Help Secure HER Future: support girls affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with quality education & hostel facilities

11-year-old Neelu belongs to a rural community in Uttar Pradesh. Her mother is a single parent and the sole earning member of the family. In 2021, Neelu’s mother lost her job during the nationwide lockdown. With no support structures, Neelu had to drop out of school while her mother struggled to put food on the table and survive the deepening poverty. 

The closure of educational institutions, the decline in economic activity, and the loss of primary caregivers and breadwinners have deprived girls like Neelu in marginalized communities of access to their basic right to education. 10 million girls stand at a risk of never returning back to school according to the Right to Education Forum while NCRB has highlighted a 50% increase in child marriages. 

Uttar Pradesh homes the largest population of adolescent girls living in marginalised, rural and hard-to-reach communities. They have been left with less or no parental support for schooling, time-consuming domestic chores and care roles, and high risks of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and violence. 

To address the dire need to act here and now, in 2021, Milaan initiated a free-of-cost girls’ hostel in its existing school campus for 120 adolescent girls. 

For the last 15 years, Milaan through Swarachna school has been serving first-generation learners with quality education and holistic child development with a focus on girls' retention. The school has further developed a dedicated space for the girls' hostel. 

Through focused outreach to identify the most vulnerable girls affected by the pandemic, we onboarded 120 girls between 10-15 years of age in grades 6th to 9th to ensure equitable access for girls to complete their education till class 12th. 

Milaan’s goal is to create a social environment where girls feel safe, foster deep friendships and dare to dream big. Along with quality education, the school offers resources such as a computer lab, library, and sports facilities, whereas the hostel acts as a community in ensuring their well-being and development. 

Milaan aims to create an abode where girls can be children free of burdens and struggles, encouraged to be creative, and joyous. The hostel has a full-time team and a nurse who resides within the hostel premises to meet the end-to-end needs of girls. 

The impact of a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment on the minds and growth of children is transformative. We aim to write new narratives for girls built on the pillars of education, life skills, better health and safety. Evidence shows that when girls are educated they earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families. Girls' education strengthens economies and reduces inequality.

After being identified by our team, Neelu now resides in the hostel and is pursuing class 7th in Swarachna school. Aspiring to become a teacher in the future, Neelu has shown consistent improvement in her studies and has taken up a keen interest in sports. 

Access to fair and equitable access to education and hostel will ensure:

1. Continuation and completion of senior secondary education: girls will complete 12 years of schooling with enhanced knowledge of career choices, and higher education.
2. Improved adolescent health outcomes: girls will have increased knowledge of their sexual and reproductive health, access to health services, monthly menstrual products and knowledge to menstruate hygienically and with dignity
3. Prevention of child marriage: girls will delay their age of marriage beyond the legal age of 18.