The overall literacy rate for women stands at only 57.4%. These dire statistics can be attributed
to poverty, the caste system, and the low value attached to women (Human Rights Watch).
Girls living in poverty are especially vulnerable to child marriage in India and Nepal. They also
have limited educational opportunities, face gender discrimination, and are subject to social and
physical ostracization that harms their physical and mental health. Educational support will help
empower these girls to help fight child marriage, change society’s perception of women, and abolish
harmful practices like Chhaupadi, a form of menstrual taboo prohibiting women and girls from
participating in normal family activities while menstruating.
Our core mission is to educate girls in poverty who would otherwise be unable to finish their
education
due to these socioeconomic obstacles. We will primarily be enrolling girls in an English medium or
private
school and covering tuition, school supplies, and all other school-related expenses until they
finish college. We will also be guiding girls through their school years and helping them overcome
any struggles along the way. According to a UNESCO report
the child marriage rate would go down by 14%
if all girls in sub-Saharan Africa, South, and West Asia received primary education. In addition, a
study by Citigroup and Plan International found that if every girl was to finish her secondary
education, global GDP would increase by around 10% within a decade. To this end we currently hope
to make education more accessible in India and Nepal.
Manisha was only six years old when her father passed away in a construction accident. Her father
brought her to the city of Pokhara from Rolpa, a highly undeveloped area in Nepal, in the hope of
providing her a better education. To make ends meet, he worked grueling and dangerous 14-hour a day
shifts at a construction site, only to make less than three dollars per day. Her father showed his
unwavering love for his daughter through the blood, sweat, and tears he shed at work. He happily
spent almost a third of his salary on her education.
She also has a lovely mother and a four-year-old brother. After Manisha’s father passed away, her
mother also worked as a construction worker, earning a wage barely enough to cover rent and food,
let alone Manisha’s tuition.
She has been part of our organization for over four years. She is currently in 9th grade in the
English medium at Sitaldevi School in Pokhara, Nepal. Manisha hopes to be an elementary school
teacher.
Like many parents, Manika’s mother, Saraswati Sunar, and father, Sher Bahadur Sunar,
moved from the rural municipality of Madhi to Pokhara, Nepal in the hopes of providing
a better future for their two children. Both Saraswati and Sher Bahadur worked as
construction workers. Despite working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, the Sunar
family’s salary was not enough to meet basic needs like paying rent, buying medicine for
Manika's disabled 83-year-old grandmother, and funding their children's education.
Saraswati and Sher Bahadur still remained hopeful for the future, so they borrowed
money from their neighbors and family members to pay the remaining expenses. The
couple was certain that they would be able to repay the money by working more hours.
Unfortunately, inflation decreased the value of their salaries. They had to borrow more
and more money, and defaulted on their debts.
At this point, Saraswati’s future was looking dim. She fell into despair, feeling that her
life wasn’t worth living if she could not even provide her children with a basic education
and necessities. In May 2019, 35 year-old Saraswati took her life, leaving behind her
husband and two children. Saraswati's death completely shattered the Sunar family.
Manika was on the brink of ending her educational pursuit, but with Bidya’s support,
Manika is now in 7th grade at Shree Laxmi Secondary School. Manika shared that while
she will never be the same after Saraswati’s death, she now has hope for her future,
knowing that she will be able to go to school without having to worry about the finances.
Rupa’s father, like many others in Nepal, struggled to find stable employment. After Rupa was born, he went to India to work, so he could bring back his savings to build a life in Nepal. Shortly after Rupa’s father left for India, Rupa’s mother abandoned her and remarried. Rupa says she does not know her mother's name or even her face. When her father returned, Rupa saw only a glimpse of him as well. He also abandoned Rupa, built a new life by remarrying, and stopped providing her any financial support. Rupa had been living with her alcoholic brother, his second wife, and his two kids after her mother left, and she now lives with her brother permanently. Rupa was known to be a hardworking and dedicated student among her teacher and classmates. After her abandonment by both parents, Rupa missed school regularly, and when she was in school, she came with ripped clothes and no pencil. Rupa was no longer a top performer in class. With the support of Bidya, Rupa is attending an English Medium school at Janajyoti Mavi in Pokhara, Nepal. Rupa says she will be able to go to school without worrying about not having a pencil to do her math homework with. We have an officer conducting quarterly wellness checks on Rupa to make sure she is attending school and being taken care of.
Asika Paudel and her parents Tara and Sukraraj built a stable life for themselves farming
a small plot of land in Kalika, Nepal. The income brought in from their farm helped pay
for basic necessities like sugar, oil, and Asika’s education.
At one point, Asika's father suddenly grew weak and rapidly began to lose weight. Tara
even remarked that her husband looked like a “daura” (stick in Nepali); you could see his
bones through the skin. He became both physically and mentally unwell. The Paudel
family, like most villagers in the area, initially turned to home remedies for a cure. But
after these treatments failed to improve Sukraraj’s condition, they were forced to take
him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and the Paudels had to sell their
family lands to pay for Sukraraj’s treatment. Because he received treatment very late,
Sukraraj has suffered lingering long-term effects from his illness. He has stopped talking
to people almost entirely, and he is unable to work.
As a woman in a Nepalese village, Tara has had difficulty finding a stable job. She still
helps her neighbors farm lands for additional income, but that money is not enough to
sustain the household. Asika has struggled to make payments for her school tuition and
other educational expenses. With our assistance, as of 2022 she is now enrolled as an 8th
grader in English Medium at Janajyoti Mavi.
At Bidya, we are strong believers in the power of family as a support unit. Although our sponsorship has kept Roshni continuously enrolled in middle school despite the pandemic, the team at Bidya was disheartened to find out that Roshni’s brother, Ujwal, was substantially delinquent on his fees and was on the verge of expulsion for failure to pay. Even though our main focus is on helping girls, it was crucial to our mission to make sure that Roshni’s brother could also attend school, because we wanted to foster a healthy environment for the family throughout Roshni’s adolescence. With our support, Ujwal is in 2nd grade. He said he enjoys going to school with his sister Roshni.
We’re proud to announce that your contributions have allowed us to on-board another scholar: Susmita Burtel (9th grade). She has a sister who is 1 year older. After her dad took his own life her mom works as a farmer to raise some money for the family Unfortunately, at the moment there are no schools that are nearby for Susmita and her mom commutes 1 hour each way by walking.
Bidya is teaching a class on computer programming in order to raise funds. We'd love to have you join us. We suggest that you donate $150 before attending the class, but we do not have a required minimum donation as we want to make sure this class is accessible to as many students as possible. We'd love to have you sit in on a class or two to see how Bidya can help empower both your child and a child in India/Nepal. The class is tentatively set to be 2 hours a week of lecture coupled with two hours of homework. The instructor was a teaching assistant at UC Berkeley and hopes to use this experience to help him design as engaging a class as possible. At this point we are currently gauging interest and scheduling, so please reach out if this is a class you are interested in attending. While Bidya's primary purpose remains to raise funds for Nepali Scholarships. This class will primarily contribute to a side-pot which raises money for underprivileged students in India. The classes will be virtual, but if we get enough interest in an in-person offering we have identified some spaces to rent in the NY Metro area.