India

Krishna observed more complacency among her girl students in their attitude towards education and the world around them. This manifested as limited participation among girl students – they were slower to raise their hands, more hesitant to speak up, less likely to ask questions or challenge, and more fearful of judgment. Krishna even noticed that they were less aware of national and local events than her male students. 

Richa launched the Labhya Foundation before her Teach For India Fellowship and has leveraged the work of the foundation around socio-emotional learning during her time in the classroom. The aim of the foundation is to reach heightened emotional intelligence among children through conducting experience-based, immersive, and value-based experiences for children.

Sadia believes that financial independence is critical for young girls and women in her community--and yet, she notes that this is not actively cultivated in schools. She envisions a future for her female students where they are equipped with entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to improve their standard of living and avoid common challenges like early marriage, school drop-out, and domestic slavery. 

Deepak became concerned about the disproportionate number of girl students not enrolled in rural schools. While the education of parents played some role in this disparity (with less-educated parents less likely to send or keep their girl children in school) it was an issue that persisted among educated villagers and even local school teachers who prioritized funding the education of their sons at the expense of the daughters.

Many girls in Shalini’s school community are affected by their fathers’ alcoholism and related violence in the home. This kind of trauma is widely known to disrupt children’s development and impede learning.