Educate Girls
Despite significant progress in recent years, millions of Indian girls still face barriers in access to education. In rural areas, many remain out of school or fall behind despite attending. Educate Girls has helped more than 1.8 million girls from remote parts of the country to overcome these barriers since 2007. The organisation identifies and enrols out-of-school girls so they can access learning, and works to improve foundational literacy and numeracy skills for children in school through remedial learning programmes.
educategirls.ngo | Partner since 2014
Challenge
While India has made significant progress in providing access to education, more than 24 million girls between 5 and 18 still face educational barriers. School enrolment rates for girls under 15 are now above 88% nationally but remain much lower in many rural areas – especially among older girls. At the same time, learning levels among children who do attend school are concerningly poor, with a large portion of students not meeting the expected proficiency levels in reading and mathematics.
Response
Since its foundation in 2007, Educate Girls has helped more than 1.8 million out-of-school girls in India to return to education – a significant contribution to the country’s overall progress. “Team Balika”, the organisation’s community volunteer group, has been highly effective in enrolling girls of primary school age (5-10 years old) in rural communities, and ensuring they continue attending classes.
Educate Girls has now expanded the scope of its work in response to these evolving challenges. While it continuing to identify, enrol and retain out-of-school girls aged 6 to14, it now also focuses on improving foundational literacy and numeracy skills for all children up to grade 8 through a remedial learning programme offered across the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
In selected upper primary schools, Educate Girls also facilitates the election of a Girls’ Council to give girls a voice, boost their confidence and build life skills such as communication, leadership and problem-solving.
Key numbers
