Published in Quartz News.
"Anupshahr is an especially unforgiving place to be born female, even by the standards of India’s deeply patriarchal society. According to the latest census numbers, from 2011, there are 972 women for every 1,000 men. If there were no selective abortions, female infanticide, or deliberate neglect, women would outnumber men there. It’s even worse amongst children below six: For every 1,000 boys, there are just 926 girls...In the 18 years since it was founded, Pardada Pardadi has dramatically transformed its community, changing lives and social values by first educating and empowering schoolgirls living below the poverty line, and then their older sisters, mothers, and neighbours."
To read the complete text by Annalisa Merelli please click on the link below :
- Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Morning assembly at Pardada Pardadi school. In celebration of World Yoga day, the school organises for a 1 hour yoga session for a week for the students. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Interiors of the Pardada Pardadi school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Lunch hour at Pardada Pardadi. The school offers free meals for breakfast, lunch and an evening snack to all students. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Lunch hour at Pardada Pardadi. The school offers free meals for breakfast, lunch and an evening snack to all students. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Students practicing talking to each other in the Spoken English class at Pardada Pardadi School. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Math teacher Ashok Khugshal with his students from the senior school at Pardada Pardadi. Mr Khugshal uses innovative and engaging tools to teach principles of mathematics to his students so that they can also understand the everyday applications of the theories in their lives. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Interiors of the Pardada Pardadi school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Sports hour is an important part of the day at the Pardada Pardadi school. All girls are encouraged to participate in different sports and are supported if they desire to take it on seriously. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Priti Chouhan was one of the first few students at Pardada Pardadi when the school opened. She now works at the school and her daughter, Nandini is studying in the junior wing. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Sonam lives with her family in Madargate in Anupshahr, UP. She is completing her schooling from Pardada Pardadi and dreams of traveling to USA to study further and work. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Tamanna Khan and her younger sister Anwar Khan are both studying at Pardada Pardadi school. She comes from a troubled family where her alcoholic father showed no interest in the family or the education of the girls. Her mother, a polio patient, worked hard and earned a living to ensure her children had a healthy upbringing. Tamanna's painting was selected for a book in an international publication where Michael Jordan wrote a response to her drawing of the village landscape. After the press and media came to interview Tamanna, her father realized the potential in her and how he had ignored to growth of his children. Tamanna's constant care and conversations with her father have now helped him follow a cleaner path in life and be more engaged in his family. She is very interested in the arts and is learning embroidery from her mother as well.
Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Tamanna Khan and her younger sister Anwar Khan are both studying at Pardada Pardadi school. She comes from a troubled family where her alcoholic father showed no interest in the family or the education of the girls. Her mother, a polio patient, worked hard and earned a living to ensure her children had a healthy upbringing. Tamanna's painting was selected for a book in an international publication where Michael Jordan wrote a response to her drawing of the village landscape. After the press and media came to interview Tamanna, her father realized the potential in her and how he had ignored to growth of his children. Tamanna's constant care and conversations with her father have now helped him follow a cleaner path in life and be more engaged in his family. She is very interested in the arts and is learning embroidery from her mother as well.
Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Morning routines for the junior school at Pardada Pardadi. All children are taught the basics of hygeine and provided brushes, soaps and shampoos to be healthy.
Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Hemlata Yadav was one of the first few students at Pardada Pardadi when the school opened. She now works at the school and her two daughters are students in the junior wing. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Regular health checkups are conducted by the school for all students at Pardada Pardadi. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Murals and drawings painted by students are on walls all over the school interiors. These vary from images of families and creative expression to educational tools. A group of girls enjoy an evening break in the front lawns of the school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Students from Pardada Pardadi catch up on homework after school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Students from Pardada Pardadi catch up on homework after school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Mrs. Archana Gaur conducts library sessions with students at Pardada Pardadi and teaches them matters on general awareness. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Interiors of the Pardada Pardadi school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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Mr Shajan Jose, Administrative Manager of Pardada Pardadi, visited homes in the neighbouring villages when the school was initiated and brought the first few students into the school. Photograph by Anshika Varma
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