Today’s entry features a paper written by Maya.

The death of Jonathan Holdeen gave birth to the first generation of educated tribal girls in India. The Jewish millionaire lawyer left a huge portion of his fortune to the Unitarian Universalist church, of which he was not a member, with the understanding it would all go to the impoverished of India, a country to which he’d never been. Holdeen’s money now funds over 70 human rights and social change programs including a girl’s school called Eklavya Parivartan Vidyalaya, or in English, Residential School for Girls. Creating an education program for tribal girls proves to be controversial. Many people question the purpose for spending money on an education that shelters girls from racism, if they are just going to be confronted with it later in life, but without the skills acquired in free public schools, to handle it. The purpose for such an education is to teach young women of their rights, how to provide for themselves, and to teach them pride in their heritage.

The school was started 18 years ago in 1995 by Vivek and Vidyulatta Pandit, social activists from Mumbai working for Vidhayak Sansad. Vidhayak Sansad is an organization that pressures the government to meet the socio-economic needs of tribals and Dalits. (Dalits are people of the lowest caste in India and therefore the most discriminated against. They are also known as untouchables.) The Eklavya school is for tribal girls of Usgaon and surrounding villages. Today there are 243 students in attendance. They live, learn, and eat together for 10 months every year. 10 teachers and 1 superintendent run the ever growing school. Before the Eklavya school was created, there was only 1 primary school for girls in Usgaon. The reason for such a lack of schools is that parents don’t often trust organizations with their young daughters. The Eklavya school is possible because parents trust the association after 25 years of partnership work together. In rural parts of India, girls often have a hard time in school settings, but tribal girls in particular suffer unfair and harsh discrimination.

You might experience discount levitra dizziness, or even could have a stroke. Therefore, how to treat premature ejaculation is by consuming one each two times daily online cialis secretworldchronicle.com for two to three months. The researchers are trying to use more order levitra secretworldchronicle.com advanced techniques in order to make the formulation more powerful and effective. You can use those discount coupons whenever you are faced with the abovementioned health conditions, there is always an urologist in Singapore that you can turn to. wholesale sildenafil The Eklavya School is a necessary expense in order to have a safe and healthy learning environment for girls. Vivek hopes that by providing this school and opportunity for tribals and Dalits, the education can bring them away from poverty. In many tribal communities, the literacy rate among women is less than 1%. Among other goals, the Eklavya school hopes to change this number. Increasing this statistic will also decrease the number of tribals taken advantage of by educated and literate people. Also, this program shows promise to create new educated leaders and role models for the tribal communities. As one Unitarian visitor described a student at the school, “Pooja will be a gifted leader- all because there is a place to nurture and protect her and people who care for and love her.“ While not every student will become a leader, a few particularly gifted students will. They will not only lead, but become inspiration for the next generation. Vivek is the number one advocate of this message. “It is now your responsibility to empower your society.” Finally, girls are educated about their rights as Indian women and how to protect those rights. In the past, many tribals have been taken advantage of by government officials who use their power unfairly in the name of greed. Many Union activists remind parents of potential students that an uneducated girl will be vulnerable to exploitation and disrespect. For example, until recently, bonded labor was a major problem among tribal people. When tribal people needed money, the landowners in the area granted them loans and used their small plots of land as collateral. These people were left with the impossible feat of working off their debt in forced servitude. Debt was passed from generation to generation, because uneducated tribals did not know it was illegal. The loss of their land has been devastating to their way of life. This is why education of the tribal girls is so important. Graduates of the Eklavya school will know if they are being wronged and fight for justice when it is ignored, equipped with the tool their parents did not have, education.

Many people however, are hesitant to participate in this new program for fear of the change it may produce for the individual student, family members, and community as a whole. While the school does provide a safe environment, it is very sheltered from the outside world. The real world has harsh racism that tribal girls in the public schools are accustomed to. They acquire a tough-skin that the Eklavya students do not. This can leave the Eklavya students at a disadvantage when starting high-school and university. Also, many families cannot afford to send their daughters away. Most girls in Usgaon are the daughters of migrant brick kiln workers. Even though the work is extremely taxing, the wages are low. Every family member who can, must work to support the family. Those who are too young to work need supervision, a job often assigned to the eldest daughter. Those who do send their daughters are making a sacrifice, because someone in the family will have to replace her instead of working. Finally, the introduction to formal education can draw members of tribal communities away and into the modern world, thus threatening the tribal ways, tradition, and population.

While these arguments are strong, the Eklavya school should still be considered by families for many reasons. Firstly, while Eklavya students do not develop a tolerance for racism, they do instead learn pride in their heritage. The current director of Holdeen, Derek Mitchell says, “the girls can draw strength from their heritage instead of shame.” Despite the disincentives of sending a child away, many families are making the choice in order to create the first generation of educated tribals. Most parents do want their daughters to become independent and strong enough to stand on their own one day, these are the parents who send their girls to Eklavya because their future is worth it. The father of Jayshree, a former student of Eklavya says “…being educated will give her a good future.” Finally, introducing formal education to even more of the tribal communities can threaten their population, but not every girl will go to university and become a leader. Many girls will return back to their villages after graduating and spread their knowledge. Having strong, smart, brave, young women as role models for the rest of the community will motivate others to learn and step up. One educated woman can teach and empower the rest of her community.

Overall, justice means something extremely powerful to these girls, because they are truly freedom fighters in the present day. Their constant struggle for equality renews the importance of justice in anyone who hears their stories. “Zindibad!” (Long live our struggle)