Village School

Yesterday we left Jodhpur for the night and traveled over 100 km to spend the night in an Indian village, with a population of about 500 people. This was a great way to experience rural India.

Before my family and I arrived in the village, we visited a school run by the Sambhali Trust charity. There we met some of the students attending, varying in ages from 6 to 14 years old. It was there that I got firsthand experience with the education system of India. Although the school we visited was “private,” it is run by the charity so it doesn’t cost the children anything to attend. There were two different programs there. Some children were part of a program called the Peacock group, which consisted of those who already attend school, but who need to get more education, especially in English and Hindi. Another program is called the Butterfly group, which is aimed towards children who don’t attend school at all. Some of the subjects that the school focuses on are basic hygiene, English, teaching girls some basic sewing, as well as singing songs and playing games.

Most of the teachers are volunteers from around the world, who stay in the local village for a month. The main teacher was originally a student at the school, but graduated and now oversees all of the programs. Something I did notice when I visited the school was that even though the children were very young, there was a vast majority of boys, and few girls attending. I had already read about this being very common in India and other countries as well, but it was interesting to see it firsthand.

Once we arrived at the village, we were invited into one of the clay huts to watch our food being made. All of the cooking was done by one of the women, who kept her veil on the entire time and didn’t speak much. We learned later that it was for modesty purposes.

Walking through the village was very interesting. It seemed as though everything I had predicted about rural areas was true to my research. I noticed that men and women always seemed to be separated from each other in public. From getting water, to attending worship, I got the feeling that oppression was subtle, but was literally not more than footsteps away from me.