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It was in January 2013 that Darshana Joshi’s life took a turn she’d never imagined. She left India to study physics after she was accepted with a part scholarship into a doctorate programme in Cambridge University, an institution she’d never even heard of in school and one that thousands of students aspire to.
For the daughter of a government electrician and one of three siblings, Darshana Joshi’s life until then was proceeding on the oft-treaded path. The young girl knew she had an aptitude for science but with little support and guidance at home, she wasn’t sure how she could make good of it. Call in fate or good luck, Darshana was chosen for Udayancare’s Shalini fellowship and received the support of her mentor and the Udayancare team, in particular in convincing her parents to allow her to leave Indian shores in pursuit of her academic objectives, something she had never envisaged. Her family was reluctant to let her go to Bengaluru for her master’s, let alone travel overseas for higher studies.
For Darshana however, Cambridge was a “life-changing” experience. In Cambridge, Darshana had life-changing experiences like being elected as the president of the graduate students’ union there, the first Indian girl to hold the position, in 2017. Soon after, having earned her doctorate, Darshana returned to India and started “VigyanShala”, a not for profit organization that aims at helping marginalized students achieve their dreams and goals in the STEM space.
Darshana’s story is not uncommon. Many girls in India who want to go in for a higher education fail to find family support as they are expected to marry and raise children. For a family that earns less than US$ 3000 per year and has several male and female children to feed and care for, a girl’s education is amongst the lowest priority. Why educate a girl who is soon to be married and dependent on her husband? Moreover, isn’t school quite enough? What purpose will a college degree serve?
This explains what the data reveals. Enrolment of girls countrywide in higher education is 23.5% (AISHE Report 2018-19). The highest percentage of female drop-outs is between Class X and Class XI. This reflects in a lower than ideal female labour force participation rates in India at 26.9 per cent, lagging well behind the world average at 48.47 per cent.
It is keeping this in mind that Udayancare, a Delhi-headquartered institution for orphan children, started the Udayan Shalini Fellowship in 2002, in which girls who have completed Class 10 from government schools or low-income schools, and aspire to study further despite lack of parental and family support, are selected and supported through a network of mentors for a total of 5 to 6 years till they graduate or complete specialized courses of their choice. Going beyond simple monetary assistance, USF mentors offers regular career guidance, motivates, life skills and employability workshops to create a force of sensitive, trained and enlightened citizens. “Many of these girls are unsure about possible career paths or even courses available. Mentors help them find their direction in the most crucial years”, says Udayancare executive director Aneesha Wadhwa. She says support can be as simple as helping them on the Internet with identifying a high-quality institute to pursue their studies to help with financial support for extra coaching.
From 2002 till today, a total of 8,428 Shalinis have been through the programme, with 4593 currently in it. At present, a total of 652 voluntary mentors work with these girls across 21 locations across 13 states. The fellowship has managed to assist a number of young girls who may have struggled to find direction do so and in the process it has produced 13 PhD’s, 27 doctors, 17 pharmacists, 126 engineers, 90 teachers and the list goes on. But even as the fellowship produces confident, young girls who can join the workforce, it has also had its share of stars like Darshana.
There are only two asks from the fellows. One, to ensure that the girls become more socially aware and responsible, Shalinis are asked to fulfill 50 hours of mandatory social work. And two, they are urged by Udayancare to give back and help others the way they received assistance. As a result, 24 of the employed Shalinis are now sponsored for other young girls. In addition, 637 girls who have completed the fellowship mentor others in turn.
Again, Darshana’s contribution in this aspect has been unparalleled. Mentoring and guiding another Shalini fellow, Swati Keshri, she was able to assist the latter in finding her way to her alma mater. Swati is now earning a doctorate in medical genetics from Cambridge University and aspires to find a cure for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, a reality she never imagined possible.
