Aanchal is an adolescent girl from Kakori, Lucknow who lives in Gwalpur village and is a student of class 10. She is also a member of adolescent girls’ group in the Sugandha program by Vatsalya. She also visits the ARC and have discussions with other members and participates in the meetings. She attends the life skills sessions conducted by Abdul a field coordinator on issues like gender discrimination, and life skills, women centric laws, child marriage, menstruation and we indulge in educative games along with other members. One day during such meetings Abdul asked the members of the group related to interest in science subject. The members expressed that they have interest but due to lack of poor infrastructure there are not good labs and materials at school to understand the concepts and hence it becomes a difficult task for them. Abdul then informed that those girls who are interested in science and wants to learn more there is an opportunity at Vatsalya where the 5 selected girls from the village can go for a science exposure visit at regional science centre Lucknow since our NEP also envisages that girls should study more in STEM related courses at higher grades.

He informed that parent’s consent is mandatory for this and gave the consent forms to the girls for seeking consent of the parents regarding the visit at regional science centre. When I took the consent form back at home my mother gave her consent but my father was reluctant to give consent and since he is the decision maker I was bound to follow the instructions. He said we don’t much about the organization, and the field coordinator maybe it’s a trap to sell adolescent girls. We know about the coordinator and organization from hardly 4-5 months we can’t trust.

This incident was a huge hit for me as other group members were eager to go and have got the consent from the parents. I cried all day that I was struck by the fever. I did not lose hope and remembered the power of negotiation and assertiveness discussed during the creative workshop and decided to give one more shot to discuss the issue with my parents. This time my negotiation helped me and my father gave me the permission.

I was quite excited to go for this trip and when I reached, I met many other girls from different villages and explored many concepts like sounds, water properties, watched the 3d show and explored acquatic life and formation of solar system. I also learned about the various constellations and details of galaxies.

When I went back to the village from the trip Abdul ji came to drop each one of us to home safely. My parents were quite happy and impressed that Vatsalya is taking good initiatives for the girls and takes care of the students like a family.

I thank Vatsalya for organizing such programs for us and in future too looking to participate in such activities.