From Fighting An Oppressive System To Serving Her Own Community: Meet Divya Dhangar

In a society where young girls are married even before completing their education, Divya fought all odds to break the shell and now aims to help her community by changing mindsets and living by example.

Born in a low-income community of Pune, Divya was one of India’s 115 million children living in poverty. She grew up with her maternal grandparents because her own home wasn’t conducive to learning.

The school wasn’t easy either. Unlike other children, her first school experience was being hit with a long ruler in the second grade instead of making new friends and learning new things. Rote learning and abuse were the norms, and there were no extracurricular activities.

Students who had difficulty in understanding concepts were not allowed to ask for any help. Instead, the teachers focussed on students who did well. All of this made Divya lose interest in school.

Things started to change when she was transferred to KC Thackeray School. The teachers here never touched any of the kids. This was where Divya realized that her childhood experiences of violence, humiliation, abuse and being ignored were wrong.

At her new school, the theatre caught Divya’s interest. Rehearsing for plays and dancing made Divya feel the most like herself. She learnt her most significant life lessons through theatre. Interacting with people from different backgrounds and contexts, people who had different levels of experience, made her realize the power of storytelling. With her newfound passion and discipline, Divya also focused better on academics, and her grades improved.

Beating all odds, she made it to Garware College. While studying, she joined the cast of Teach For India’s latest production, The Greatest Show on Earth, a musical exposing the harsh realities of the Indian education system.

At 19, Divya’s father told her to get married, a common phenomenon in the community she grew up in, in Pune. She was confused. Her play and academics meant so much to her that leaving them unfinished would have been too distressing. With time, she realized she wanted to be a role model for other children who grew up with her circumstances.

Today, Divya is a proud Teach For India Fellow and teaches 32 children at Tawheed English High School in Bombay, working with communities similar to those she grew up in. Her students are her greatest source of motivation on days that she feels low.

“To some people, education is just something girls do before they get married. For most students like me, our primary objective is to earn money for our parents. We have been taught to step back from something if we can’t afford it. But why can’t we aspire big?” she concludes.