.

VOICES FROM THE FIELD - BANGLADESH

S. Das is an inhabitant of Banka village in Paikgachha upazila of Khulna district. Her father runs a retail business. She has 4 sisters. S. is the eldest of the sisters. They are all the students of Dalit School. There are 6 people in their family. It is impossible for her father to afford such a large family and educate her daughters. But his dream is to educate girls in higher education. The girls are also very good in education. They are getting good results in every exam. S. participated in and passed the 2022 University Admission Test. She is currently studying in accounting at the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam University. So she is very happy to get a chance there. She thanked Dalit and Mission Bambini for their overall cooperation

M. Das, daughter of S. Das and S. Das of Godaipur village. Godaipur village is located in Paikgachha Upazila of Khulna district. Despite being a village girl, M. had strong will power. She had an indomitable effort to establish herself after finishing her studies. But it was not so easy to make that possible in the rural environment. She has a brother. There are 4 members in her family. M.’s father makes bamboo made baskets and sells them to make a living. So he could not pay his children’s educational expenses in full. In this situation, when M. applied to Dalit to get monthly stipend, Dalit accepted her application and provided her guidelines and incentives to reach her goal. The entire stipend money she spent on her studies. She left the village and went to the city to finish Diploma in nursing course. After completing the diploma course, she got a job in a non-government clinic in Barisal district and from there she gets a salary of BDT 15,000. Her parents' dream seemed to come true. They were very happy and thanked to Dalit. Because with the help and encouragement of Dalit, M. had the courage to leave the village and went to the city to finish her study. Today M. is self reliant. And so she wants to share this success with Dalit.