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!
Dr Urvashi Sahni and Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) will be honoured by PHD Chambers of Commerce with Astitva Samman 2021 for their commendable work done in the time of COVID-19 with special focus on girl’s education and gender equality. The event will be held virtually on February 12, 2021.
Dr Sahni, founder and CEO SHEF “I am very happy that SHEF’s work has been lauded and would like to thank PHD Chambers of commerce for recognising the work. We continue to respond to the immediate needs and support girls and the most vulnerable among us.”
SHEF under the leadership of Dr Sahni has provided 162,296 meals to migrant labour communities, 29,000 face masks, 7345 dry ration kits and connected 944 children from marginalized communities to online education.
Astitva Samman Award 2021 is organised by the Women & Child Committee of PHD Chamber’s Family Welfare Foundation. The Astitva Awards were initiated by the Women & Child committee of PHD Family Welfare Foundation to recognize organizations, NGOs and corporations where women have the potential to demonstrate their entire phenomenal and leadership skills.
Dr Urvashi Sahni has been named in the Asia’s Most Influential Impact List 2020 published by Tatler Magazine. Dr Sahni shares this honour alongside the likes Ratan Tata and Azim Prermji.
The article in the magazine, which has now been in publication for over 300 years, reads, “With our December issue, Tatler introduces an ambitious new directory of the most influential individuals who are defining the future of Asia. While forthcoming features in 2021 will focus on style, culture and taste, we begin with a subject that is at the heart of our brand—philanthropy. Here are the most impactful philanthropists from around Asia who are making a positive change this year”.
On being asked how she feels about the recognition, Dr Sahni said, “I am astonished and very humbled to find my name there. I feel I don’t belong in the same league. However what is heartening is that Study Hall Educational Foundation’s work is being recognized not just in India but world over. This recognition is another motivation for us to continue the work we have been doing for over 3 decades now.”
Dr Urvashi Sahni is a social entrepreneur, women’s rights activist, and educationist, who has been active in the field for more than three decades, with many pioneering innovations to her credit. She is a leading expert in school governance, curriculum reform, and teacher training with a special focus on girls’ education, gender equality and Democratic Citizenship. She believes that Education should include a strong focus on teaching democratic values of equality and fraternity. She founded Suraksha (a women’s rights organisation), DiDi’s (a social enterprise for sustainable livelihoods for women), and is the founding president and CEO of SHEF. Over the last 3 decades, Dr. Sahni’s work, through SHEF and its schools and outreach initiatives, has impacted more than 100,000 teachers and 5 million children, most of whom are girls from disadvantaged communities.
Additionally, Dr Sahni is an Ashoka Fellow, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution, U.S.A., and a former member of Rajasthan’s Chief Minister’s Advisory Council. In 2017, she was declared the Social Entrepreneur of the Year India by the Schwab-Jubilant Bhartiya Foundation and joined the international fellowship of Schwab social entrepreneurs. She is also a co-founder of Catalyst 2030, a global network of over 600 Social Entrepreneurs engaged in expediting the SDGs globally through their innovations.
International Day of the girl child celebrated on 11th October 2020. Study Hall students and teachers celebrated it in their own beautiful way, with poetry artwork and write ups.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected the educational landscape across India and across the globe, as schools and learning institutions have rushed to shift teaching and learning online. However, in this rush, the pre-existing class- and gender-based digital divide has remained glaringly in place, leaving a considerable population of students and learners without remedy. While affluent and well-resourced families have had an almost seamless transition from classroom learning to online learning, children from poor communities have been left behind with no support.
Among its own students, Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) has found that nearly half (44%) of children from a lower socio-economic background do not have access to smartphones or the internet. Of these, the majority are girls. In many cases, no one in the family possesses a smartphone, and so there is no way for them to access the internet. In other cases, a parent (usually a father) may own a smartphone; however, the girl’s access to this phone is often limited because (1) the parent is working throughout the day and takes the phone with them, (2) she belongs to a large family and a single phone is shared among all family members, or (3) her access is restricted because of her gender.
While older students may be able to negotiate access or even possess a phone of their own, the problem is often amplified for students in the primary section. Even in cases where the family owns a phone and is therefore able to receive assignments and access online classes, parents are often illiterate and thus unable to facilitate their young child’s learning.
In order to facilitate access to online classes for children (especially girls) from low socio-economic and otherwise marginalized communities, SHEF proposes to provide digital technology and connectivity to select students, alumni, and teachers, who will then be responsible for facilitating learning in their communities. The project has been named “Digital Saathi,” as one device will facilitate and enable the education and learning of many.
Senior students and alumni of Prerna Girls School and Vidyasthali Kanar Intercollege who lack access and live in communities where access is minimal will receive smartphones on loan for the duration of the crisis. In addition to enabling access to their own classes, students who receive a phone will also be responsible for sharing assignments and information with other students who live nearby, and use the phone to ensure their ability to access their online classes and learning.
Similarly, GyanSetu teachers will be provided with laptops in order to help them facilitate learning in the marginalized communities they serve. This will also enable the expansion of GyanSetu centers’ current function and enable their access to educational resources previously inaccessible by them.
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