Wheels of progress

Young girls in Bihar who have excelled in their studies are being given bicycles
by the state government as an incentive. Parents are happy with their daughters’
new-found independence, writes Saadia Azim

Nivedita, 15, had a hidden desire. She wished her family could own a car, or any vehicle for that matter. But she knew her father, a private school bus driver, could never afford one. Today, young Nivedita — one of five children — is the proud owner of a bicycle. She was presented her first pair of wheels by the Bihar Government for having successfully passed her class IX examination from a local government school. These days she ferries her younger siblings to and from school even as she travels to her own school, Bankipore Balika Ucch Madyamik Vidyalaya, some 3 km away from home, which is at LCT Ghat in Manpura, Danapur, near the state capital, Patna. Says Nivedita: "Not even in my wildest dreams had I ever thought I would own a bicycle. I spent an additional Rs 1,000 to get a Hero bicycle so that all my brothers and sisters can also use it."

Though she is still unsure of being able to complete her higher studies, mainly because of the financial difficulties her large family faces, for now she can continue as "at least my transportation expenses have become much less." Nivedita's mother, Manju, is proud of her daughter. While her older children had to drop out of school due to financial reasons as well as social pressures — Nivedita's elder sister dropped out to get married at 17 even before she could finish her matriculation — Nivedita has changed this "tradition." Manju is also happy that her daughter is now independent. "It is her independence that has increased our self-confidence," she says.

Nivedita's classmate Trisha, 14, is also quite a star in her locality of Rajapul, near Manpura. A class X student of Bankipore's High School for Girls, she, too, can be seen pedalling her way to school every morning.

Nivedita and Trisha are among the nine lakh girls who have received funds from the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana (Chief Minister's Bicycle Scheme for Girls) to buy bicycles. Today, Trisha has been able to achieve an almost 90 per cent attendance level and is seriously preparing for the class X Board examinations. She, too, comes from a large family. She is the youngest of four sisters and two brothers. Her father Vinod Rai, a government employee, is "proud of his daughter for she is independent now."

Girls registering near-perfect attendance at school and proud parents who are eager to send their daughters off to study`85 in Bihar, this would have seemed an impossible scenario even a few years earlier. But it is not just a feather in the state government's cap; it is a happy development for all school-going girls as well.

The Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana — which has given a boost to female education and women's participation in society — dispenses money to all girls in government schools who, despite the odds, have managed to reach class VIII with more than 80 per cent attendance. The idea is that a bicycle increases their mobility and enables them to travel free of cost to school, reducing at least one major family expense.

The scheme, widely described as Bihar Chief Minister (CM) Nitish Kumar's dream project, was launched during his first tenure — he got re-elected for a second term in November 2010 with a resounding mandate. Though the scheme began in 2006, now its impact can be seen. Says Bilkis Jahan, principal of Bankipore's High School For Girls: "It is a revolution in itself. The confidence of the girls has risen sharply. There has been an entire personality transformation and their attendance has also increased remarkably."

This, in fact, was the whole idea behind the initiative. As Kumar has himself observed in his public addresses, it was to address the disturbing dropout rate among girls in the higher classes — they either give up their education for marriage or because it is unsafe for them to travel long distances alone on public transport — that the project was conceived.

Initially, the Human Resource (HR) Department invited tenders from cycle manufacturers where the least price quoted emerged as Rs 1,840. To minimise the chances of corruption, the CM decided to hand over a cheque of Rs 2,000 directly to the beneficiaries. A list of schools was prepared and the funds were handed over to them. The school administration in turn got the girls to open a savings bank account and credited the amount there. Surprisingly, those parents who had shied away from letting their girls travel alone, are now encouraging them to ride bicycles.

It is quite a sight every morning when girls, dressed smartly in their blue kurtas and white dupattas ride off to school, especially in a state where the female literacy rate is almost half that of males and where more than 60 per cent of girls are married before they turn 18.

But that is not to say that there are no attempts to use the bicycle money elsewhere. Reveals Bilkis Jahan: "There have been instances when the girl's family has used the fund for some other exigency. Nothing much can be done in this regard, seeing the impoverished backgrounds of these students. But then their applications are forwarded with the promise that they will buy the bicycles as soon as they are able to save money." — WFS

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