March 18, 2023

Educate Girls’ Project Pragati: A Second Chance at Education for Adolescent Girls and Young Women

E Education is a fundamental right and a powerful tool for empowerment. However, millions of girls in India are deprived of this opportunity due to various socio-economic and cultural barriers. According to Educate Girls, a non-profit organisation that works to improve girls’ education in India, there are 66 million girls (15-25 years old) who are permanently at-risk of never completing their secondary education. As a result, they are unable to access even entry-level jobs or apply for formal loans to set up small-scale businesses.

To address this challenge, Educate Girls launched a ‘second chance’ program called Project Pragati in 2021. The objective of this program is to enable adolescent girls and young women who have dropped out of the formal school system to achieve their 10th grade certification by leveraging the government’s open school system. This certification can unlock opportunities for them to pursue further education, vocational training, employment, and entrepreneurship.

…the program aims to reach 10 million girls and women in 10 years and create an ecosystem that supports their aspirations and potential…

Project Pragati works by building a ‘mentor/coach network’ and a technology platform that can be deployed at a population level scale. The mentors, called Pragati Preraks, are compassionate adults who work with the learners to help them develop their self-study skills, peer learning skills, confidence, and agency during four-month learning camps. The learners are also provided with study materials, exam registration support, and career guidance.

The program aims to reach 10 million girls and women in 10 years and create an ecosystem that supports their aspirations and potential. By doing so, Project Pragati hopes to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals of gender equality, quality education, decent work, and economic growth.

Educate Girls is a registered non-profit organisation that has been working since 2007 to improve girls’ enrolment, retention, and learning outcomes in some of the most remote and marginalised communities in India. It operates in over 18,000 villages across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam. It has enrolled over 750,000 out-of-school girls into schools and improved learning outcomes for over 1.8 million children.

Posted in News and tagged News, Pragati, Educate Girls, Pragati Preraks, Self-Study Skills, Peer Learning Skills
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