Empowering Vaidu Women With Literacy

An Adult Literacy Project was begun on October 1st, 2021, for the Vaidu women of Jogeshwari and Marol with education partners TCS. This project is a dream nourished by President Shernaz Vakil to support and uplift the Vaidu community.

We thank Rtn. Pankaj Baliga for fostering the arrangement with TCS. The Adult Literacy Programme was initiated by F.C. Kohli in 2000. It has had: 1 million+ beneficiaries (10,70,618) since inception, 49% SC/ST beneficiaries, 84 % female beneficiaries, and 71500+ prison inmates (male, female both).

The TCS team trained our project teachers and volunteers over three days. We thank Kishan Gopal (ALP Programme, TCS, CSR), Sagar Dutta (regional head), and Aayushi Jauhari (regional head) for the training. Our teachers now know how to take classes and make the women comfortable, plus they have resource material. TCS will take periodic meetings to monitor the progress and give further guidance.

Our students, Vaidu women, are nomadic tribals who shy from literacy programmes which they find intimidating. RCB will bring them dignity through this intervention. Teachers and volunteers worked very hard to mobilise the women into attending.

They were told how education is important for everyone, how being literate will make them more powerful and help them manage their families better. The women were happy that they would be able to write their names and signatures and that soon they will no longer require assistance to fill forms at banks, society offices, or in their kids’ schools.