Background:

The educational system in India is structured in a way that maintains the status quo of inequalities that exist in the society between girls and boys. The curriculum, text books, school uniforms, behaviour of teachers and school environment are all most of the time gender insensitive and gender blind. This type of biased gender socialization within educational institutions assures that the wrongful practices of gender discrimination are reinforced in the minds of the students and get perpetuated in society when they become adults. This creates a vicious circle in which structures of patriarchy, like educational institutions, ensure gender biased socialization which in turn in turn strengthens patriarchy. A strengthened patriarchy perpetuates gender stereotypes and gender discrimination in society.

In addition, often the educational system is unable to cultivate the necessary life skills within students which help them to be a participative and productive member of society.

The current project is relevant to build in a gender equality perspective and life skills within educational institutions by initiating a process of gender sensitization of various stakeholders of these 10 schools which include students, staff, parents, school teachers and school management.

General Objectives:

The general objectives of the work are;
1. Gender equality perspective is built within 10 rural schools in Beed and Pune district.
2. Gender training for students is included in the educational programmes of public and private schools from Beed and Pune.

Geography:

The project will be implemented in schools targeting students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Project:

Our projects focus on the long-term goal of having increasing numbers of women empowered to assert equal rights for themselves and men supporting women’s equal rights.
The core activities that will be part of the project are;
1. Gender sensitization programmes for the students from 10 schools.
2. Gender sensitization programmes for teachers, parents, members of school management.
3. Meetings, follow up meetings with the members of school management/teachers.
4. Pre-testing and post testing of the students.
5. Compilation and analysis of data, documenting the outcome.
6. Press release for sharing the outcome document.

Impact:

The impact of the project would be;
1. Personality development of around 1200 students across 10 schools in Beed and Pune over 2 years.
2. The understanding of around 1200 students about concepts like gender, gender based discrimination, gender stereotypes etc. will increase.
3. Important stakeholders – parents, teachers and school management have built in a gender equality perspective.

To know more please email us at fundraising@aidforchange.org or call us on 020 2682 459.