Changing a village through education | Fusion - WeRIndia

150 kilometres from Uttar Pradesh’s state capital, Lucknow, there is a village called Mallahipurva village.

It shows the position of Indian villages which are filled with neglect and deprivation. This particular village is dominated by the mallahas. They are an impoverished lower caste fishing community. To them, education is the least of their worries. Children had practically no access to it and even the women were only seen as extra working hands to make fishing nets and wild grass ropes.

As if there aren’t enough problems, the abundant Mahua flowers of the region gave raise to production and consumption of country liquor. A village like this might seem hopeless. However, its face has been changed with help of education.

It all happened thanks to Gudiya, a woman now in her mid-twenties. She bought a new phase of life for this village starting with a small school a few years back. Gudiya, who grew up in an environment where girls had no chance of getting an education or social life, where even their mothers were alcoholics, wanted to change this situation. It was tough just to get a proper meal a day and even the children had to work for the sake of food.

When the mid-day meal scheme was started it in a nearby school, Gudiya was sent there so she could eat something. When she went to school she realized how important and enlightening education is. She decided to continue her education no matter what. She made munj rope in her free time to pay for schooling.

She decided to make education a right for all the children there. Her idea to start a school was frowned upon by village elders and even her parents. She convinced her parents and started taking classes in the family verandah. It was not an easy task to bring the children to classes too. But she never gave up and finally succeeded. The school helped the village in many ways like stopping children from consuming alcohol.

Image Reference: TheBetterIndia