Girl champions felicitated for tiding over all odds

B. Bhargavi, working as a branch post master in Andhra Pradesh, has taken the train for the first time this year, ahead of International Women’s Day.

A resident of Madanapalle, she is the daughter of an auto driver father and a daily wage labourer mother.

“I had to quit studies during COVID-19, and stay at home. I tried different methods to eke out a living. I made photo frames and sold them. And later, I got a job in a jewellery shop as cashier,” she related, speaking at ‘STEMming Strong — Breaking Barriers to Building Breakthroughs’, an event organised by Child Rights and You, a voluntary organisation.

Working as a cashier, she applied for a job in India Post and got it. Her travails were far from over. As a postal employee, she had to travel long distances to promote the department’s schemes.

“People discouraged me, saying I was a girl, and I won’t be able to do it. Some even threatened me. I did not know how to ride even a bicycle,” Bhargavi shared.

She did what would have been construed impossible for a girl. She walked 10 kilometres a day for 20 days, interacting with people and explaining the scheme.

Also teaching at a government school after work, Bhargavi was one among many girls felicitated by CRY as “girl achievers” ahead of Women’s Day.

Velagala Nandini, a Dalit girl from Kapileswarapuram village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, was a champion in handball at high school level.

“It was a struggle to complete Intermediate, because there was only one bus to the place where our college was located. My parents were too poor and reluctant to fund my studies, but I convinced them. I got inspired to study further only due to exposure to the STEM lab set up in our school. I even got into NCC without any tests, due to my sports record,” she said.

Gurramkonda Ganitha from Madanapalle lives with her mother after her father died two years ago. A family income of ₹3,000 per week is too less to nurture any dreams about making good in life. But establishment of a STEM lab in her school changed her perspective. She now wishes to major in Botany, and become a teacher and inspire children ‘like APJ Abdul Kalam’.

CRY, in collaboration with local NGO partners, has set up 64 STEM labs in government schools across four South Indian states, AP, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to encourage children from poor socio-economic backgrounds to take interest in science, technology and related courses.

The labs provide hands-on, interactive science and technology education to children in under-served communities to bridge the digital divide. The initiatives focus on promoting STEM education for girls, said the Regional Director, CRY-South, John Roberts while explaining the purpose of the programme.