Here girls show the path to others!

Supriya, an inhabitant of Asepur village is all set to emulate the space scientist, Kalpana Chawla. And she is not the only one with this dream in her eyes. There are 25 others who have joined the same bandwagon. They all belong to a junior high school in Asepur village which lies at the vicinity of the city.

Supriya, an inhabitant of Asepur village is all set to emulate the space scientist, Kalpana Chawla. And she is not the only one with this dream in her eyes. There are 25 others who have joined the same bandwagon.

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They all belong to a junior high school in Asepur village which lies at the vicinity of the city.

Today, while realising their strength and sensing the urgency of the hour, the girls are learning the skills of bee-keeping which will not only help them in the development of the school but also support them in generating their own income.

However, the story was not so straight and simple as it seems. It all had started eight years ago with the initiative of GB Pant Social Science Institute, Jhunsi.

"In order to initiate the community services in villages and to find out the reasons for the failure of the schemes generated by government, the institute targetted village Asepur for a sort of experiments.

It was found that there were no schools for girls in the area," said Dr Suneet Singh, research associate.

A school was started in the village in a building for which the people of all caste contributed without any hesitation. Teachers' training was imparted to the female members of the society in the institute. "With the strength of 150 students, the school started and without any regular financial support it somehow kept functioning with the local resource mobilisation," said Dr Singh.

A managing committee was formed afterwards to look after the financial and other matters of the school.

The members were the passed out students who have now obtained the graduation degree.

Aspiring high, the girls now felt the need to learn computers. Two girls were provided the basic training in computers in GB Pant Institute and afterwards two computers were installed in the school so that they might guide other students of the school.

However, finance was needed this session when the students and the staff felt the urgency to get the school recognised.

"They needed a lumpsum amount and we decided to carry on with yet another experiment. This time around we felt that the time has come when the girls should learn to generate their own income through some vocational training. And bee-keeping was the best way which could easily thrive in the rural areas," said Dr Singh.

"We have now provided 25 bee-boxes to the girls who were first trained by the institute in bee-keeping. They will keep 50% of the income generation to continue their studies and utilise the rest of it for the development and welfare of the school. The success of this initiative will be a deciding factor towards further extending it to others," he said.

"It is a great achievement to watch so many girls getting educated and contributing in a significant manner for their community and family both.

They have in fact gone ahead of the males in the village in the field of education," said Dr Suneet.