Bhopal: Coming from socially challenged background, girls of this government hostel in the city excel in arts & studies

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The girl’s hostel of a government school at Tulsi Nagar, where nearly 100 girls from economically weaker sections stay, is a hive of activity. The girls clean floor of their rooms, work hard for their studies, paint, perform Indian classical dance like Bharatnatyam and compose prayers. Most of them got above 80% marks in their high school examinations.

They also maintain a library. The picture that this government hostel paints is just the opposite of the one that a government hostel generally portrays. Shortly, the hostel will be the first government hostel to have a sanitary napkin dispenser machine and smart classrooms.

"This place feels more like home than our actual home," hostellers told Free Press.

The girls from 14 to 19 years of age are enrolled and most of them they are first-generation learners in their families. The girls not only get academic knowledge but also practical exposure. Hence, they are proficient in many skills like stitching, Macramé art, public speaking, dance, singing, cleaning, cooking, painting, pottery and kitchen gardening. Moreover, they stitch dresses that they wear for performances.

However, it wasn’t easy for the girls to acquire proficiency in different domains. Some of them had a hard time convincing their families to let them study.

One such student is Nikita Dhurve, 20, the daughter of a tribal brick maker, who wants to be a doctor. She is the first person from her family to enrol in a school and is taking class 12 examination. "Recently, my father asked me to pack up and come back to village so that he could get me married," she said.

Veena Jain, her warden, battled for Dhurve's education when her father arrived at the hostel to take her away. She persuaded her father to wait for few more years. Dhurve is an exceptional potter and a diligent student. There are many such girls with different stories.