MOHALLA PATHSHALA: SAFE SPACES FOR GIRLS’ EDUCATION

Here’s is a wonderful opportunity to make this Thanksgiving season special. Donate to help more underprivileged girls and young adolescents empower themselves. Join the cause and spread the word about CEQUIN’s Mohalla Pathshalas or community classrooms in the backward areas.

CEQUIN is trying to take education to every doorstep at Mewat in Haryana and Alwar in Rajasthan.

The pandemic has interrupted the lives of little girls, adolescents, and women unimaginably. Millions of girls were forced to give up school and sent for domestic work as families lost livelihoods. They became vulnerable to gender-based violence, abuse, and diseases. Many were married off in their early teens. Left without choice, dignity and basic rights, these children are silently suffering. Key areas of concern are:

# Lack of access to functional education

# Families often don’t allow girls to travel to classes far away

# No awareness about nutritional requirements

# Girls are rarely encouraged to play or train to take up work 

Targeted interventions are the need of the hour as we try to build back better. CEQUIN has been holding regular Mohalla Pathshalas or community classrooms in remote areas of Mewat (Haryana) and Alwar (Rajasthan) to make sure these girls are not left out on the wayside. CEQUIN would like to:

# Expand scope and outreach by holding more neighbourhood-level classes

# Door-to-door campaigns for raising awareness among parents so that they don’t discriminate and send the girls to the classes

# Help the children come up to levels when they can get back to formal schools and take examinations

# Help parents with documentation for their children’s schooling

# Understand the causes and intervene when girls and women face discrimination and violence

# Most importantly, encourage ‘if boys can do why can’t girls’ attitude in little girls and teenagers

Through increased outreach, CEQUIN would like to touch as many lives as possible and connect children of Mohalla Pathshalas to formal schools, where they can appear for board exams.

1. Girls will be retained in education and consequently age of marriage will be delayed.
2. Girls will demonstrate enhanced, holistic outcomes in mental & physical health and prowess, resulting in improved academic and fitness levels.  
3. Girls will articulate higher aspiration and demonstrate enhanced employability skills and awareness of careers.
4. Both girls and boys will demonstrate enhanced leadership skills and social responsibility. 
5. Both girls and boys will demonstrate gender sensitivity and will challenge gender stereotypes. 
6. Increase the frequency of nutrition, and legal camps to raise awareness about rights an empower them.