SHEF's OVERALL IMPACT

• SHEF students have an average attendance of over 85% compared to a national average of 71.1 percent. (ASER Centre, Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2014 (New Delhi: ASER Centre, 2014), pp. 265, 90.)
• SHEF's teachers' attendance rate is 94.5 percent, when compared against a national average of 85.8 percent. (ASER Centre, Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2014 (New Delhi: ASER Centre, 2014), pp. 265, 90.)
• Prerna recorded an average dropout rate of 8.14 percent, compared to a national dropout rate of 46.7% for girls. (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Educational Statistics at a Glance (New Delhi: Government of India, 2014), p. 8.
• 97.4% of Prerna students have transitioned to higher education.
• 52.2% of Prerna graduates are employed.
• The average age at marriage of Prerna alumni is 21.5 years.
• In our parents' survey, 100 percent respondents rated Prerna as a good school, with 90 percent pointing to quality education as the reason.
• 870 out-of-school children have been transitioned to regular schools through our GyanSetu program that aims to educate extremely poor out-of-school children and transition them to formal schools.
• In 2018, no child marriages were reported amongst girls of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya - government schools that SHEF is working with - upon completing class 8 as a result of the efforts and perseverance of teachers trained in the Aarohini program. In 2016, 44 underage girls were forced into marriage upon completion, and in 2017, 32 underage girls were forced into marriage. In 2011, 53% girls demonstrated vulnerability to child marriage as per a sample study.
• Partnership between schools and child protection services has enabled 313 cases of child rights violation to be brought to the attention of the Aarohini Telementoring Cell.
• In 2018, 93% of girls finishing class 8 (13,256 girls) of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya transitioned to class 9.
• SHEF's community outreach program - India's Daughter Campaign - has reached over 2 million community members, including 232,000 students from 2320 government schools.
• An additional 1592 community meetings and panel discussions with members of leading political parties have also been held, and a total of 3279 awareness marches have taken place across the state.
• More than 200,000 community members from nearly 2000 villages have signed pledges against child marriage as a result of the girls' campaigns. The involvement of local officials and law enforcement officers in the campaign has helped bring an air of lawfulness to these communities with regard to child marriage and girls' rights.

Shift in attitude

As a result of SHEF's work with the boys on gender equality, the boys have experienced and displayed a positive change in the following areas:

1. confidence and self-expression,
2. gender sensitization,
3. more equitable perceptions of girls,
4. influencing their families and advocating for their sisters,
5. non-dominant perceptions of masculinity and manhood,
6. increased awareness about other social inequalities
7. attempting to influence peers to change similarly
8. skills and abilities

"I want to have a family where I earn enough and my wife works alongside, too, if she wants to, and I want an environment at home where no one is getting oppressed, or beaten and abused, everyone is equal and happy." - Rahul (Student of Prerna Boys School)

Ambrendra said with some pride, "My sister wasn't allowed to play more than an hour outside. Now she can play for two or three hours. If she washes dishes in the morning then it's my turn in the evening."