Overthrowing tradition to educate their daughters

In Dubghatia, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India, women are not supposed to be seen. This is a part of the world where women have no right to question the male breadwinner, they dress to cover their bodies completely from head to toe and their opinions only count if they concur with those of the man in the family.

A woman cannot even utter the name of her husband – she is expected to remain behind the mandatory Purdah or veil when men are present.

It is in this totally male-dominated society that a group of mothers are breaking with generations of tradition to educate their daughters, in the hope that attitudes may begin to change.

Children in an outside classroom, India
Children in an outside classroom, India
©CARE

"The community school seems to be a heaven-sent boon for us," beams Ramwati.

"Children now learn fast, they ask questions, they recite poems, tell us stories and are even beginning to write. We never imagined that children in our village would ever read and write."

Another mother thinks aloud: "We have realised that they have voices and that they can be heard."

Ramwati is the secretary of a mother's group, formed in the late 1990s, when women decided it was time to educate their daughters. With the support of a village worker from a CARE partner organisation, the mothers took responsibility for opening and managing a community school in their own village, so the girls didn’t have to travel far and could go to school even when the village was cut off in monsoon season.

"We women feel that getting involved in setting up the school and making sure it runs well has made us more confident. We no longer feel the need to shy away behind our veils. Now we want to grow as a group and do something for ourselves. We want to earn and make a better living."

So far, CARE’s Girl's Primary Education Project has helped to establish 90 community school classrooms in Uttar Pradesh, where female literacy rates are just 25 percent.