Vanasthali Rural Development Centre (VRDC) - India

The VRDC works in 8 districts of Maharashtra. Approximately 40 trained teachers conduct programmes for semi-educated rural women in the talukas; this is an effort to make it convenient for them to attend classes while still fulfilling their domestic responsibilities. A central focus of the training sessions is the importance of - and specific strategies for - strengthening the foundation for a child's future interest in education. For instance, the women travel from home to home, urging parents to send their children (between the ages of 3 and 6) to balwadi classes so that they can learn the basics of language and arithmetic, as well as hygiene. The new teachers are taught how to give young children the tools they need to complete their basic education. They are encouraged to shape young children by endorsing and inculcating values such as the importance of literacy, family planning, and nutrition.

The programme goes beyond training rural women to become teachers; it also functions to empower women as communicators in their villages. Organisers explain that they strive to help these women have the confidence, through education, to take on the role of village communicators who inspire others to pursue literacy and who deal with local governing bodies. They claim that trainees can develop a new status in the village, perhaps prompting other women to change their perspective on education. In short, VRDC works to give women the capacity to change the minds of illiterate women who might not have otherwise sent their children to balwadis. The idea is to help these women teachers become role models within their villages. VRDC supports that goal by publishing magazines with contributions by the teachers and organising study tours to keep them updated on educational strategies used elsewhere in India in model villages, towns, and cities.

Gradually moving into the area of women's empowerment, VRDC has also devised schemes to enable women to make the best use of local resources to generate income. For instance, at a village near Somtane Phata, women have come forward to learn rickshaw driving. Organisers teach them to drive, help them acquire licences, and obtain loans on their behalf.

Education, Children, Women, Early Childhood Development, Economic Development.

InfoChange India indicates that there are 20 crore (200 million) illiterate people in India, 70% of whom are women. "The reason why the dropout rate in rural schools is very high is that there are no facilities for pre-primary education. The child enters primary school totally unprepared and either rebels against the system or loses interest altogether," according to activist Nirmala Purandare, who began and runs the programme. She continues: "So far, we have trained more than 10,000 women who had dropped out of school in the sixth grade. They had never made any use of their elementary education and had confined themselves to living a conventional life of looking after the family and fighting the many odds in most of our villages. These women are now not the same...These teachers are now preparing a whole new generation of students who are quite enthused about completing their basic education"