“My goal is to ensure that school-dropout children are included in our conversation around education for all. I want to make sure that the three children I am working with get a chance to attend the local school…”
— Adarsh Pal, Youth-n-Democracy Fellow, 2019-20
Adarsh grew up in the village of Kudni, in Uttar Pradesh. Moving to Delhi to pursue higher education was a momentous step for him. While he was intimidated by the city’s character, the sheer magnitude of its culture, and the way it absorbed millions of people, it made him realise that there was more to the indifferent city than met the eye. Delhi gave him the freedom and opportunity to learn not to be restricted by traditions and customary surnames. Joining the debating society in college provided him with the space to discuss caste issues and religious issues.
It was PRIA’s Youth-n-Democracy (YnD) Fellowship that opened his mind to understand and reflect on caste relation in everyday practices, even in his own family. Was his behaviour exclusionary and discriminatory based on caste? He questioned himself at the beginning of the Fellowship program nine months ago.
As the Fellowship came to an end, he credited it to help him grow into a confident person, open to new ideas and experiences, understand his strengths better, and leverage them to be more inclusive. The Fellowship enabled Adarsh to recognise and question his biases and stereotypes, and understand how equality and tolerance are essential functions of democracy. Proving how far he has come, he said, “I used to make fun of effeminate men and masculine women. I now understand that there are different ways of expressing gender and sexuality.”
The YnD Fellowship program enables young people such as Adarsh to understand themselves and their role in society, and learn the skills and behaviors to influence others to change communities, families and society. The modules on ‘Identity’ helped Adarsh become more resolute in his aim of treating people equally. His friends held the same beliefs about gender, caste and class that he was now working hard to change in himself, and he decided, on a visit home during a college break, to bring the ideas of respectful listening and equal treatment of others into everyday conversations with his friends and family.
Recognising that small actions, such as initiating a conversation about discrimination with just one person, can have a ripple effect. He brought up the issue of caste-based discrimination with his father. “I reasoned with my father for hours to slowly dismantle his caste stereotypes. I had a breakthrough moment when my father told me how he initiated a dialogue with his colleagues about caste discrimination and its impacts on development.”
Adarsh’s formal education, exposure to a metropolitan city and his learning experiences outside the classroom in the Fellowship – these were opportunities that helped him understand his strengths and weaknesses and equipped him with cooperation and communication skills. He realised how many of India’s children were excluded from such education and significant opportunities for lifelong learning. He decided to pursue his Social Action Project under the Fellowship to include school-dropout children.
School-dropout children in a large city include street children, child labourers and girl children. Adarsh set out to ignite the spark of learning among just three such marginalised children who have dropped out of school in Delhi’s neighbourhood, where he lives. Using his understanding of marginalised communities’ social realities, which he learned during the Fellowship, Adarsh wants to create change in participatory ways, involving the children, their families and teachers. He aims to get these children enrolled in a nearby school with help from the local pradhan (community leader) and ensure they benefit from the Right to Education.
Adarsh has shown how inclusion can be incorporated into the actions of young persons in their everyday lives and how initiating a small conversation can influence another’s viewpoint — his father’s changed views on caste-discriminatory practices is an example of this. He credits the Youth-n-Democracy Fellowship to build in him the confidence to do this and give him the tools to start influencing others to create more inclusive, equal communities. As he continues his life’s journey, his experience of the Fellowship will continue to guide his actions.