From darkness, lead me to light…says Brhadaranyaka Upanishad.

Roshni Academy is attempting to do just that for 4000 poor girl students in Delhi. Judging by the compelling account presented in an event at India Community Center, Bay Area, on June 5, some of these girls now have more than a ray of hope for a bright future, not only for themselves, but also for their families.

There are scores of non-profits working on plight of women and girls in India. Most of them focus on education, economic emancipation and health. However, Saima Hasan, the Founder of Roshni, has taken a very different approach - empower young girls living in extreme poverty with self-confidence, critical thinking, and art of conflict resolution. These personal and social skills then act like drivers in bringing out the natural talent. These girls are maintaining high academic standing and are going through training over a six-month period. And all this at a cost $6 per month per child to the organization!

The story was engrossing and the message was hard hitting. The enraptured audience erupted in spontaneous applause as one success story after the other unfolded in the darkened auditorium. It was moving to see young girls in the audience, in their preteens, leading their parents  in donating for the noble cause.

Roshni Academy’s account of successes set the creative juices flowing in the audience too. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju of Supreme Court of India, the Chief Guest at the Event, pulled out anecdotes from a vast repository of his judicial experiences. He suggested that if Roshni is willing to expand its ambit he would appoint them as an Advisor to the Supreme Court of India for imparting technical skills to the sex workers. This, the Hon’ble Judge observed, will enable the unfortunate females to engage in a more honorable profession and gain economic independence. 

Kavita Ramdas, CEO of Global Fund for Women brought the extreme prejudice against  girl child in a sharp focus while relating the latest Census Report on sex ratio for children between ages 6-14 in India. She lamented that the indicator has not only been going down against the girl child, but is also on a very disturbing trajectory leading to a burgeoning “missing child” phenomena. Clearly the issue is that a girl child is perceived as a liability in the economically weakest section in India, a target group for Roshni Academy.   

The other day I read an interesting article in Wall Street Journal about an experiment unfolding in India. The Government has mandated that private schools in India take in at least 25% of students from economically weaker section under Right to Education Act. While the goals are laudable, this experiment is throwing some unexpected problems. Given the extreme disparity in the society, teacher are hard pressed to assimilate the students from the poorer section into the class. This is an example of a gap that organizations like Roshni Academy can bridge. So the students would get benefit of both – education laid out for the elite and develop self confidence to become an equal!

Following what Indira Gandhi, the late prime minister, once said "you educate a woman, you educate a familiy", uplifting women…one underprivileged girl at a time would have far reaching benefits.