DISHA's ACHIEVEMENTS

 DISHA'S ACHIEVEMENTS

Some of the examples of Disha's achievement in the area of imparting mainstream education and developing entrepreneurial skills are presented hereunder

At Disha girls have always been encouraged to continue their education, sometimes it was by paying the girls a minimal amount of stipend while at others times it was by allowing the girls to bring their younger siblings along so that having to take of them would not become a deterrent for them to attend school.

Raimomni a class 4 student used to bring her 6 month sister to school with her so that her mother could continue work as a maid in people's home in order to feed her three daughters while the alcoholic father , a rickshaw puller, would bring no money home ,instead he would beat up his wife and extract money out of her.

Raimoni was married off at an early age of 14 because her maternal uncle who had assumed the responsibility of getting the girls married ( this is the customary way for the brothers to help their sisters in the tribal areas in fact the rural areas ) threatened to withdraw his support if Raimoni was allowed to continue studying because then as she would get older Raimoni's uncle would would have to pay a higher dowry.

Raimoni,s younger sister Shivani who used to accompany her as a baby is now studying in Class 4 at Disha. She is a model gentle and assertive girl who is determined to go for higher education provided someone supports her financially which her mother will be unable to do.

Raimoni had her first son soon after marriage . When he was barely 2 years old she brought him over to Disha and very proudly declared that her son could count till 10 in English and knew his abcd. The boy is now 4.5 years old and is attending Disha.