DHARTI

When Neha, a girl in Rampur village in Ishanagar block of Chhatarpur district passed class 8, she was very happy. Though the distance of her new school where she would continue studies in class 9 was about 5 km from the village made her little apprehensive, she was excited that she would get a bicycle from the school.

She used to go to the school with her friends every day and study diligently. When she returned to home, she would help her mother with daily chores. Daily 10 km round trip to school, then the household chores used to make her so tired that she could not get time to study. "At the end of the day, I used to become very tired and I did not get any time to study,” said Neha.

The management and principal of school told her and her friends that they would get their bicycles in December, but nothing happened. The year passed and she move to class 10, but the bicycle remained a dream. This time also the authorities said that they would get the bicycle soon, but nothing happened.

By the time the girls moved to class 11, they got quite angry but could not able to do anything. In the meantime, Samriddhi programme started and these girls joined the programme. Neha was made peer educator. In one of the many interactions the girls were told that if they were not getting their entitlements, they should give a memorandum to the District Magistrate. Neha talked to the rest of nine girls in her class, wrote an application and submitted the same to the DM.

After a month they all got the new bicycles. They were very happy that at least now they would be able to reach school in 15 minutes instead of an hour and were full of hope.

(This story is not only of Neha but also of the other nine girls)