Girls bounce back with Savitribai as role model in Pune

PUNE: Rohini Pashte (15) from Pithori Shirasgaon (Jalna) had to drop out of school in standard IV after her father’s sudden demise. However, with ample support from her uncle, she bounced back and joined a government-supported residential school for girls. Today, she is an ace football player who has not only represented her school, but also made her country proud by participating in Homeless World Cup Football in Santiago, Chile, last year.
There are many like Rohini who have taken a leaf out of the life of revolutionary reformist leader Savitribai Phule. As the state gears up to celebrate Savitribai’s birth anniversary on Saturday, these girls who are known as Savitrichya Leki (daughters of Savitri) are asserting their right to education and a life of dignity.
Savitribai became the first Indian to start school for girls in the country on January 1, 1848 and that too in Pune, a city then considered a den of orthodoxy. Though she faced a lot of social humiliation and even stones, this didn’t deter her from setting up the school and also enroll 10 girls in it. Today, her efforts have fructified as girls from deprived class are standing for their right.
Following the path shown by Savitribai, Poornima Ade (17) from Sewadas Nagar in Chandrapur district is involved in campaigning for girls’ rights to mobility and education. Ade, who works as an Anganwadi worker, is associated with UNICEF’s Deepshikha life skills empowerment programme for adolescents.
“I have gone from house-to-house to convince the parents of 35 girls to let them attend our Deepshikha sessions. I tell them to invest in their daughters and treat them no less than boys,” Ade said.
Bhim Raskar of Mahila Rajsatta Andolan, a campaign for women in governance, said the social and educational revolution started by Mahatma Phule and Savitribai is gaining roots. “Savitribai stands as an apostle of courage and determination. Her movement continues to inspire all women who are ready to lock horns with the traditions and orthodoxy which deny them their rights” said Raskar.