The couple who help girls in rural areas | Fusion - WeRIndia

Vastala and Kshitiz Anand took a look around the rural parts of India and noticed a considerable lack of quality in the education systems there. Although the curriculum may be the same as urban schools, they are equipped much more poorly.

This poor equipment is likely the reason that many of these students drop out of school before they even reach university age. The couple therefore began the Happy Horizons Trust, which is a non-profit organization that works to strengthen the structures of primary schools in the rural parts of Bihar.

It provides empowerment to high school girls by giving them the responsibility of teaching young children skills such as storytelling and basic crafts.

Vastala and Kshitiz first developed the idea when they saw the lack of engagement in activities around these rural schools. They saw that the situation was similar in almost all of them, with the children disinterested and unmotivated in their studying, therefore, it being easy to see why they would later drop out.

Since Vastala has a background in journalism, she was quite a storyteller, and decided to engage children from these schools in storytelling sessions. Improvement and interest began to surface with the children, with them asking questions about the stories and wanting to hear more of them.

The duo realized afterward that the problem was larger than they had initially thought, resting in the entire system of education. While knowing they couldn’t change the area’s whole system of schooling, they consented to bring about a beginning of change, using their endeavor to hopefully prompt future further ones.

They then began their official Happy Horizons Trust, which expanded the endeavor by giving responsibility and empowerment to high school girls, called “champions”. They are trained in a fellowship program for over three years, after which they are assigned a school to give children sessions to improve their communication and curiosity.

With the children in rural Bihar now having role models and broadened horizons by this program, there is hope for them to have more interest in their studies and continue them past grade level.

Image Reference: TheBetterIndia