Akshay Gadilkar

Student Reporter

Dipanjali Singh

Editor

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“My mother and I fought about it just last
night,” says 21-year-old Asha Bassi. “For the past three and a half years,” she
explains, “my parents have been asking me to quit my education and get
married”. 



A final year student at Savitri Jyotirao
Samajkarya Mahavidyalaya in Yavatmal city, Asha is pursuing her Bachelor’s
Degree in Social Work. She is among the first in her family to receive formal
education. “Girls who marry early are praised,” she says, adding, “But I want
to educate myself, it is the only way I can be free.” 
 Asha is from Jewali village of Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district and belongs
to the Mathura Labhan community which has been listed as a De-notified Tribe
(Vimukta Jati) in the state. Her parents are farmers and grow soya, cotton,
wheat and millets on the land they own in Jewali. 
 
The family depends on agriculture to raise their four children – three
daughters and a son. Asha is the eldest child and lives with her maternal uncle
and aunt in Yavatmal city while she earns her Bachelor’s Degree. 
  
Asha’s parents enrolled her to a zilla
parishad (ZP) school near their house at the age of 7 at the insistence of
a few local teachers. She studied there till Class 3, after which she moved to
Yavatmal city 112 kms away from Jewali. There she studied in a school
affiliated to the Maharashtra State Board and eventually enrolled in a nearby
college.

“Girls in our community usually study till
Class 7, after which they are gradually made to drop out of schools. Very few
attend college,” says Asha. Even her younger sister was married three
years ago. 
 “Our community is conservative,” Asha says.
The societal fear that girls might marry for love or people of other castes
often adds to the pressure girls face for marriage. “If a girl elopes with her
partner, her friends are pulled out of school as well,” Asha explains. “I don’t
know of any girl in my community who has married outside her caste.” 
 
Asha says that the pressure to get married heightened during the covid-19
pandemic during which she had moved back home to Jewali village. She even met a
few prospective men for marriage. “During the pandemic, more than 30 girls in
my locality who are less than 21 years of age were married off,” says Asha. 



Since girls are not encouraged to pursue
higher education in Jewali, education is seldom deemed a valid reason for
delaying marriage. “Since my younger sister is married and I am not, people
look at me with suspicion,” Asha adds. 
 “Whatever I do [for my education], I do it all
by myself,” Asha says, her disappointment evident. Since she is the first in
her family to pursue higher education, she does not receive much guidance from
them. Her father, Balsing Bassi, studied till Class 11 and her mother Vimal
studied till Class 5. “Even now, they don’t expect much from my education
because I am a girl,” says Asha, adding that seeking education has become “lotaycha kaam” for her – work that
involves a lot of physical and mental struggle. 
 “No one at home was involved in my education,”
says Asha. “I wish my mother had told me, “Tu
kar, me tuzya pathishi ahe” [You study, I have your back].” But Asha says
that her mother is the strongest critic of her seeking an education.

The nearest college to Jewali is in Bittargaon
village 12 kms away. “Parents are scared of their daughter’s safety if they
travel alone to and from school. So, girls usually travel in a group,” says
Asha, highlighting how robust educational infrastructure aids education for
girls. “If one girl’s discontinues school, other parents also ask their
daughter to drop out as companions to travel become scarce.” 
 
Asha recalls how the move to Yavatmal city for school was not an easy one. She
spoke the Mathura Labhan dialect which was distinct from the Marathi used as
the medium of instruction in her school. This made participating in class or in
school events difficult. “My classmates used to ridicule my dialect,” Asha
says, adding, “I feared they would laugh at me if I spoke in my dialect in
class”. 
 The hesitation inhibited Asha’s progress in
school. “Till Class 6, I could only write Marathi alphabets and not full
sentences. I could not even read basic words like kutra [dog] and manjar
[cat] till Class 5”.



But all her doubts faded away when she scored
79 per cent in her Maharashtra State Board Senior Secondary School Certificate
(SSC) Examination for Class 10 and managed to confidently persuade her maternal
uncle to let her study further. In Class 12, she scored 63 per cent. 



Asha’s academic achievements, still matter
little to those around her – “My parents can never proudly say that their
daughter is pursuing her graduation degree in the city because it is not a
worthy pursuit in our society.” 



The trend of getting married early saps all
enthusiasm for education from girls. “If it is certain that they will get
married off at 16 years of age, why will girls work hard to get an education?”
Asha asks. Yet, her ambitions remain fuelled. Secure in her awareness of the
merits of her education, she says, “The reason I can dream of a secure future
is only because of education”.

Asha enjoys reading. Some of her favourite
books are Hamrasta Nakartana by
Sarita Awhad and Findri by Sunita
Barde, which are texts gleaning from the lives of marginalised women. She wants
to pursue a Master’s degree in women studies and has already been selected as a
Young India Fellow at Ashoka University, Sonipat.



Moving to Yavatmal city greatly bolstered
Asha’s confidence. “Even though my relatives deem a degree in Social Work
inferior, it has been very rewarding for me,” she says. In Jewali, the
households of those belonging to Asha&#39;s Mathura Labhan community are collectively called taande. These are usually located
away from the main settlements. “This isolation,” says Asha, “makes it difficult for us to stay
connected with modern, progressive thought.” Her teachers in college mentored
her with diligence, especially Professor Ghanshyam Darane who taught Marathi.

“It is believed that women are simply not capable of achieving anything,” says Asha, more angry than sad. “I want to change that,” she says, adding, “Once I
become something big, I want to come back to my village and bring about
progressive change for girls. I do not want to run away.” 
 
But first, she has to tackle the upcoming marriage season during which the
pressure to marry will only increase. Asha says, “I am going to
require a lot of strength to hold up”.

'They don’t expect much from my education because I am a girl'

’لڑکی ہوں، اس لیے میرا پڑھنا انہیں اچھا نہیں لگتا‘

‘பெண் என்பதால் என் கல்வியை அவர்கள் பொருட்படுத்தவில்லை’

'ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਮੇਰੀ ਪੜ੍ਹਾਈ ਤੋਂ ਬਹੁਤੀ ਉਮੀਦ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਮੈਂ ਇੱਕ ਔਰਤ ਹਾਂ'

‘ସେମାନେ ମୋ ପାଠପଢ଼ାରୁ ବେଶି କିଛି ଆଶା କରନ୍ତିନି, କାରଣ ମୁଁ ଜଣେ ଝିଅ’

‘പെൺകുട്ടിയായതിനാൽ എന്റെ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് അവർക്ക് വലിയ പ്രതീക്ഷയൊന്നുമില്ല‘

ʼನಾನು ಹೆಣ್ಣಾಗಿರುವುದರಿಂದ ಅವರು ನನ್ನ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣದಿಂದ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನದನ್ನು ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲʼ

‘लड़की होने के चलते मेरा पढ़ना किसी को रास नहीं आता!’

'હું ભણીગણીને કંઈક બનું એવી ખાસ કોઈ અપેક્ષા તેઓ રાખતા નથી કારણ કે હું છોકરી છું'

नोनी होय सेती पढ़ई-लिखई ले बेदखल

‘बेटी के पढ़ाई-लिखाई के कवनो कीमत ना होखे’

‘আমি মেয়ে বলে ওরা আমার লেখাপড়া থেকে বেশি কিছু আশা করে না’

‘মই ছোৱালী বাবে সিহঁতে মোৰ পৰা বেছি আশা নকৰে’

‘त्यांना माझ्या शिक्षणाकडून फारशा अपेक्षा नाहीत कारण मी मुलगी आहे’

Yavatmal

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'They don’t expect much from my education because I am a girl'

In Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, girls like Asha Bassi have to fight off pressures of marriage in their struggle to get an education

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