When women SHGs lit the lamp of education

10,000 women members of 1,000 groups set up a school for child labourers on their own at Orvakal

Brick by brick: The Balabharathi School was built in seven acres at Orvakal in Kurnool district.

As the adage goes, where there’s a will there’s a way. Nothing can be more apt for the members of self-help groups (SHGs) in Orvakal of Kurnool district, who constructed a school on their own in the mandal headquarters, without government’s help.

More than 10,000 women from over 1,000 self-help groups (SHGs) contributed from their own pockets to build a school for the children who were engaged as child labourers. Now, Balabharathi School campus sprawling over seven acres stands testimony of seven years of hard work and sustained contributions of the women who are from the poor financial background.

It all began in 1995, when Vijaya Bharathi went to Kurnool from Nellore to work as a project officer for the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). She took part in campaign against liquor and a drive to promote literacy. As part of the move, women SHGs were formed. “While working SHGs in Orvakal mandal, I noticed that child labour and migration were the major issues in the district. In 1999, I started motivated the SHGs to establish a school for the children who were engaged as child labourers,” says Ms. Vijaya Bharathi.

Long toil

But, it was not easy. “At first, the parents did not want to send their children to schools for the kids were earning money to support their family. A majority of the families were debt-ridden.

Moreover, many parents were preparing to get their minor daughters married,” she recalls.

Ms. Bharathi, along with a few other people, established a small school with 100 students, a majority of them child labourers.

“We convinced the parents, and even cleared small loans taken by some parents so that they would send their children to school,” she says.

By 2007, the school had around 2,500 children. “Many of the students of the first batch are doing well now. Around 20 students have become engineers, three become doctors and two sub-inspectors,” says Ms. Bharathi.

Gradually, the DWCRA groups felt an English medium school should be set up in the mandal.

Then Orvakal Mandal Podupu Lakshmi Ikya Sangam (OMPLIS), which have more than 10,000 members and over 1,000 SHGs got down to the business.

Ms. Bharathi purchased about three and a half acres of land in Orvakal from her own money and gave it to the OMPLIS. The group then purchased another three and a half acres for the school.

The SHG women decided saved money. Meanwhile, the OMPLIS had started training other groups from across the country who were trying to set up SHGs.

The scheme was later taken up by the government as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).

“Instead of sending the people who came here for training to restaurants, we cooked for them. Thus, we raised the funds. About 500 women were sent to other States such as Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland and Kashmir to impart training to SHGs as community resource persons. They contributed the small honorarium they had got for the school and the construction works began,” says Ms. Bharathi.

Community participation

Yet, the funds were not adequate and the OMPLIS decided to mobilise all the members and their family members for the construction works. “We dug into hard rocks. Women unloaded cement bags, iron, and sand from lorries. They carried bricks. Finally, the school was inaugurated in 2017,” says Ms. Bharathi.

The school charges nominal fees. But it provides quality education to over 700 students.

“Now, the school has eight buses to ferry students from across the mandal. Unlike other DWCRA groups, the OMPLIS is an inclusive socio-cultural solution to poverty to promote economic empowerment of women,” adds Ms. Bharathi.