School Saheli

The city of Mumbai is divided into 24 different parts and the M-East ward ranks 24th (i.e, right at the bottom) with respect to all human development indices. Shivaji Nagar is the biggest cluster of informal settlements in M-East Ward and is situated adjacent to the Deonar dumping ground. Apnalaya conducted a situation analysis of the area and found that there is a lack of government schools above 8th standard. 29% of the children in the age group 6-14 years are out of school in this area, which is quite high a percentage in comparison to the average of13% for the rest of Mumbai. Seven out of ten girls drop out of school before class IX. Dropping out of formal education invariably leads to girls getting married early, which leads to early pregnancies. This results in poor health, and consequently, poor skill acquisition amongst children, and all of it perpetuates a cycle of poverty, debt and poor education.

Apnalaya has effectively used ‘peer support’ to support children in pursuing education. We do this by mobilizing school-going girls in small groups and holding them together through a cluster scholarship. A group of fourteen girls and one mentor will form a cluster/unit for this intervention.

Model: A cohort of 140 girls studying in grade IX (aged 14-15) will be selected from the 12 clusters of Shivaji Nagar in M-East ward of Mumbai. 14 mentors from the same clusters will be selected to lead this cohort of 140 girls. One mentor will lead a group of 10 girls. These mentors will be young women pursuing higher education, already trained extensively under different projects of our citizenship programme. The mentors will work closely with girls for a period of 4 and half years to ensure the following outcomes:

1. Continuity in education till grade XII

2. Discouraging marriage while the children are still studying in schools

3. Training the children in a skill to help them have livelihood opportunities

4. The mentors will also have regular sessions with the parents, creating a support system for the girls.

In our ‘peer support’ programmes in which mentors have worked with girls and their parents, we have found that the positive pressure from the mentors and other girls in the batch helps girls circumvent traditional/patriarchal restrictions.

In an area where 38.3% of the girls are married off before the legal age of marriage, less than 1% of girls in our education and citizenship program got married before legal age in 2017-18.

A total of 163 girls in the past year were a part of our peer support intervention and were equipped with life skills to negotiate their right to stay in school, to pursue higher education and make informed decisions regarding career and marriage. 10 girls who had dropped out of formal education have re-enrolled into schools.