Nishant Saxena

The future is female, and the Uttar Pradesh government is taking steps to ensure that girls from underprivileged backgrounds have the tools they need to succeed. The Aarohini Initiative Training Program, launched by the Uttar Pradesh Government in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), will provide girls with the education, skills, and support they need to overcome life’s challenges and become confident, self-reliant women.

Director General, School Education, UP, Vijay Kiran Anand avers that with 746 KGBVs across the state, the Aarohini Initiative is poised to make a major impact on girls’ lives. He reveals that the three-stage program will begin with a focus on training full-time teachers in the schools, followed by student education led by two trained teachers at each KGBV. The program will culminate in community-level efforts to promote gender sensitization and address issues such as child marriage, domestic violence, and education. “The whole program is based on Critical Feminist Pedagogy,” explains Director General, School Education, UP, Vijay Kiran Anand. He adds, “The teachers will make children understand their problems and enable them to solve them independently.”

An annual “Daughters Campaign” will also be run in these schools, involving students, teachers, and the community to raise awareness on specific issues.

With gender sensitization being the primary goal of this three-stage Aarohini program, the first stage, which involves teachers’ training, will commence on February 1, according to the Director General. In the first stage, teachers will be selected for training by the school hostel wardens.

The Basic Education Department will regularly review the program’s progress to ensure that it is delivering real results for girls. According to a government statement, with the help of this initiative, girls will be empowered to face and overcome challenges like child marriage, domestic violence, discontinuance of education, or any kind of problem in a planned manner and raise their voices for their rights.

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