| Description |
Process documentation of the project, Kasturi, Andhra Pradesh
I.About Room to Read
Room to Read is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children in low-income countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, our innovative model focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools in low-income countries during two time periods which are most critical in a child’s schooling: early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. We work in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls can complete secondary schools with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions. Room to Read has benefited 16.8 million children across 38,000 communities in Asia and Africa.
II.About the Program
Girls’ Education Program supports adolescent girls in building their agency/consultant through the life skills they need, to succeed in school and beyond. We strive for a gender transformative approach in our work—in both design and delivery—that seeks to actively challenge harmful gender norms and address power disparities that contribute to gender inequality. ?
We believe that when girls have life skills, they can more effectively negotiate life decisions, including the decision to stay in school and break the stereotypes that impact their lives. These skills equip her to take charge, to effectively respond to life situations and identify best solutions along with a path to get there. As a result of the life skills training, they strengthen their agency/consultant to have short-medium-long term goals, make informed life choices and studied decisions. ?
We work with adolescent girls, their families, schools, and local communities to understand gender-specific challenges and devise relevant solutions. The GEP focuses on enabling adolescent girls empower themselves through life skills sessions, mentoring support, need-based material support and family, school, and community engagements.?
In India, since 2004, the Girls Education Program (GEP) has supported 367584 (Global Indicator Report,2021) girls in negotiating their key life decisions across 8 states- Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. ?
Life Skills: Core of our work
Life Skills are the knowledge, attitudes, and abilities that enable girls to deal effectively with the demands and challenges in their everyday lives—whether at home, school, work, or in the larger community. When girls learn these skills and how to apply them in their daily lives, they are better equipped to handle the challenges they may face, from finding time to study to gender bias. Life skills are universally applicable skills that are interconnected and overlap with each other. No one skill can be developed in isolation. Life skills require the cross-sectional application of knowledge, attitudes, and skills which are crucial for quality education.
Room to Read’s Life Skills Education (LSE) Curriculum, is graded and specifically designed to cultivate life skills across three domains called self-awareness, self-efficacy, and social awareness.?
Self-awareness focuses on building girls’ self-confidence, helping them to express and manage their emotions, and build empathy so that ultimately, they recognize their own worth and value. ?
Self-efficacy focuses on developing self-control, critical thinking, decision-making, and perseverance so that girls feel empowered to act.?
Social awareness focuses on developing good communicators, honing creative problem-solving skills, and navigating relationships so that she understands what she can achieve in collaboration with others. ?
Context
Room to Read, has been implementing Girl’s Education Program (GEP) in Telangana since 2008 with the objective of creating a long-term impact in girls’ education. Based on the GEP’s implementation strategy in Telangana, Room to Read replicated the model on scale in the residential schools for girls, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in the adjoining state of Andhra Pradesh.
In year 2022, the ‘Scoping Study on Girls’ Education Program in Andhra Pradesh’ was undertaken with the rationale to assess the feasibility of the strategy. The study found that the State holds special relevance and need for life skills education given their larger socio-cultural context and their vulnerabilities towards early marriage, migration, protection issues and school drop-out. Family/ community pressures, traditional norms & practices and economic insecurity often lead them to succumb to such problems which ultimately impact their continuation of education. The research also indicated the absence of a robust Life skills Education framework within the State schooling system, and prompted for an effective and impactful Life skills Education program that can have a life-long transformative outcome for the young girls.
According to the recommendations of the scoping study Room to Read initiated working as technical experts with the state system from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya with a specific curriculum for life skills education in the KGBVs. Considering the focus of the Ministry of Education on the improvement of girl’s education in the aspirational districts, Room to Read India was asked by the government to demonstrate Life Skills Model in the selected government schools in aspirational district- YSR Kadapa.
III.About the Intervention- Project Kasturi
Launched in September 2022, project Kasturi is Room t |