From grieving widow to determined employee

As a 22 year old, Bhalebar has had to endure many challenges that females her age have not had to go through. Despite the age, she is a widow as she lost her husband to a tragic accident. As a result, she currently lives at home with her parents. Her brother recently moved to Mumbai to work as a policeman. In contrast to her brother’s active live as a policeman, Bhalebar has stayed at home following her husband’s death. Due to the depression and sorrow brought on by the tragedy, Bhalebar had little reason to leave her home.

Nikhil's Newfound Ambition

- by Malav Shah

Nikhil Kumar Tirupathi Uppula is a 20 year old boy from a small village in the southern part of Maharashtra in the district of Gadchiroli. Nikhil lost his father just 6 months after his birth. He now lives with his mother and grandmother. His mother, being the sole bread winner in the family, works as a labourer in a construction company near her village earning Rs. 2000 a month for the family. Nikhil was always very enthusiastic about his studies but he failed his 10th examinations due to the burden of family responsibilities. Thus, he took a year off to work at a Border Road Organization(BRO). Post this, he went back to study and passed his 10th examination with flying colours. Though he wanted to study further, he knew that his mother could no longer support him. He simultaneously worked as a carpenter to finance his education.

Sandhya's Self Determination

- by Janie Lee

18-year old Sandhya did not let anything get in the way of continuing her education and pursuing her career. Coming from a family whose beliefs are strongly traditional and conservative, Sandhya faced much opposition when she told her parents that she wanted to take a vocational skilling course and become a bedside assistant. Her father serves in the military and her mother is a housewife. Both of them had never heard about the occupation and were deeply concerned about the foreign concept of her working on her own.

Reflections of a Pratham Institute Intern

This summer, I interned at Pratham Institute’s Mumbai office. I spent last summer in Washington, D.C. learning about education policy and wanted to gain an operations perspective to providing quality education. Working at Pratham was exciting because it not only gave me an opportunity to work at one of the largest high-impact organizations in India, but it also gave me a chance to do it within the context of an unfamiliar culture. As someone who wants to work in education policy upon graduation, I knew that the interactions and experiences in India would hugely shape the ways I think about and treat communities that are not necessarily my own.

My main focus was to create and pilot a system to evaluate the quality and understand the specific strengths and challenges of Pratham Institute’s vocational skilling programs. Although quantitative data about the programs was readily available, I had trouble finding answers about the quality and needs of the program. Did students find their curriculum to be relevant and applicable to their jobs? Were employers happy with the students’ preparation? What kind of additional support did the individual centers need from the administrative office? In order to answer questions like these, I created individual surveys for different stakeholders within Pratham Institute.

Upon creating a survey to evaluate the centers, I decided to pilot them on the bedside assistance program. I visited the bedside assistance centers and administered my surveys with a group of students, instructors, center-heads, and employers. With a translator by my side, I learned much more than just the quality of the programs. I learned about how mobilizers made more than five points of contact with families in order to convince them to allow their daughters to get educated and employers’ thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of hiring students who had taken the bedside assistance course. Most astonishing was the adversity students fought in order to get their education and the transformations they went through as a result. Women who were no older than me moved hours away from home to get their education, despite it being a social stigma. Other women were given a second chance at life through the training programs. A woman who had lost her husband and never left her home was able to become financially independent after taking the bedside assistance course and getting employed.

Ultimately, I was able to provide recommendations to strengthen approaches to retention, curriculum development, and mobilization. Further, I was able to start turning some of my recommendations into reality. Upon talking to one of the center heads, I realized how crucial a male mobilizer was. One of the biggest challenges in getting female students to enroll was convincing fathers to give their permission for their daughters to enroll. Young females leaving home to work are hugely stigmatized, and it is often difficult for young female mobilizers to relate to and convince middle-aged fathers to allow their daughters to receive an extended education and work. We worked with one of the center heads to recruit a male mobilizer who could alleviate some of these challenges. The opportunity to pursue an idea exemplified how Pratham Institute is a quickly evolving organization, continuously changing to best meet the needs of its students and stakeholders. I am certain the Pratham Institute I know in a few years will be even more successful and far-reaching than the Pratham Institute I know today.

From taking 17-hour rides on a sleeper train to discussing the quality of courses with an instructor at the Ellora Caves, I’ve had experiences in India that will forever be engraved in my heart. I am grateful for the students who trusted me with their stories, the co-workers who invested time to teach me about both work and Indian culture, and the new friends who have made my experiences in Mumbai an unforgettable one.

Janie Lee is a rising junior at Princeton University and is pursuing a degree at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Prior to interning at Pratham Institute’s Mumbai office, she worked at the U.S. Department of Education. She hopes to continue pursuing her interest in education upon graduation.

The Power of Persistent Mobilization

- by Janie Lee

 

Manisha is an 18-year-old female from Akola, a city near Nashik. When Manisha was taking the exam for standard 12, she was not successful and discontinued her education. Because she did not pass, her parents were embarrassed and did not allow her out of the house. This meant that she was no longer able to see friends or pursue any type of career.  

Hearing about Manisha’s situation from townspeople, a Pratham mobilizer decided to visit her home. The mobilizer visited Manisha and her family to explain the bedside assistance vocational skilling program. The mobilizer discussed the opportunity for Manisha to take theoretical classes on basic healthcare and gain practical experience through hands-on work in a local hospital. By the end of these six months, Manisha would be ready to work in a hospital alongside nurses and doctors.