Pardada Pardadi Educational Society

Infobox School
name = Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School
city = Anoopshahr
district = Bulandshahr
state = Uttar Pradesh
country = India
founder = Virendra (Sam) Singh
tuition = free
products = textile arts
grades = 3-12
medium = Hindi
motto = From the Village to the World
school_colors = Green, Gold
founded = 2000
picture =
homepage = [http://education4change.org Pardada Pardadi ]

Pardada Pardadi Educational Society - a non-profit organization based in Anoopshahr, Bulandshahr dist., Uttar Pradesh, India dedicated to the academic, economic and social empowerment of girls and women in this poor area of the country.

Pardada Pardadi translates into English as “great grand parents”. The phrase Pardada Pardadi is used as an analogy for the ancient Indian wisdom of knowledge and education which helps in the full blossoming of an individual.

Vision & Mission

"Vision:"To be a facilitator in creating a society where women have equal share in the continual growth of the nation.

"Mission:"To uplift and empower girls from the poorest section of society by providing them with a free value-based education and vocational training, thus allowing the girls to become self-reliant and educated individuals. This in turn will create a society where all children will have an opportunity to grow to their fullest potential. To educate and provide job training and jobs to at least one daughter of each of the 50,000 poor families of Anoopshahr, leading to self-sufficiency in a modern world. PPES hopes to improve the quality of life for rural women and hence rural India.

Anoopshahr & Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous and the fifth largest state in the Republic of India. While the national average female literacy rate is 53.7%, that of Uttar Pradesh falls to 42.48% (both figures from 2001 census) [ [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/literates1.aspx Census of India Census Data 2001: India Number of Literates and Literacy Rates] ] [ [http://upgov.nic.in/upinfo/census01/cen01-4.htm Literacy Rate 1951-2001, Uttar Pradesh] ] . In the town of Anoopshahr itself, this number dips a bit further to just 41% [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anupshahr Wikipedia: Anupshahr] ] . While these figures show improvement over 1991 figures (39.29% India [ [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ Indian Census] ] , 24.37% U.P. [ [http://upgov.nic.in/upinfo/census01/cen01-4.htm CENSUS-2001 ] ] ), a great deal of work still needs to be done.

The education of the girl child is particularly problematic in this area where the culture favors boys and men. This favoritism is reflected in the ratio of females to males in Uttar Pradesh: 898 women per 1000 men, compared to 933 women to 1000 men nationally [ [http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/fsex.aspx Census of India Census Data 2001: Sex Ratio] ] . Everyday girls and women face gender discrimination in various guises. These include female feticide, nutritional and economic disparities with male members of the family, as well as violence in and out of the home.

History

Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES) was established in 2000 by Virender (Sam) Singh, a retired U.S. Dupont South Asia head, who grew up in Anoopshahr. Based in this rural setting, the organization works to address the issue of gender bias in society and to raise rural girls and their families out of their state of poverty. To that end PPES developed an educational programme and set up the Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School (PPGVS).

In 2000, PPGVS started with 45 girls from the poorest families of the area; today the school enrolls about 1000 students from 43 villages. In 2006, PPGVS' first graduating class saw 13 of 14 girls pass their 10th Standard U.P. Board Exams, 10 with 1st Division marks. In light of their successes at PPGVS, PPES plans to expand its mission beyond PPGVS and, with support from Airtel and its CSR component the Satya Bharti Foundation, has undertaken to build many primary schools in the villages surrounding Anoopshahr. The schools will educate both boys and girls from kindergarten to class 5th.

Following Sam Singh's philosophy that "a model is only good if it can be replicated", the school aims to become self-sustainable in the next seven years. The school was intentionally designed to serve as a model to be used in other parts of India or in other developing countries to address the issues of gender bias and poverty.

Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School

The school serves Anoopshahr and surrounding villages, admitting girls who come from extremely poor families – generally those who earn less than 600 rupees per household per month (approx. US $14.91) [ [http://www.xe.com/ucc XE Universal Currency Converter, accessed 31 July 2007, conversion rate of 1 USD = 40.22 INR] ] . The draw of a free education complete with free textbooks and free meals encourages families who might otherwise not send their daughters to school - either for lack of money or for lack of interest - to allow their girls to get an education.

The girls are further encouraged to attend school regularly by the school's plan to set up a bank account for each girl into which 10 INR are deposited for everyday she comes to school. The account is setup jointly in the names of the girl and her mother, and the money is given only once the girl has passed class 10th at the time of the girl's marriage (if this is after her 18th birthday) or on her 21st birthday, whichever comes first. By the time of her graduation, a girl can expect to have saved about 30,000 INR (approx. 745 USD).

The school continues to support its students even after they have graduated by encouraging further studies or by guaranteeing each girl a job working with the organization in the academic, marketing or vocational departments.

Academic Education

In the mornings the girls attend academic classes in subjects including History, Mathematics, English and Music - the school curriculum follows that set by the U.P. Board. In 2004, through a grant from the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy in Delhi, the school was able to set up a computer lab for the girls to have computer classes twice a week. In addition to the regular teaching staff, the school also enlists volunteers to introduce and implement forward-thinking teaching methods and to assist in teaching English as well as other subjects.

Vocational Training

During the academic year, afternoons are spent in vocational classes where the girls are trained in highly marketable textile arts like hand embroidery or stitching. In their vocational classes, the girls produce fine hand embroidered linen appliqué work and block printing as well as table cloths, luncheon sets, bed covers and sheets, curtains, and cushion covers. This vocational training is key to making the school-model self-sustainable as well as practical as the sale of these products funds the running of the school and the training provides the girls' with a marketable skill they can use to support themselves after graduation.

School products are sold on the internet or through the organization's shops in Meerut, Bopal and Gurgaon.

Value-Based Education

The school strives to expand its services to its girls by including non-academic, non-vocational elements in its curriculum. The value-based education also includes lessons on leadership and personality development, health and hygiene, legal awareness, and ethics.

About once a month, cultural programs expose the girls to various aspects of Indian culture and also allow them to show off their singing or dancing abilities.

Community Outreach

Since the foundation of the Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School, PPES has expanded its mission of development beyond education to include community outreach in various areas. These efforts have included educational plays put on by PPGVS students, a toilet construction programme, and health and cataract camps open to the community at large. [ [http://education4change.org/programs_village_level.htm Pardada Pardadi Educational Society: Programs at the Village Level] ]

In July 2008, PPES began an initiative, called "Rags to Pads", to produce low-cost menstrual pads to be sold to local women. In an area where women often use dirty rags to control their menstrual flow, PPES hopes that the availability of low-cost sanitary pads will reduce the incidence of vaginal infections and urinary tract infections. As part of this initiative, the organization will also train PPGVS graduates to operate the production and marketing of this business. [ [http://ragstopads.com Rags to Pads] ]

References

External links

* [http://education4change.org Pardada Pardadi Educational Society homepage]
* [http://pardada-pardadi.blogspot.com Pardada Pardadi weblog]
* [http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/iryou/kaigo/kourei/20080729-OYT8T00413.htm "Social Change by Educating the Girls", The Yomuiri Shimbun, 29.7.2008, note: article in Japanese]
* [http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/30230813/Virendra-Sam-Singh--Turning.html "Turning young rural girls into assertive, articulate women", Live Mint, 23.1.2008]
* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2023076.cms "Winds of Change", The Times of India, 25 September 2006]
* [http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/20/stories/2006072003840200.htm "Rural Girls Hold Their Heads High", The Hindu, 20 July 2006]
* [http://www.commonlanguageproject.net/articles/Education_Stonehill_Stuteville.htm "More Than Mouths to Feed: Rural India Finds Its Own Solutions", Common Language Project 3 April 2006]