“I will wear my favourite pair of jeans and this new pink kurti on my first day of college,” said an 18-year-old Diya from Hooghly, Kolkata, who cannot wait for cut-offs to be out and colleges to begin their new academic year.
Diya Das (name changed), a young, ambitious individual, attempts to create history as she sets to become not just the first girl from her entire family but also from her village to receive a college education. Diya is one of the million other young girls from West Bengal who now finally have the means to live their dream: to get a college degree and work for a better future.
Diya is one of the 94,89,902 girls enrolled in government schools across the state of West Bengal that happens to be one of the few states actively trying to promote women’s education and empowerment. The state efforts become clearer when we notice that the number of girls in state-sponsored schools, as recorded in a recent survey, has actually outnumbered boys, which were calculated to be 92,57,890.
One of the major reasons the West Bengal government has been able to tackle the stigma of girls’ education and check rampant dropout rates has been by the introduction of several statewide welfare educational schemes. However, one scheme that stands out from them all is the Kanyashree Prakalpa (KP) scheme.
Announced on March 8, 2013, and launched on October 1, 2013, Kanyashree is a two-tier conditional cash transfer scheme started under the flagship of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her TMC government to inspire girls to continue with higher education and prevent chances of child marriage and the consequent dropouts. Under the scheme, an annual sum of ₹750 is awarded to unmarried girls from classes VII to XII between the ages 13 to 18. Additionally, a one-time grant of ₹25,000 is awarded upon turning 18.
While the scheme looks very utopic on pen and paper, I had my own reservations regarding its working. Given how our Indian governments and politicians are notoriously stereotyped as being available to the public and making promises only during election season, I wondered if girls across the state were even receiving the promised sum or was it just another of those “potholes will be filled, water taps will be installed” dreams. Luckily, I had the good fortune of talking to a wonderful young girl who has recently benefited from the scheme.
During my conversation with Diya, I understood she received a sum of ₹25,000, the big prize in July 2021 as stated in the KP scheme, because she was unmarried and affiliated with an educational institution. Moreover, being a student of Class 12, she, along with her classmates, received an additional grant of ₹10,000 earlier in the year to buy smartphones or tablets so that they could continue their classes without obstruction and prepare well for the forthcoming board examinations.
As our conversations continued, I learned that the only other condition required for the student to benefit from the scheme, apart from the aforementioned age limit, is to have their own bank account. Transferring the sum directly to the candidate’s account helps in achieving transparency in the system and generates a sense of consciousness and awareness among these girls.
Furthermore, unlike other government-sponsored scholarships, Kanyashree is not competitive. It is not awarded to the fittest, the strongest, or the smartest. On the contrary, it is rather democratic in its work. Every child in need is awarded. Every dream is sponsored.
Expressing her gratitude towards the government, Diya mentioned how “taka kon maash e ashbe seta thik noi, kintu taka ashbe eta thik” (Which month will the money come, that is uncertain. But the money will come, that is for certain). She mentioned how her father, a daily wage labourer in the local Jute Mill, no longer works overtime or takes up odd jobs on the weekend to fund her education because now it’s taken care of.
Similarly, her mother, a domestic worker, could prioritize her health and let go of working in several households as the overall family expenditure has been significantly reduced. Suppressing a sob, she continued how in the early days of the pandemic, when both her parents lost their job and were forced to sit back at home, without any social or financial security, this same money that she had saved over the years helped them sustain their lives and eat two square meals a day.
There are, however, other finer details to this scheme that meets the eye. As Diya acknowledged herself, several students, even some of her own friends, have no intention of continuing with a college education and will probably use this money to get married or for some other purpose.
Additionally, some critics argue that being a non-competitive cash transfer scheme that does not require successful completion of any academic level, the best the scheme does is postpone marriage by a few years. It fails to generate a vigour for intellectual stimulation or an actual interest in academia. A lack of such prolific schemes prompting boys’ education has led to another hysteria where parents fear difficulty getting a groom to marry their much-educated girl.
While the scheme is yet to be full-proof, one cannot simply ignore how several thousand young girls across the state, much like Diya herself, will be first-generation graduates from their family credit due only to the scheme. Another significant domino effect, that if often overlooked, is the general improvement of both mental and physical health of such parents who do not need to overwork now to fund their daughter’s education or live with the guilt of having to force them to quit their dreams because of the lack of funds thereof. The scheme makes education more accessible and economical. It democratizes education and gives everyone a fair fighting chance for a better future.
I believe that the scheme has a lot of potential and, with some technical amendments, can bring wonders and be the flagbearer of a more empowered and educated India.
The author is a Kaksha Correspondent as a part of writers’ training program under Kaksha Crisis.