By TCN News
New Delhi: It was a celebration when a number of girls took the dias to address the press conference. It was a clumniation of the work done by Pehchan. This organization started working in Jaitpur in Delhi in 2011. Initially the organization worked informally but finally registered on April 30, 2015.
Jaitpur Ext is a resettlement colony near Okhla. Over 90%s population here is poor and some lower middle class families. Most of the people are daily wage earners and in almost every household are girls who are school dropouts. Their parents either cannot afford to send them to schools as they are far away from the area.
Over 30 girls have passed their high school and 12th from Pehchan Study Centre so far. Apart from imparting education Pehchan has given vocational training to many women and girls in the area. Pehchan students are regularly taken to attend seminars, conferences, workshops. Young student volunteers come to Pehchan and interact with them.
Stories of Pehchan Girls
Mubashirah- She came to Delhi after completing 8th from a village near Rampur. She comes from a poor family. She studied at Pehchan and finished her 10th in 1st division.
Rukaiyya- she had studied till 5th standard. Her mother was divorced when she was in 5th. She couldn’t get admission any school. She comes from a very poor family. Pehchan had to buy even books and stationary for her as it was not possible for the family to support. She passed 10th in 1st division.
Aaliya- she had studied till 8th. Her father was not ready to educate her after that. Pehchan teachers convinced her father to allow her to attend classes. She has done her 10th in 2nd division.
Saniya- she had studied till 8th in Bijnaur. The family shifted to Delhi and her studies discontinued. She did her 10th in 2nd division from Pehchan.
Shaista – she appeared for 9th from a government school, got a compartment, she left the school after that. She has passed her 10th class from Pehchan in 2nd division. Her sister- – also studied at Pehchan and has got a compartment. They are first two girls of their family who have reached 10th class.
Ilma- She did her 8th and after that did a course in religious teaching. Her father did not allow her to study further. She used to come to Pehchan without telling her father. He was informed only just before the exams. She cleared her 10th in 2nd division.
Farha Ansari- she appeared for 9th from a government school, got a compartment in maths and discontinued. She passed her 10th class from Pehchan in 2nd division.
Mubeena Khatoon- her father died about 10 years ago. Mubeena and her sister used to do ‘adda’ work at home and run the family. She had come to Pehchan to learn stitching. Pehchan teachers convinced her to study. She was encouraged her to do 10th and 12th. After 10th she joined a call centre and started earning 10,000. She has been studying and working in a company and earning 13000 rupees. Now she has finished her 12th class. She studied at Pehchan at night after her job.
Rabeena- she came to Pehchan after 10th. She has done 12th in first division.
Ruheen- she came to Pehchan after doing 7th class for learning tailoring.
Pehchan convinced her to study. She did her 10th and 12th from Pehchan and this year she has completed first year of fashion design with a first division.
Farha Naaz- She had dropped out of school after 5th standard. She joined Pehchan centre in Jaitpur in 2010 to learn stitching and tailoring. Pehchan encouraged her to study and helped her prepare for high school. She cleared high school in the first attempt 2011. Then she passed 12th from Pehchan in first division. Then she joined the Teacher’s Training Course and has finished it this year. She is simultaneously doing her graduation and she will be going to 3rd year this year.
Renu-She joined the centre in 2010. Renu passed her high school in 2011. Renu had dropped out after 7th standard. Renu then passed 12th class from her village.
Sumayya- she comes from a broken family, She has six siblings. Her mother shifted to her village after divorce. Pehchan knew the family and convinced her aunt to call her to jaitpur. Sumayya had dropped out of school after 7th. She joined Pehchan in 2012 and cleared high school in 2013 in first division. She did her 12th in 2015 with a first division. She is also doing NPTT (Nursery Primary Teacher’s Training) and is in 2nd year.
Ruheen Nisha- had dropped out after 6th standard. Her father is a daily wager. She joined Pehchan in 2011. She cleared her 10th in 2012 and her 12th in 2014th. Then she wanted to do fashion designing but had no resources. Pehchan helped her with her fee and she has finished her first year from Delhi Women’s Polytechnic with first division.
Afroz Tasleem-She had done her 10th and then left education as she got married. After a gap of 5-6 years she joined Pehchan and did her 12th in 2015. Then she joined NPTT as well as graduation and has finished first year of both.
This year Pehchan has started classes in Nizamuddin area also to help school drop outs from Nizamuddin basti and Kale Khan area. The plan is to expand to more areas within Delhi to help girls from marginalised communities to fulfil their dreams.
Pehchan is a registered trust and has 7 trustees: Iqbal Ahmad, Dr Kausar Wizarat, Chayanika Uniyal, Farida Khan , Pratap Singh Negi, Shabnam Hashmi and Mohd Ehtasham .
Farida Khan is the Director of the Pehchan Coaching Centre.
Story of Farida Khan
Farida lived in Nizamuddin Basti, where her family had migrated from Mewat, Haryana. She had never gone to a school but was given religious education at home. She was married at the age of 12 years and went to live in a village in UP. Farida was divorced when she was not even 16 years old and by then she had two children. She started going to a local study centre in Nizamuddin Basti, where after a few months in 1981 a young student came to volunteer.
The young volunteer not happy with the study centre found another place within the Basti and started teaching Farida and 5 other girls. Soon the new centre called Sehar Study Centre grew and over 45 girls appeared for their high school examination within a year. Over the next 8 years Farida did her 12th from CBSE, did courses from Jamia Urdu, equivalent to graduation and B. Ed. It is a long story of struggle now documented in a documentary called Story of Hope. Today Farida is a teacher herself and leads the organisation Pehchan helping girls find their own identity.
Pehchan wants to expand to other minority-concentrated areas in Delhi as the scenario is same everywhere but due to paucity of funds they have not been able to do it. In the set pattern of policy-making government as well as independent funding agencies and philanthropists there is almost zero engagement with the specific needs of the community. If Muslim adolescent girls who have droped out , have to be brought back into the educational stream, then it is very important to open centres like Pehchan for girls inside the minority areas and encourage them to restart their education.
[Pehchan Coaching Centre: D 375, Jaitpur Extention Part II, Near Al Hira Public School, Kalindi Kunj Road, New Delhi-110044, Email: [email protected]]