We are well aware of the challenges Covid-19 brought especially in the lives of students. They couldn’t go to schools or colleges, their classroom became a zoom room and regular socializing became social distancing. Education truly became a challenge.
But what about the children whose lives were always a challenge? How did they study? Have we spared a moment to give this a thought?
Let us take you to marginalised villages in Karnataka where child marriage is highly prevalent. While 1.5 million girls under 18 get married each year in India, Karnataka contributes to 23% of them. The very foundation of these children’s lives is filled with challenges; gender-based violence, health and nutrition issues, reproductive health issues, early drop-outs, confined existence, and so on.
The pandemic made their lives worse. Cases of child exploitation were on the rise, domestic violence increased, their health was at risk and basic survival was at stake.
Our IMAGE project has been empowering these girls since 2018. Ensuring access to education for these girls was more than a milestone under the gamut of the project’s activities. But this took a backseat with all the problems the pandemic brought and the girls had to go back to their cages.
However, the IMAGE staff used this time of crisis to open new doors for the girls. The staff came up with the solution of providing E-Tablets to them with preloaded educational material so that they could continue their studies!
The staff also trained the girls on how to work on these E-tabs, and this was an opportunity for the girls from remote villages to get well versed in the use of digital technology.
We have distributed 50+ E-tabs which are shared among 70+ girls. In February alone, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Lokesh Jagalsar in the Bidar region distributed a total of 26 E-tablets to the girls.
More specifically, these tabs have been extremely useful for the girls appearing for their SSLC exams.
With the E-tabs, the girls are now back on track and ready to fly to greater heights!