Itaunja: “Next step after skill development, connecting beneficiaries to employment opportunities. This joint collaboration is a noble initiative and enables high quality skill development opportunities to the rural areas,” says Ram Asrey Singh, the Deputy Director, Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission who was the Chief guest for the Convocation ceremony of Skill Development Program was held at Laxmi Smriti Vidyadaan Sansthan (LSVS) at Itaunja on Saturday.
120 students were felicitated for completion of three courses – Beautician, Tailoring and Computer Operator. Majority of the students enrolled in the course were young women and girls from 10 villages near Itaunja.
The program is being jointly conducted by Laxmi,Smriti Vidyadaan Sansthan, Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) and Jan Shikshan Sansthan (under the ministry of skill development & entrepreneurship), Lucknow. Dr Urvashi Sahni, Founder and CEO of SHEF, Mr IB Singh, Senior Advocate at Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench and Mr Anil Kumar Srivastava, Director of Jan Shikshan Sansthan were among the dignitaries present at the ceremony.
“We now need to focus on finding good employment opportunities for the girls and women who have completed the course. It is also the responsibility of men and boys present here to support and encourage their sisters, daughters and mothers in order for them to excel and become independent,” said Dr Urvashi Sahni.
Mr I B Singh, also the patron of Laxmi Smriti Vidyadaan Sansthan said, “I am grateful to SHEF and Jan Shikshan Sansthan for collaborating with us. This program is a boon for my village, especially for the girls and women. I have seen young girls traveling from far and bringing their sisters and mothers along from nearby villages and I feel my dream of educating children, especially girls so that they can get employed is coming true.”
All three courses have been a huge success. The program was launched in November 2021 and will soon start the next batch.
Lucknow: Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) took a very interesting approach for celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 2022. They invited an all-men panel in the 42nd Edition of Join the Discussion series and put the focus back on boys and men to answer the question – Why should men give up power and change?
Anand Chitravanshi, Chief Operating Officer of SHEF said, “This grave inequality cannot and should not exist in a working democracy. Such inequality can only be corrected by a social, political and cultural revolution. As architects, perpetrators, and perpetrators of patriarchy, men need to take a principled egalitarian stand and choose their actions mindfully. The fight for equality will not seek mens’ consent. Men must use their privilege to advocate for women’s dignity, freedom, rights and autonomy. Men must participate in house work and raise their voice against other men who harass, molest and objectify women. Fathers must become role models for their sons.’
Anshumali Sharma, State Liaison Officer, NSS – Uttar Pradesh said, “Patriarchy is the cause of all gender-based violence as it gives unlimited power to men. If we are to create a gender just world, it is important that we address men and boys. We can empower women but if we leave men out of this conversation, we will never achieve equality.”
Founder President and CEO of SHEF Dr Urvashi Sahni, said “We live in a democracy, where every citizen has equal rights. But we have left half the population without that freedom. We have created a society for our daughters that is cruel and unfair to them. And if we are to bring change then we must address men and boys and educate them to deconstruct the patriarchal structures and construct an egalitarian one instead.”
Shivpoojan who is a class 11 student at Prerna Boys School added, “Change begins at home. Men and boys need to change their mindset towards women and girls. They need to understand that we all are equal and have equal rights.”
Ankur Mishra, a teacher at Prerna Boys School said that, “At home, women are restricted by their fathers, brothers and husbands. We must also understand that patriarchy also harms men. We are overburdened by responsibilities. Why not educate, support women and empower and consider them as equals? Our constitution says every citizen is equal, so why are we limiting the lives of women?”
Sharing her feedback for the panel discussion, Sapna Bharti, a government school teacher from Sitapur said, “Women need to raise their boys in the right manner. Teach them how to do household chores, share the burden that usually their sisters would bear. ”
Lucknow: Study Hall School hosted a two-day Virtual Model United Nations (SHMUN) Human Rights Council on 12 and 13 February 2022. This was the 9th edition of SHMUN hosted by Study Hall where students from prestigious schools in Lucknow were tasked with solving global issues through research, drafting, lobbying and debate to pass a suitable resolution. The 9th edition of SHMUN discussed the escalating humanitarian crisis in Myanmar with the arrival of Military rule and third wave of Covid.
Dron Pande, a student of class 11 at Study Hall said, “Study Hall’s Model UN this year was action packed. We hosted four committees this year and all of them were a huge success. For me, as a 11 grader, organizing a Model UN was a monumental task and I was grateful for the support from the teachers. This was an amazing experience and we hope to hold many more events in the same fashion.” Dron was the Director General of SHMUN this year.
Principal Meenakshi Bahadur said, “Once again Study Hall’s Model UN was a huge success. It’s also a great opportunity for students from other schools to work together, identify the issues and find solutions for the agenda they are assigned.”
Students from various schools like La Martiniere Girls’ School and La Martiniere College, Prerna Girls School participated in the conference. Keeping in view the model of the UN, the event was planned for two days to accommodate all the procedures that could be followed explicitly and students to come up with relevant and applicable solutions. SHMUN is a student simulation of the proceedings of the United Nations, where Students, referred to as Delegates, are assigned a country to represent in one of the UN’s numerous committees with pre-set topics to debate. They research the background of their country, their country’s position on the topics at hand, and prepare notes on possible solutions to the problems faced. Students then convene at Model UN conferences, to debate their assigned topics with students representing the other UN member states. Much like the real UN, the goal is to identify solutions, by negotiation and consensus, on which many countries can agree. The students take on the roles of delegates, speakers, and chairs. The entire process and discussion takes place under formal ‘Rules of Procedure’ to truly model the format of the UN.
Watch Dr Urvashi Sahni’s latest TEDxYouth talk on Rethinking Democracy and Citizenship, where she answers pressing questions such as what does it mean to be democratic? What’s the difference between being a citizen in a democracy and a subject in an empire? and more.
Starting off with a powerful reading of the constitution to remind us the principles of equality, justice and fraternity – values that she aspires to imbue in others through her schools and organisations. She explained the importance of reconstructing strong feudal patriarchal mindsets and reconstructing democratic mindsets instead in order to have a robust and thriving democracy. She also highlights the role of educational institutions to direct the change in mindsets. As places where children spend a majority of their time, it is integral for there to be a paradigm shift from schools being an environment where gender inequality is normalized to one that facilitates critical dialogue between children on the subject of democracy.
Lucknow: Study Hall Educational Foundation in the 37th edition of its Join the Discussion series invited Anshu Gupta and Meenakshi Gupta, founder of Goonj – an NGO which undertakes disaster relief, humanitarian aid and community development. The topic of discussion for the day was – giving and receiving with dignity.
Anshu Gupta, popularly known as the Clothing Man, while introducing the work that they do talked about how our clothes form such an important part of our dignity and also play a key role in our survival – protecting us from vagaries of weather. “We aim to recognize and value the potential of local resources and traditional wisdom of people.Our focus is concentrated on the receiver’s dignity instead of the donor’s pride.” Anshu said.
He added, “Publicizing your work on social media should not motivate the masses to be a giver. One has to make personal connections so that the person receiving it doesn’t feel burdened. That’s the effort you make and that is what giving and receiving with dignity is all about.”
“This pandemic has left a lot of people in despair. We should learn to talk to people and understand what their needs are and act accordingly. Relationships are the key here”, Anshu added.
Talking about her journey with Goonj, Meenakshi said, “I come from a middle class family in Delhi.I did not have an education that showed me the stark realities of the world. My learnings are all from when I stepped into a village and how we moulded our projects to fit the needs of those people.”
President and CEO of Study Hall Educational Foundation, Dr Urvashi Sahni was the moderator of the discussion. Dr Sahni while sharing her experience about giving and receiving with dignity said, “Once I gave a few chocolates to one of my Prerna girls and the next day she came back and gave two of them to me. I asked her why are you giving them back. Angered by what I had said, she replied – these are my chocolates now and I choose to share them with you. Is that a problem? ”
Join the Discussion is a series of bimonthly panel discussions on relevant topics organised by Study Hall Educational Foundation. The 37th edition of the Join the Discussion series was attended by over 250 people via Zoom.
Lucknow: Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) was named among the Top 50 COVID-19 Last Mile Responders in India by the World Economic Forum’s (WEF). This is an effort to honour organisations who played an exceptional role in tackling the COVID crisis in India.
Since the start of the pandemic, SHEF provided 1,27,296 meals to migrant labour communities in Lucknow, distributed 29,000 reusable face masks, provided 1150 dry ration bags serving over 7345 community members, connected 4150 people to meal programs and distributed 1000 reusable menstrual pads. The organisation also connected 18,966 underserved children to online classes and resources, and trained 2203 teachers to use online teaching resources to continue educating children.
During the second wave of COVID19 in 2021, SHEF helped 2350 people get vaccinated, counselled 5500 for vaccination hesitancy and distributed 100 COVID19 combat kits consisting of Pulse Oximeter, Thermometer, Masks, Sanitizer and a steam vaporizer in villages and urban locations in and around Lucknow serving around 105,00 community members.
“This recognition by WEF as one of India’s top 50 last mile responders during Covid is such a shot in the arm to our SHEF team. The 350 strong team has worked round the clock to make a holistic response on the ground for the last 16 months – online classes to the poorest, but going beyond that and providing humanitarian relief to families medical aid, digital devices, food, grief counselling, information about Covid, vaccinations – awareness and assistance. We serve villages and schools and non-formal education centers in and around Lucknow. During the pandemic we have directly impacted over 1,78,000 community members. Thank you for appreciating our efforts,” says Dr Urvashi Sahni, Founder and CEO of SHEF.
Others on the list include Breakthrough, Goonj, Barefoot College International, Mann Deshi Foundation, Doctors For You and many other acclaimed organisations. Each of the organisations on the list addresses at least one of four priority areas of on-the-ground need: Prevention and Protection; COVID-19 Treatment and Relief, Inclusive Vaccine Access, and Securing Livelihoods.
A film featuring Study Hall Educational Foundation has won the prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Non-Fiction Special. The film features Prerna Girls School, a unit of SHEF and highlights the organization’s work to empower adolescent girls through education. The YouTube Originals “Creators For Change” also features Michelle Obama and YouTuber Prajakta Koli (MostlySane) with the aim to create a dynamic content moment to spark a conversation around the global state of girls’ education.
Dr Urvashi Sahni, Founder and CEO SHEF says, “All of us at Shef, students and teachers are delighted at this global recognition of our efforts! We hope it leads to an increasing impact of our pedagogy and belief that education is the place to create egalitarian mindsets in everyone! Thank you Girls Opportunity Alliance, Michelle Obama and our own Prajakta Kohli for helping us to amplify our voice and work!”
The Emmy is considered one of the four major entertainment awards in the United States, the others being the Grammy (for music), the Oscar (Academy Award) (for film), and the Tony (for theatre) and is also considered equivalent to Oscars in Television.
Prajakta Koli along with Liza Koshy, an American comedian and YouTuber and ThembeMahlaba (Pap Culture) highlight the work being done globally to help further girls’ education in India, Vietnam, and Namibia.
Our Director of Programs, Mr Anand Chitravanshi featured in an article by Chief Functionary of Men Against Violence & Abuse, Mr Harish Sadani in ‘Loksatta’, Marathi newspaper as a part of his fortnightly column, featuring Men of Substance from across India. The article talks about how Mr Anand Chitravanshi has been instrumental in building gender sensitivity with a critical feminist lens among adolescent boys, enabling them to be a ‘part of the solution’ to the gender problems in Northern India.
In 2006, 6 women members of the Indian Young Lawyers Association, petitioned the Supreme Court of India to lift the ban against women between the ages of 10 and 50 entering the Sabrimala Temple in Kerala. They argued that the practice was a violation of their constitutional rights and questioned the validity of provisions in the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship ( Authorisation of Entry) Rules act of 1965. They won as the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that women of all age groups can enter Sabarimala Temple. The court ruled thus: We have no hesitation in saying that such an exclusionary practice violates the right of women to visit and enter a temple to freely practice Hindu religion and to exhibit her devotion towards Lord Ayappa. The denial of this right to women significantly denudes them of their right to worship. The verdict was passed with a 4-1 majority. The only female judge, Justice Indu Malhotra dissented. – saying that every individual should be allowed to practice their faith irrespective of whether the practice is rational or logical.
As we know there was resistance to this judgement and a petition to review the judgement was made. On 14th November 2019, the Supreme court Constitution Bench referred the review petitions as well as the writ petitions to a larger bench of not less than seven judges. This review is still pending as there is a difference of opinion even on the decision to review the petition.
The Congress party which claims to be a secular party has now raked up the issue again by promising to make such “violations of tradition” a cognizable offence!! This is clearly an effort to win over the Hindu voters in Kerala.
What angers me as it did Bindu Ammini, the first woman of menstruating age to enter Sabarimala on 2nd January 2019, is the continued insistence on viewing women as bodies and not persons. How does a person become impure? When do men become impure? When do they lose their izzat? Many of us working for women’s rights are also fighting against irrational and regressive practices of considering women’s bodies impure during menstruation, imposing a quarantine on them during this time. We are doing our best to disseminate scientific information about menstruation and positioning it as a natural biological process in women’s bodies, which should be celebrated because it signals the onset of fertility in women. That nothing about it renders her impure, and that women do not expel bad blood from their bodies during menstruation, that it is as natural as any other bodily process.
While we are trying to dispel myths and superstitions regarding menstruation, rescuing their person hood from objectification as bodies, learned women like Justice Indu Malhotra are supporting these very myths!!! Maybe she too needs to be part of our menstrual hygiene awareness camps. The very idea that a woman’s body can be impure is a repulsive impure idea. When and under what circumstances may I ask, is a man’s body rendered impure? Would we declare a rapist man’s body impure for instance? So that he may not enter Durga devi’s temple? Which religious tradition excludes a savarna man, however impure and repulsive his deeds from any temple? For dalit men of course the story is different. They are deemed to be rendered impure by their caste and so seem to warrant exclusion. Again a despicable, impure practice!
Furthermore, shouldn’t our constitution which grants women equal rights and opportunities as a citizen, be the final word on such matters? If we continue to give precedence to religious sentiment over constitutional rights, then women are fighting a losing battle and there will always be reasons to exclude them, to consider them less, impure etc. it is our constitution and our citizenship that grants us equal rights, not our religions – any religion. So Sisters – if you value your right to equality, that many of your sisters fought for, then learn to look at yourselves as citizens first and last, not as Hindu, Muslim or Christian women. Our religions have always short changed us, constructed a perception of us as unequal, subordinate, imposed sexist norms of chastity on us, which men are exempt from and created the inegalitarian mindsets that are responsible for so much violence, abuse and discrimination against women, which has been normalized, naturalized and which receives spoken and unspoken social sanction.
The issue is not just about having the right to enter a temple, it is about equal rights for women, about treating women as persons, about refusing to accept a label of being ‘impure’ at any stage or age of our lives.
Finally – it is about time that women who make up 50% of the countries electorate, start demanding that issues of their safety in their home, on their streets and in their mothers wombs be taken seriously by political parties seeking their vote. Indian women are unequal, unsafe, unwanted and unfree in free India! While Congress is rushing to make barring women entry in Sabarimala an election issue, I don’t see it or any party making women’s safety, right to free mobility, to equality, to inclusion being made an election issue. Women are still waiting for the 33% reservation in Parliament – this inclusion of women has not been seen as deserving to become an election issue for any party, while exclusion of women has!
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