Poor education facilities force over 4,500 girls in Assam villages write to PM Modi

Monora's father, Nikudin Tudu, an Adivasi farmer at Silpur village in Western Assam's Kokrajhar district is working hard to pay fees of Rs 700 every month for his daughter's education in a private school, situated about 10 kilometres away.

Fourteen-year-old Monora, a class 9 student pedals her bicycle every day to reach her school. There is a government secondary school at Rangsupur, five kilometres from her home but Monora's father wants his daughter to study in a better school. "My father wants me to study hard and be a doctor. But the atmosphere in the government school is not conducive to achieving my aim," Monora told DH on Thursday.

There are many girls like Monora, whose fathers, however, can't afford to send their daughter to a private school. "Education in private school is much much better. I am learning computers too. But I think the quality of education in our government schools should be improved so that all can get quality education," she said.

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Monora said that many girls in and around her village even give up studies as they find it difficult to travel 10 to 12 kilometres every day. "Many parents here struggle to meet their daily needs. So they can't think about sending their children to a private school. There should be a government secondary school in every five-kilometre as per provision in the Right to Education (RTE) Act," she said.

Problems like these led Monora and several others in the interior areas to join a campaign for girls education and write postcards highlighting their problems on January 24 to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nearly 4,500 adolescent girls from five districts, Kokrajhar, Dhubri in Western Assam, Jorhat and Tinsukia in eastern Assam and Lakhimpur in North Assam dispatched the postcards through post offices on the National Girl Child Day celebrated on January 24. The girls requested the PM to set up secondary schools every five-kilometre and improve amenities and quality of teaching in the existing government schools in order to check the dropout of girls and help them achieve their aim in life.

The postcards were dispatched under a campaign by "Champions for Girls Education", a forum of several organisations working with the Right to Education Forum and SCORE Network (UP). The campaign seeks free and compulsory education up to class 12.

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Two local NGOs, North East Research and Social Work Networking (NERSWN) and Nedan Foundation are implementing the campaign in Kokrajhar and Dhubri districts. Education in Kokrajhar district has suffered due to long insurgency problems while the same in Dhubri has been affected due to annual floods and poor literacy among the parents.

Rita Brahma of NERSWN said that the girls requested that the RTE should be extended till the age of 18 for free and compulsory education with a sufficient amount of scholarships to push girls education. "Most girls drop out after Class 8 and fall prey to early marriage, trafficking and child labour," she said.

Digambar Narzary of Nedan Foundation said in 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all matriculation students were promoted by the government without having to write the board examination. "Those who secured low marks could not get admission in government Higher Secondary Schools. Due to poor economic condition, they could not afford to get admission in private institutions either and so many have dropped out of their education."

More than 30,000 girls from 51 districts across Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh took part in the campaign. It will be gradually rolled out across 10 states.

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