Govt ties up with UNICEF to empower girl students

Sunit Dhawan

The Haryana Government, in technical collaboration with UNICEF, is running a pioneering project, ‘Jagriti’, to combat gender discrimination and minimise the dropout rate of girl students by ensuring that they continue their education without any hassles.

“A pilot project is being run in 100 government schools of Rohtak and Jhajjar districts. We have got encouraging results and a proposal to expand the project and extend it to other districts is under the consideration of the state government,” says Roshni, UNICEF project manager.

She says Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar personally monitors the project. Girl students in the age group of 10 to 14 years and studying in Class VI to VIII are included in it.

Roshni says that under the project, various games, dramas, and other activities are organised in the schools to give the message of girl empowerment and underline the significance of studies.

Schoolteachers and principals talk to girl students informally to know about their problems and concerns and seek their suggestions for improvement. On the basis of their feedback, appropriate corrective action is taken.

The project manager says that besides the Education Department and school authorities, other government agencies, contributors and facilitators such as municipal bodies, bus drivers and conductors and auto-rickshaw operators are also being sensitised about the concerns of girl students.

The principals and teachers, who have done commendable work under the project, were honoured recently. Rohtak City Magistrate Mahender Pal, District Education Officer Sunita Ruhil, Relaxo Foundation CSR head Rupali Agarwal, Mamta Health Institute representatives Rahul and Sumitra attended the felicitation function.

The CSR wing of the Relaxo Foundation has been sponsoring the Jagriti project, which is also being supported by Delhi-based Mamta Health Institute.

Roshni says that most of the girls want to have good education, but they are compelled to abandon studies and engage in domestic chores due to gender disparity.

She adds that Haryana is the first state in the country where the project is being run to neutralise factors that adversely impact the education of girls.