A residential learning centre for 1,000 rural girls has come up on the outskirts of the city. The girls can study at the centre and simultaneously get training in skills that would help make an income.
The learning centre in Joka takes in girls from Classes I to X from rural Bengal whose families are struggling to meet basic everyday needs. Some of the girls are orphans.
Adhigam Bhoomi, the free residential learning centre, is a project of NGO Help Us Help Them.
A martial arts session and (right) a pottery class at the centre
The centre started this month with 500 girls up to Class IV, most of whom are from the Sunderbans.
“We have developed a curriculum where agriculture, textile and pottery have been integrated with regular subjects like science and math,” said Mukti Gupta, founder, Help Us Help Them.
For example, if the students are spinning the charkha, they are learning the concepts of geometry, said Gupta.
Similarly, pottery is not only to learn how to make pots but also to understand soil science.
Adhigam Bhoomi, which opened in February
“We want these girls to go back to their villages and earn a livelihood there instead of migrating to the cities. We will encourage them to consider occupations available in
the villages, like farming and artisanal work, to boost employment opportunities within the communities ,” said Gupta.
“I have travelled to 65 villages in Bengal and outside and seen how most people aspire to migrate to the city. We see artisans getting converted to labourers,” she said.
Gupta said they want to make use of the skills and resources the girls have and train them accordingly.
Students being shown the use of renewable energy-powered smokeless 'chulhas' at the learning centre.
“We will train them in rural architecture so that when they are designing their villages it does not become a prototype of a city,” said Gupta.
For two months in a year the girls will live in the villages where the centre will set up community centres.
“These centres will be like business centres, which will be a source of employment,” said Gupta.