Sapna Shikshalaya, A School for Underprivileged Girls at Vijay Mandir, Alwar (Rajasthan)

Education is a key factor for a healthy, productive, and equal society. The national average female illiteracy rate (age 15 and older) stands at 45.5% compared to 23.1% for men (UNPFC). In Rajasthan, 56% of women are illiterate compared to 23% of men. Girls’ enrollment in Rajasthan is dismal. Rajasthan has 9 of the 26 most backward districts in India.

The Literacy rate of Alwar district is 70.72%. The literacy rate among males was 83.75% and among females were 56.25%. Alwar district of Rajasthan comprises the Mewat region. The literacy rate of Meo Muslims in this region is meagre. As per 2001 census the literacy rate of Meo Muslims in Alwar district is 30.12%. The attendance rate of girls in school in the age of 6 to 8 years is only 36.8%. The literacy rate among Meo-Muslims was as low as 23.54% in 2011, with a negligible female literacy rate of 6.15% (The Alwar Mewat Institute of Education and Development).

We at SAPNA believe that education of girls is essential for the equitable advancement of society. Improvements in girl’s education benefit the status of the family and empower women. In this background, SAPNA has established a pre-primary school named ‘SAPNA Shikshalaya’.

SAPNA started a pre-primary school named SAPNA Shikshalaya in 2015 which presently, in 2019, has extended till primary school. The aim of the school was to provide 'quality, flexible and relevant learning' and targets girls from poor backgrounds in the adjoining rural belt. The program is envisaged to empower girls from poor and marginalized backgrounds with capability, freedom and choice to follow their dream. The program nurtures the overall development of the girls. This entails hygiene, discipline, punctuality, nutrition and overall turnout, in addition to learning and personality development.

In this academic year (2019 – 20), 160 girls have enrolled in the school. A well-designed curriculum focuses on developing the verbal and written skills of the students. Our student-teacher ratio is 15:1 i.e. we have 1 teacher looking after 15 students. Use of teaching aids such as a ‘Smart Class’ enables the children to learn pre-writing and pre-reading concepts. For overall and quality development of teachers, time to time training is organized for their capacity building.

The school provides girls with uniform, books, stationery and nutrition. Girls are provided healthy food in school to overcome nutritional deprivation that often exists due to poverty and gender bias at home. We also provide transportation to ferry the children from their villages. Regular parent-teacher meetings are conducted to sensitize the parents about their children and other social and environmental issues which need attention at home.

We are currently providing educational support, both academic and material, to 156 girls through 15 neighbouring villages. Through constant monitoring and follow-up, the SAPNA Shikshalaya team has been able to maintain 84.73% and 81.3% average attendance in academic session 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively which has a direct impact on the academic performance of the girl. Dropout rates of girls, which, at the national level, is more than 40% by the time girls reach class V, has successfully been curtailed to less than 10%. In the last academic year 18-19, the dropout rate of the project was 8.1%.

The school has improved literacy rate among girls coming from the rural belt; now there are more literate girls from low-income families, the community is more parent-teacher about the importance of girl’s education, girls have become more aware of other important issues which help them in their overall development. Girls have started to understand the importance of education due to which child marriages have come to a halt, Around 43 girls' saving accounts have been opened under Sukanya Samridhi Khata, in which a minimum of Rs 1000 is deposited in girls' accounts yearly, which they will be able to use it for their future.

The total budget for this program for FY2019-20 is Rs.30 Lakhs. Sapna is need for Rs. 7,20,000 total of which Rs. 1,20,000 would support nutrition of 160 students for a year, Rs. 3,00,000 would support part salary of 12 teachers and Rs. 3,00,000 would be used for book and stationery of all 160 children.