When Suman Kumari was born 16 years ago in a remote forested village in the outskirts of Giridih, Jharkhand, there were not too many smiles around. The year was 2007, and like in several communities in rural India back then, the birth of a third daughter, after two in a row, was not deemed to be an occasion to rejoice. In one dark corner of a tiny room, Suman’s mother Chinta Devi lovingly cradled her newborn and said a silent prayer: let this daughter of hers grow up to live unlike hers.
Suman’s childhood did not turn out to be strikingly different, though. Enrolled in school, but never pressured to attend. Early training in household work, and made to do it dutifully, every single day. Noticeable, however, was Suman’s mindset and thoughts. She went with her family to collect dhibra (mica pellets) from the nearby forest, but also made it a point to sit with her books in the evening. She did her household chores dutifully, but rarely missed classes in school.
Mother Chinta Devi had never been to school herself. At the tender age of 12-13, she was a “married” girl tending to household chores and waiting to bear children. 16 years on, as the 45-year-old mother of 5 watched her youngest daughter hurry to her morning class after finishing all chores, she would pray silently one more time: let Suman grow up to live a life of choice.
Often, opportunities come out of the blue. Or was it a result of a mother’s silent prayers? In 2021, Jago Foundation, a local non-profit, set up an adolescent girls’ group in the village, the Sarda Kishori Group. Backed by CRY – Child Rights and You, the mission was to educate adolescent girls in the community about their rights, and groom them to become “change-makers.”
A new dawn
14-year-old Suman joined the kishori group, and became comfortable in no time. It was as if a new world had opened up before her. She learnt that children should be in school, and not work on fields. Girls should study and try to become financially independent. Education is compulsory. Marriage, and a life beyond, can wait. Invaluable lessons, that that stirred Suman like no other. Her thoughts soared, and in her mind, she had eked out a destiny for herself.
Suman cleared her first hurdle, the Class X board exams, with flying colours this year, securing 82 per cent. Even as she pursues her Class XI studies, the spirited girl has taken it upon herself to educate a few mothers in the community. Together with three other girls from the Sarda Kishori group, Suman takes 1-hour classes for women in the community in the evening, after they have finished their household chores.
For the women, who have turned students after a lifetime, it is their first step into a new world. Aged between 30-55, these mothers have never had a chance to go to school or learn something apart from domestic chores. Some of them were enthusiastic about their new classes. Others hesitated, scared to break age-old conventions. But their young teachers were not the ones to back down. Conversations, convincing and persuasion, they used every trick in the book to bring the mothers to the classroom.
What started as a trickle has now turned to a flow. As of now, 15 mothers in the village are learning to write alphabets and count the numbers, for the first time. Their daughters also give them basic life-skills training, and talk about ways they can make a bit of money on their own. Financial empowerment is necessary for women, at any age. And, Suman has vowed to make Chinta Devi earn some money on her own. The mother, even at this age, has to know that there is a world beyond her kitchen and her children’s well-being. And that, there is nothing wrong in wanting to be part of that world.
Leap of faith?
Too much of a change for Chinta Devi and the other women at this age? Probably yes! But isn’t that what girl’s/women’s empowerment is all about? A sixteen-year-old daughter has her eyes set on bigger and loftier goals, but also wants to give her mother a sneak peek of a different world, one where she feels a little less dependent on her husband. Education is never merely about books and pencils. Rather, it is the power that learning bestows upon people, especially women, that can change lives of girls, of a community and indeed generations to follow.
Suman has realized the power of education as a tool for long-lasting change, and together with her kishori group, she is trying to alter a few things, beliefs and mindsets in her community. While classes for middle-aged women is a significant first, by miles, attempts to keep fathers/boys/men away from alcohol is definitely a path-breaker. In a community that’s steeped in the norm of mothers slogging hard in the kitchen, come day or night, and fathers making merry under the stars, this one’s going to be an uphill struggle. Suman is aware of it, but hasn’t given up. Small conversations, and a concerted effort to make people see the dark side of drinking – steady steps forward in a long battle ahead.
Over the past two years, unseasonal and unusually heavy rainfall has damaged crops in their remote village. Amid her studies, kishori group meetings and her daily household chores, Suman is perhaps the only one in the village who has ventured to find out the cause. As Jago Foundation volunteers explained to her the concepts of climate change, global warming and how it is adversely affecting the whole of country, she has started spreading the word in the community. Her first mission: cutting down on the use of plastic in the neighbourhood. Yet again, a small step but a big leap!
Hail the spirit
Suman’s dreams are big and may take a long time to come true, but are very inspiring. They make us believe that there’s goodness left in the world. As a shocked nation tries to blur from memory the images of a 12-year-old girl, abused and in need of immediate help, being shooed away mercilessly, as we try to make sense of why women/young girls are made helpless pawns in strife zones, Suman comes across as a beacon of hope. In a society that’s always been deeply nonchalant towards girls, their education and life, and one that often appears to be shockingly inhuman to the core, we need more girls like Suman (and her friends) to reaffirm our faith that all’s going to be well.
International Day of Girl Child (October 11) belongs to this gutsy 16-year-old, her friends and indeed every girl in this country who are daring to break the shackles, challenge stereotypes and reach out for the stars (and the moon!). As we bask in the success of Chandrayaan 3, let us also celebrate our girls, help them and empower them in every way possible, to become true change-makers.
The author is the Regional Director of CRY (East)