In Bihar, one of India’s poorest and most populous states, half of the women and a quarter of the men are illiterate, and about 90% of its 104 million inhabitants live in rural areas. Life here is particularly difficult for girls, and one of the greatest hindrances to their development is the simple journey to school. For many, the trip is long, expensive and dangerous.
But here, in rural Bihar, we recently saw that a two-wheeled solution to the problem has been found.
Three years ago the state’s new chief minister Nitish Kumar adopted a “gender agenda” and set about redressing his state’s endemic gender imbalances in an attempt to boost development in one of India’s most backward states. His vision was to bring a sense of independence and purpose to his state’s young women, and the flagship initiative of this agenda is the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojna, a project that gives schoolgirls 2,000 rupees (about £25) to purchase a bicycle.
As the bicycle parade pedaled past, onlookers stopped to stare, their eyes temporarily fixed on the parade of cheerful children whizzing past them. “Where are you going?” they called out in wonder. “To Gayéri!” they called. “We are going to take our CEP exams!”
Students from the Bandakidini Primary School on their way to their exams in Gayéri, the provincial capital of Burkina Faso and twelve miles away from their village, were a sight to see. They were riding on new bicycles, provided to them through the Ambassadors’ Girls’ Scholarship Program (AGSP), which is funded by USAID. (via World Education - Feature Stories - Benin: Batonga Girls’ Education Program)
