From Village to the World
Books with Hope
Rikki Asher
The Pardada Pardadi Girls
Vocational School (PPGVS) in
India was established in 2000
by Virendera (Sam) Singh,
a retired U.S. Dupont South Asia
department head to address the issue
of gender bias in India. According to
the school’s website, nearly half of
India’s population is illiterate: males
outnumber females two-to-one in
literacy and drop-out rates for girls
are as high as 58% in primary and
upper primary
schools. In villages throughout India girls
face gender
discrimination
daily, including female infanticide,
nutritional and economic disparities
with male members of the family,
and violence in and out of the home.
Mission
The school’s mission is to uplift and
empower girls from the economically poorest section of society by
providing free education and vocational training to foster self-reliant
and educated individuals. Girls
learn the art of fine-hand embroidery, linen appliqué work, and block
printing in the form of tablecloths,
bed covers, sheets, curtains, and
cushion covers. Their products are
sold in New Delhi shops and the
proceeds go towards the welfare of
women in Anupshahar.
The curriculum includes aca-
demic studies and vocational
training. The main goal of the
curriculum
is to teach
students how
to become
socially and
economically
independent. I came to this school
to do research on the impact of art
and creative writing through bookmaking. I worked for ten days in
PPGVS with two groups.
Twenty fifth graders greeted me
with, “Good morning Madame.”
The classroom was up a narrow
flight of stairs in the back of the
building. There were no lights the
morning we began, no chairs or
tables, and the girls sat on the floor.
I sat on the floor, too, and began
class. A school administrator was in
the room to translate.
The school’s mission is to uplift
and empower girls from the
poorest section of society.
Creative Expression
The fifth and seventh graders I
worked with had limited experiences with creative writing and fine
art. As an initial motivational strategy I described what I noticed on
the way to class. I asked the group
to share what they noticed. Part of
the description had to include something seen on the way to school, a
color, and a place. I listed what they
said on a large piece of paper I taped
on the wall. Brown monkeys, blue
peacocks, yellow bananas, green
sugar cane loaded onto the back of a
bull cart, grey hail, red houses, and
