Palace turns to girls school
Ramnagar palace has become a residential school for poor girls from neighbouring villages
 
The stately palace of Raja Digraj Singhji of Ramnagar, still resplendent with traditional carvings but chipped and mildewed, was once home to royal princesses. Now the building houses a school for the poorest of poor girls from neighbouring villages.

Under the National Programme of Education of Girls at the Elementary Level (NPEGEL), the palace on the banks of a river is run as a residential school for underprivileged girls from villages within a radius of about 50 km, reports Grassroots Features.

There are 81 girls enrolled in the school with a capacity of 100. Teachers went house to house to enroll either dropouts nr those who have never been to school before. It took almost seven to eight weeks of persuasion before the guardians agreed to send their wards. "At first they were apprehensive.

They wanted to know why we were col­lecting girls in one place. Would we be misusing them was a concern that was bothering them," said Pushpa Tripa­thy, the warden.
At first sight, the building looks like a private middleclass boarding school, with clean classrooms and dormito­ries: Animated interactions are held in classrooms located in corners that were probably private spaces in a by­gone era.

It is only during the silence of the evening that a quiet tear is shed. When Shivani Mishra let out a muffled sob,two or three girls immediately rushed to console her.

"She is crying because she is think­ing of her mother, wondering how her family is coping at home," said Shiv­ani's classmate Sudha Rathore.

Sudha's father is an alcoholic truck driver who disappears for months without bothering to send any money. According to the warden, on a couple of occasions her father has come to the school in a drunken state and demand­ed that the girl be handed over to him.

Here, girls are considered a curse and are called `balu' (cattle feed in the local language), meaning that they are fodder for the society, the warden added.Conditions are far better now.

The senior girls work out a roster for cleaning the hostel rooms, bathrooms, kitchen and so on. Each dormitory (rooms with six to 12 beds) has a cap­tain to monitor it.

The change in these girls is dramat­ic. Now the older girls don't want to share their rooms with new girls as they find them dirty and smelly.

Thinking of home and poverty, Shiv­ani whispered, almost like a prayer: "Ma'am, I am truly privileged to be here, am I not?"
The silence in the room said it all.

Publication : DNA; Section : States; Pg : 9; Date : 23/10/07