How Alia achieved what everyone thought was impossible with the help of Educate Girls

Thirteen-year-old Alia* is paralysed from the waist down. She walks with the help of her hands. Going to school appeared to be an impossible hurdle, yet today, she is one of the best students in her village. She has become a shining example of the importance of education and is an inspiration for other children in her village. 

Alia, a resident of Kushinagar District in Uttar Pradesh, had never attended school. Both her parents worked as labourers and were not ready to send her to school due to her disability. As she grew older, her situation stayed the same. Everyone around her did not have big expectations from her, and as a result, she grew quiet and introverted.

One day, Vidyadhar, a field coordinator from Educate Girls, and Nirmala, a Team Balika Volunteer, visited Alia’s house while conducting a door-to-door survey. They repeatedly tried to convince Alia’s parents to let her go to school, but they always had the same thing to say, “Our daughter is a disability and walks with the help of her hands. We can’t send her to school and have the money to buy her a wheelchair.” Since the wheelchair was the biggest hurdle to Alia’s independence, Vidyadhar and Nirmala arranged for Alia to receive one. They connected the family with a government scheme that would provide Alia with a wheelchair, and she received one. Alia was finally enrolled in class one at her local primary school.” 

Nirmala, the Team Balika Volunteer who made this happen, says, “We made every possible effort to fulfil Alia’s dream of education and improve her future. Initially, his parents were not ready, but our simple guidance helped the family access a wheelchair, allowing Alia to be independent for the first time in her life. Today, Alia takes full advantage of this and goes to school every day. She is a quiet and calm girl, but her enthusiasm is visible in her eyes.”

The efforts made by Educate Girls had a domino effect in the region. It inspired the school’s teachers to visit the homes of their students with disabilities and teach them in person, thus helping make their path a little easier. Educate Girls also helps the school by providing them with Gyan Ka Pitara, a supplementary remedial learning curriculum to improve learning levels in English, Hindi, and Math for grades 3^rd – 5^th that make concepts simple for students joining the school at a later age.

 “I can move freely now, and I am full of hope. I want to study and move forward,” says Alia.

*name changed to protect the identity of minor