The Blossom Bus: Help Rural Girls Get To School!

Aharwan Girl’s High School full to overflowing with Blossom Bus riders

We met a number of the 215 Blossom Bus girls studying at Aharwan School today and visited their classes.

We also discovered the total number of students in these two classes is now more than 70, which is more than 35 students over the department of education’s limit.

While this situation burdens the Aharwan School principal and teachers, they are all deeply devoted and long term allies of Blossom Bus, so they are working on solutions. The School has thus far raised funds from the government and the communities to construct four spacious new rooms to accommodate the increasing numbers of girls coming to attend classes due to the Blossom Bus services. While this solves part of the problem, it is also vital to obtain more teachers because as of right now there aren’t sufficient teachers available for classes nine and ten.

The teacher Mr. Balbir informed us, “Seats at our school are in high demand these days because of our very good academic results and a safe environment for girls coming from poor and Muslim families. Unfortunately however, we are unable to provide them the personal attention they should be getting as there are more than 75 girls in each of the grade nine and ten classes. We have requested the authorities to provide more teachers but have not been successful thus far. The girls are working hard and getting much better than average exam outcomes even though they have less time with their teachers than they should. Last year Aharwan Girl’s High School had the best board results in their Ward."

While education in government schools at Haryana and across India is still obviously a work in progress, it’s much better these girls are in school getting a good education than anywhere else. We were happy to see Aharvan school in better shape than ever, with more rooms, cleaner than ever and with teachers taking more interest in creating a better learning environment. All of these things have contributed to the girls at this School performing better in exams than in government schools across the state.

The teachers thanked Lotus Outreach for our great support and which they say has made a huge contribution to making Aharwan Girl’s High School number one in the Ward.

We have some exciting news for you! This month, Lotus Outreach acquired a new Blossom Bus! This will be the 7th in our fleet.  These vehicles are now serving 315 girls in Haryana and Rajasthan. These communities continue to request for more seats on the Blossom Bus so we've worked hard to meet their requests! The vast majority of girls in these communities would not be able to study past the eighth grade without the Blossom Bus. 

The following are stories of two new Blossom Bus girls from Aharwan High school that were interviewed in November, 2017.

Tarteela, daughter of Rukbuddin, recently passed the eighth-grade exam from the local school at Rajpura village last year and was asked by her mother to stop studying after her father passed away a few months ago. Her mother has seven young children and no source of income. There is no high school in their village so her mother asked Tarteela to drop her studies just as her elder sister had done some three years before when her sister graduated from the eighth-grade.

Since Tarteela’s father is deceased, her family became dependent on the mercy of her uncle who promised to help them by providing some money. Unfortunately, her uncle can only afford to give them enough money to pay for food twice a day. Despite these life circumstances, Tarteela requested her mother to support her education. Her mother stated that Tarteela's education may be the only hope for their family, but she could not afford to pay for the transportation. Just by chance, Tarteela was told by some girls attending High School in Aharwan from her village that there is a bus available to girls for free to school. Tarteela’s mother quickly arranged to meet the school’s Headmaster so that they could secure a seat on the Blossom Bus and enroll in the school. Tarteela could not believe it and was completely surprised by the support provided by the staff of White Lotus Trust, a partner of Lotus Outreach, that enabled her to get a seat on the Blossom Bus. Tarteela’s mother was also very happy and now hopes that one day her daughter will be able to support their family so that they may live with dignity and self-respect. Tarteela told us that she will never in her entire life be able to forget what Blossom Bus has done for her!

Sonia, daughter of Jagvir, has three siblings including one elder brother and two younger sisters. She lost her father to an illness four years ago when she was studying in the fifth grade at a primary school in Bichpuri. She has been travelling on Blossom Bus for the last four years but this year she was asked by her mother to drop out of school after completing her upper primary as the family is dependent on the meager earnings of her elder brother who earns a small salary as a salesman at a mobile phone shop. Sonia was deeply disappointed and saddened as it was her dream to continue to study for a profession that would provide a good income for her family. Her mother was somewhat conservative and held the view that girls can’t get jobs and it would be a waste of time and money for her to continue in school. Sonia was very disheartened but not willing to give up and sought support from her brother who was already hard pressed to earn a livelihood for the family of five. Her brother was not entirely against the idea but was apprehensive about the chances of success. Sonia pleaded with her mother and brother and gave them the example of a girl from their village named Lokesh who is travelling on Blossom Bus and who now has a job that earns her 6000 rupees ($92 US) a month salary from White Lotus Trust to provide tuition classes to children from their own village. Sonia argued the job only required a two-hour work day and that it didn’t require going outside of the village. Sonia added that the only way that Lokesh acquired this job was by finishing the 12^th grade. 

Sonia pleaded her case stating that continuing her education with the Blossom Bus would open up many opportunities for her in the future. Her mother and brother were convinced by this compelling argument and allowed her to continue her studies while travelling on Blossom Bus.

Sonia is now studying in the ninth grade and is very hopeful she will eventually become financially independent and be able to help her siblings and reduce the burden her brother currently bears alone. 

Thank you to all of the donors who make it possible for girls like Tarteela and Sonia to continue their education!