I Never Thought Life Had Any Opportunities For Me

Pushkar Raj, a resident of a small village in Ajmer, Rajasthan, never let societal norms or his own outdated values affect his daughters’ upbringing. His daughter Suman and her sisters always received the same kind of treatment from their parents as a son would have. They were given equal respect and access to opportunities in life.

Other daughters in the village, however, were not as lucky. Therefore, there was no dearth of those girls who had dropped out of school at a very early age, or even those who had never been to school at all.

In September 2016, when Suman started working as an Educate Girls’ Team Balika (community volunteer) in her village, even her friends didn’t take her work seriously, let alone elders in the community. Suman didn’t care much about public approval and with determination, continued to work towards her mission of bringing girls back to school.

A final year graduation student herself, Suman has brought 5 such girls back to school who had dropped out due to various reasons.

Sitting comfortably in her front yard, she shares, “Both of my older sisters couldn’t reach college despite encouragement from our father. I will not repeat their mistake. As soon as I finish graduating, I will enroll for a Bachelor in Education post-graduate program. I want to work in the village as a government teacher. I thank Educate Girls for giving me the opportunity of working as a volunteer. I would probably not have known what I really was capable of doing in life otherwise. Before being associated with the organization, I was not confident enough to speak in public. But now, there’s no stopping me!