Jhallu is a 22 year-old girl from village Nandwa and hails from a large joint family of 11 members (some of whom are now residing in Khargone district). She has four elder sisters. All of her sisters never went to school and have now been married off. She also has four brothers. Her brothers also never went to school with the exception of one, who studied till the 5th grade. The reason that her brothers and sisters never went to school was because they lived in an interior village in the district in the midst of forests where there was no school nearby. Few years ago her village was inundated with water due to the construction of a nearby dam and the whole village was relocated to another district by the government. This was a big change and challenge in Jhallu’s life. Leaving behind her birth-place and familiar surroundings she had to shift to a new village with her family. For the first time in her life when she was 10 years old she got the chance to go to school. She learnt to read and write and was made to appear in the 5th grade exams directly, which she cleared in flying colours. She was sent by her parents to a government hostel where she continued her education till the 8th grade. After that her parents brought her back to home where she took admission in the 9th grade.
But the school was very far away from home and she had to walk around 10kms every day to go to school. The bad roads and the long unsafe distances and sometime the rough weather all made it impossible to go to school every day. Her irregular attendance in school made it difficult for her to keep up with her studies and she had to finally give up and she dropped out. Three months later, the school dropout heard about Barli Institute from some of her friends in the village. Thereafter she firmly resolved herself to make her dreams of studying further to come true. Her family being uneducated, could not understand (at first) her love for education. Time and again they kept asking her to return back and get married-off like her elder sisters. But with patience and persistence she has now won over their hearts and ensures that the children of her brothers and sisters are surely sent to a school.
Jhallu completed the six month training in Barli Institute three years ago, has cleared the 10th grade exam from National Institute for Open Schooling while staying in Barli Institute. She is currently preparing for her 12th grades while staying back and studying at Barli Institute. She wants to be a police officer one day and although her father tells her that it is not a suitable profession for a girl, she is convinced that becoming a responsible citizen and honest officer and assisting in maintaining law and order in society is definitely needed and believes that one day she will be able to change her father’s views on this and win his heart too.
