Ramilaben has her hands full with managing two Adolescent Girls Learning Centres (AGLC); one in Ranmalpura village and other in Khimasar settlement of Gujarat as the sole teacher in charge. In fact, she is a one woman itinerant school teacher out to attract girls and teach them the rudiments of hygiene besides the 3 Rs.
These AGLCs are sponsored welfare programmes of a NGO and specifically targeted at girls belonging to the farming and labourer classes where the literacy levels are almost a single digit percentile. Ramilaben joined them as a volunteer and is now a paid staff member.
Living away from her family in a make shift residential arrangement in the heart of desert region has definitely not been easy for a young woman. However, she has been successful in getting both the AGLCs going through sheer grit and missionary zeal. She herself is a first time graduate in her family and now in mid 20s, retains that idealistic spirit of serving the downtrodden.
Describing her workday, Ramilaben says, ‘Ranmalpura and Khimasar AGLCs have different timings. Ranmalpura AGLC timings are from 12.30 to 2.30 in the afternoon, whereas Khimasar AGLC timings are from 3 to 5 in the evening. I have to walk down from my residence to Ranmalpura in the morning and then to Khimasar in the afternoon heat. While walking to Khimasar, I take along with me the girls living on the roadside. They would not otherwise come as they live a little further across the road. But, I do make it a point to get to them everyday.
Despite a grueling walk to and fro from the residence to the centre in both the places, Ramilaben manages both the AGLCs daily almost with clockwork efficiency. She says, ‘Since I go to the centers everyday, the girls come without fail. Girls and their parents have faith in me; hence there is sufficient strength in my AGLCs.’
Ramilaben has also undertaken training and got herself familiarized about the curriculum, lesson plan, and modern innovative teaching tools for these girls. These girls are mostly first time learners in the family and they have a lot of inhibition and it becomes difficult to get them enthused. So, for a lesson in Math and one literally has to get the vegetable and fruits from the market and make them understand.
In a similar vein, once they get interested there is no stopping them. It is Ramilaben’s task to get them excited and make them realize that a practical education can lift them out of this morass and instill in them hopes to rebuild more meaningful lives.
As for the likes of Ramilaben, she is the very soul of selfless service. When one of her girls went to Baroda for college, she accompanied them to the railway station and had tears in her eyes.
There is slow and silent revolution happening in the country and away from the glare of publicity where real people are working to make a real impact amongst those whose number runs into millions. We need not one Ramilaben but many more for that 9% growth to have any meaning. (522 words)
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