Learning pangs

“It really pains me when parents in my village refuse to send daughters to school, or when village elders object to girls like me playing in the open as the boys do.” This is what 12-year-old Nadia, a Class VII student in Nai Nangal village in Haryana’s Mewat district, said about two years back. She took pride in the fact that her parents let her study in a co-ed, English-medium private school.

Ironically, in less than a year after that, Nadia and other girls belonging to the Meo Muslim community in her village were forced to leave school. The chirpy girl who had talked passionately about her ambition of becoming a doctor today misses school badly. “I had no choice. My parents were threatened with social boycott if they allowed me to continue in school.”

Her father, Jan Mohammed, says he is helpless even though he wanted his daughter to continue with her studies.

An anguished Nadia is determined to continue studying. “I have bought the books and will study at home on my own and give exams privately for Class X.”

Sajjiya, a Class VI student who was chosen as the school head-girl, also had to drop out. From 25 a year ago, the school does not have a single girl today.

Hundreds of schoolgirls like Nadia and Sajjiya are forced by parents or village elders to drop out before they reach Class VIII or IX.

Mewat has one of the lowest female literacy rates in India — just a little over 36 per cent, according to census 2011. The dropout rate is also very high. Statistics on the Mewat Education Office website show that in 2012-13 government schools had 1,60,057 students in Class I to V, and only 42,605 in Class VI to VIII.

Working for the community radio Radio Mewat, Wareesa has been tirelessly highlighting the importance of girls’ education and the need to end the discrimination against them. “Apart from airing skits, I invite lady teachers from the Meo community on programmes to encourage parents to send daughters to school beyond the primary and middle levels,” she says.

In 1982 the Haryana government opened two co-ed, English-medium Bal Bhawan schools in FP Jhirka and Nuh, respectively, to bring quality education to the unique ethnic and socio-cultural tract of Mewat. Today there are seven such co-ed schools run by the Mewat Model School Society (MMSS) and girls get free education. Six are senior secondary schools and one is a secondary school. There are also six Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas with 1,400 girl students, of whom 64 per cent is Meo.

SRF Foundation, in collaboration with CARE India runs a residential programme for 100 out-of-school girls to help them complete primary education. SRF is also assisting in providing quality education in 47 government schools in Nuh Block, says its Director Dr Suresh Reddy.

While things have improved as far as primary-level and middle-level education goes, not more than five per cent of the girls in the region reaches higher classes. Currently less than 23 per cent of the students in Class IX to XII in government and government-aided schools are Meo Muslim girls.

Despite the dismal statistics, the silver lining is that girls like Nadia are articulating their angst. “At least the women are daring to question the discrimination against them, something that would not have been possible some years ago,” says Wareesa.

The writer is a Delhi-based journalist

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