Laxmikanta Joshi
Hevdadama Kalan (Madhya Pradesh): Fifteen-year-old Surta Maida is already up and chasing the household tasks, though it is only 5 am. In the Garasiya tribal village of Hevdadama Kalan in Bajna block of Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district, this is the story of every elder girl in the family.
Surta’s parents are farmers, so they leave for the fields at dawn. It is Surta’s responsibility to prepare lunch for them. She has to pack the bags of her younger siblings — Krishna Maida (10), who is in class V, and Mukesh Maida (4), who goes to anganwadi — and get them ready. She also has to set out around 9.30 am for the Government Higher Secondary School in Bajna, where she studies in class X. Her classmates Sushma Gamar, Jeevi Maida and Rambha Ninama give her company during the 4-km walk to the school, which takes almost half-an-hour.
School hours are from 10.30 am to 5 pm. As soon as she gets home by 5.30 pm, Surta feeds the cow and buffalo in the house and three-four chickens. She also has to make food and feed her siblings. Occasionally, she cleans the entire house.
In the evening, she tries to spend half an hour outside the house, talking to her friends. Her study time is from 8 pm to 10 pm. On holidays, she not only does household chores but also works in the fields with her parents.
Surta’s family has a two-bigha farm, where gram, wheat, onion and garlic grow. There are several tasks for the family members, including watering and spraying the fields. Children are assigned the job of deweeding or pulling out garlic and onions. Every year, more than Rs 30,000 is spent on sowing these crops alone. Yet, Surta, like other village girls, plucks cotton during holidays, which brings in Rs 200 to 300. During summer vacations, she also works as a farm labourer.
Surta says that sometimes she has to take her textbooks to the fields as well. “During examinations, I do not get time to revise, so I take my books to the fields. Sometimes, while cooking, my book remains open so that I can revise something,” she said.
“This happens often,” she added. “There is no restriction on the education of girls, but due to financial constraints, they are made to work in the fields,” interjected Surta’s mother Durga Maida.
Surta is the third among five siblings. She has an elder sister and brother, who are both married. The brother and his wife, who work as labourers in Gujarat, have four children. Elder sister Nirma Maida (16) left her studies after class VIII as she had to take care of her younger siblings.
Despite earning money through labour, tribal children do not have much freedom to spend on themselves. At most, they are given Rs 10 to 20 for biscuits or chips, etc, and are not addicted to mobile phones as seen in urban communities.
“Where do they get time to use mobile or play? She studies, that is enough. She has to do the household chores too. Wheat has grown in our field right now, I have to go there,” said Durga when asked whether Surta plays games on the only Android phone that the family possesses. If she ever gets free time, Surta plays traditional games, including Satoliya and hide and seek, with her friends.
Hevdadama Kalan has a primary school, where Eran Ninama (10) studies in class V. She is the third among four sisters and one brother. At the break of dawn, she is out to fetch water from the hand pump, located around 500 metres from her house. After that she does dishes and gets her younger siblings ready. Her younger sister is in anganwadi, while the brother goes to school with her. She reaches school by 11 am.
Eran’s father works as a labourer in Gujarat and her mother is a construction worker. On holidays, she works as a farm labourer picking cotton. She does not skip games, which include rolling old tyres, once back from school.
The difficult routine combining studies with household chores and working in the fields is not unique to Surta and Eran, but to hundreds of tribal girls in this region — be it Sushila of class III or Angoori of class V.
Climbing trees and having fun is still reflected in their daily routine. Sometimes, they start playing without changing their school uniform because they know that once they do so and start doing household chores, they will not get time.
Dreaming big despite roadblocks
Education has become a tool for dreaming big in Hevdadama Kalan, thanks to the motivation that children get from school teachers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Unlike earlier days, girls aspire to become something through education. Most of them want to become government teachers, but responsibilities come in the way of realising this dream.
In contrast, most of the boys leave their studies after class 10 and start earning. Moreover, boys don’t need to clean the house or take responsibility for younger siblings. However, they do work in village farms.
Tribal girls are given school uniforms and books from the school itself. Sweaters and shoes are mostly distributed by NGOs. Boys, on the other hand, get only scholarships. There is a provision of scholarships for tribal girls as well, under the Balika Shiksha Protsahan Yojana.
However, tribal girls live under the shadow of malnutrition. There are six anganwadis in Bajna block, where the health of these girls and anganwadi children are checked on the fourth Tuesday of every month. The testing is conducted compulsorily by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department and the Health Department.
“There is a problem of malnutrition in tribal areas. Besides timely checkups, packed nutritional supplements and medicines are arranged for them. Sometimes, anaemia is very worrisome. However, awareness is being created on the maximum use of millets. The situation has changed a lot now,” Ehtesham Ansari, supervisor, WCD Department, Bajna Sector-1, told 101Reporters. He added that a campaign is being run for the nutrition of children from pregnancy to two years, in partnership with IIT-Bombay.
The responsibility of monthly testing lies with the auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) of the Health Department. At anganwadi level, medicines are given to girls who appear malnourished. If necessary, they are also admitted to hospital, but this has reduced these days. Instead, the ANM administers an injection. Every girl is entered in a register, her health report is reviewed every one and three months.
Social worker Renuka Porwal said that the problem of malnutrition among girls has been there for many years, but now irregular menstruation also affects girls.
“We want the girls to study, but there are family responsibilities. When girls discontinue their studies, we try to convince them but their families do not listen. We will talk to the authorities in this regard and get them enrolled in schools,” said Ramesh Gamad, the husband of Hevdadama Kalan sarpanch Nani Bai.
Block Education Officer Upendra Singh Rathore said that 16,886 girls are enrolled in schools of Bajna block. “The worrying aspect is that many girls leave school after class 4 or 5. In the 2024-25 academic year, 4,035 girls left their studies midway,” he informed.
“The government distributes laptops and bicycles along with scholarships, but still the enrolment is low. My school has only 65 students in class 12 and 64 in class 11. Girls from dozens of nearby villages come daily. There has been some improvement as compared to earlier,” said Indira Pandey, Principal, Senior Secondary School, Bajna.
On why girls from Hevdadama Kalan are not given bicycles, Pandey said, “There is a provision to provide bicycles at a distance of more than five km only.”
Upskilling matters
Raghunandan Singh Gautam, block coordinator, Ekal Abhiyan Prakalp running in Bajna area under RSS Ekal Gramotthan, said that tribal girls who do not go to school show interest in skill development. Most of them are interested in sewing, though they are trained in computer operation as well.
“At present, 35 women and girls are being trained. This can make them self-reliant and also provide some respite and freedom from household work. Most of the trained persons stitch blouses or other clothes and sell them in the market. However, after marriage, the sequence of skill development breaks,” Gautam said.
Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation is working in Bajna block to prevent child marriages. Block coordinator Shankar Singh Maida said that girls here are generally married at 15-17. “We are administering an oath to parents to not conduct child marriages.”
Parmesh Patidar of Vagdhara, an NGO working for the tribal community and agriculture in the area, said, “We have formed Bal Swaraj groups to connect children with all things traditional — be it crops, food or sports. We also raise awareness on menstrual hygiene and where to get pads from. We advocate self-employment measures, which include saving seeds at local level, growing fruits and vegetables at home and consuming them. We also make girls aware of their rights.”
Are girls aware of the programmes being run for them? NGO workers disseminate such information, but most of the tribal girls say that they do not have time left to attend such programmes and develop their own skills.
Madhya Pradesh government encourages self-employment through Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission, through which a woman of Hevdadama Kalan has started poultry farming. However, despite several NGOs operating in the place, skill development is not up to mark.
(Laxmikanta Joshi is a freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
