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From Speck To Sky, Education Helps You Fly…
(The story of Congress Kanwar)

Congress Kanwar is a 13 year old girl belonging to Sondhiya Rajput Community. This community is ill-characterized by low female literacy, child marriage, alcoholism, gambling and poor status of women. Congress has got three brothers and three sisters. All the brothers are educated up to Class – VIII and sisters are illiterate and were married by the age of 10. Congress, before joining Prabhat Shala, was involved in cattle grazing and household activities.

Congress was very keen in education. She continuously insisted her parents for her schooling. But her parents were reluctant. They used to say, “What you will do after education? After all, you will have to do all these household activities”. Congress used to cry when her father took her brother to school.

The opening of Prabhat Shala provided her an opportunity to again pressurize her parents. The teacher of the Prabhat Shala, Reena Bairagi, organized a series of meetings in her village and interacted with her parents for her schooling. Her parents presented loss in the work due to her schooling as excuse. But the little girl committed that she will put extra efforts to complete the household work before going for study. Parents unwillingly allowed her.

Congress started getting up as early as 3 a.m. to finish the household to go to Prabhatshala. The teacher used to explain the importance of hygiene and insisted no girl should come to Prabhatshala without taking bath and oiling and combing hair properly. Congress followed the instructions in spite of her already strenuous schedule.

The fear-free atmosphere of the Prabhatshala helped the girl in not only gaining basic literary and arithmetic skills but also facilitated overall development of the personality of Congress. She gained a lot of self-confidence and turned into an active member of the Meena Manch constituted. In October, when an excursion of Prabhatshala girls to the local police station was organized, Congress interacted a lot with the officials. Many of her misconceptions got cleared. She realized that police is for their help.

The excursion to the police station was a turning point in the life of Congress. When she returned she found a couple of unknown faces sitting in her house. Her father told that they have come to see her for marriage. Having learnt about the emergency number of police during the excursion, Congress cautioned that she is only 13 years of old. Marriage at this age is illegal and if she is forced she will complain to the police at its emergency number ‘100’ get all them jailed. The unwanted guests heard her words and did not dare to stay there any more. They fled and the marriage was averted.

Congress is determined to continue her education till she becomes a Police officer. She wants to fight for the girls who are not getting educational opportunities.

The otherwise unknown girl came into limelight when she was selected for participation in the launching ceremony of UNICEF’s flagship publication – Status of world Children report, 2007. The girl, who had rarely traveled in train, flew in aeroplane from Jaipur to Berlin to make her unforgettable statement in front of the world media.