Ranchi: A village in Jharkhand, a tribal-dominated state in eastern India, has set a new example for the country.
What matters for Juri, some 150 km south of the state capital of Ranchi, are its educated girls, not legends, politicians or religious leaders.
The village Potka block of Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district now has lanes named after Sumita Bhattacharya, Baisakhi Gope, Mani Mala Sikdar and Sunita Gope. They are first young women who braved innumerable hurdles to attend colleges.
The village, which has over 600 families, has no high school and children have to travel 3 km to reach a high school and 30 km to go to a college. There is a single government middle school where 5 teachers teach over 300 students.
Sumita Bhattacharya was the first girl to be picked by the village’s women’s committee and a Sumita Bhattacharya gali (lane) was dedicated to the 23-year-old woman, who is the most educated girl in the village.
“I had never expected that any lane would be dedicated after my name as I have done nothing remarkable for the society so far. But the act gave me immense encouragement and confidence for my higher education,” said Bhattacharya, a student of masster’s degree in history from Women’s College in Jamshedpur.
She said that girls of the village have to struggle a lot for higher studies. “There is no college in the nearby area. We have to travel to Jamshedpur where there is no direct communication from the village,” explained Bhattacharya, who wants to become a teacher.
Despite many hurdles, the village enjoys higher literacy rate compared to the state average. The 2011 census showed the literacy rate in the village as 68.39 percent, compared to state average of 66.41 percent. The male literacy stands at 79.46 percent against the state average of 76.84 percent while the female literate rate is 57.26 percent against the state average of 55.42 percent.
After Bhattacharya, the committee chose three other girls – Mani Mala Sikdar, who is master’s student, and undergraduates Baisakhi Gope and Sunita Gope – and named three lanes after them.
“Our objective is to encourage the girls for education. We hope this village will turn as a model village for other parts of the state,” village mukhiya (head) Savitri Sardar said.
“The handwritten or printed signage for lanes are often torn by children or destroyed during rains. The administration had promised to provide wooden signage, which is yet to be fulfilled,” Sardar added.
East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amit Kumar said the administration would fulfill the demand of signage soon.
“Aimed at women’s empowerment, the initiative got a huge response and inculcated confidence in girl students. We want to replicate it to other villages if women group of the respective village come forward,” Kumar told The Hindustan Times.