Roshila is 16 yrs old and resides in village Panmungri, Tehsil Sondwa, in Alirajpur district. Roshila came to Barli Institute in May 2018 when she was just sixth pass. Roshila’s family is poor and makes roughly 60000 rupees annually. Her mother is illiterate and works in their small farm of 2 acres. She also works in other people’s farms to make ends meet. Her father is a construction laborer who works in another state and visits home only once in several months. Roshila’s elder brother also never went to school and was married off when he was 18 years old. (The legal age of marriage for boys in India is 21 years.). Her elder brother now has two children. He is also a laborer like his father. Roshila also had an elder sister who accidently died of burning from the kerosene lantern they used in their homes. At home, there was always lot of work to be done and no time to focus on studies. She was sent to school when she was five years old but her education was not regular as her parents kept migrating from one place to another in search of seasonal labour. Her school had a single teacher who taught all subjects to the 150 students of different grades sitting together. She somehow managed to pass her sixth standard in 2018.
She enrolled in the seventh standard in a school 13 kms away from her village because her village only had a primary school. Due to lack of means of transport and responsibilities at home she had to drop her studies. Roshila had to bring fuel-wood for cooking from the nearby forests, nearly 4 kms from her place every 2-3 days which took 5 hours. She also helped her mother bring water from the hand pump as there was no tap in her home.
Roshila wants to become a teacher so that she can help the children in her village study better. After completing the six month training at Barli, Roshila went home for a few days. Her elder brother had not started sending his children to school. Roshila herself got all the documents prepared and admitted them to school. She talked to her family about the importance of education. She planted several trees in her farm and spread awareness about tree plantation, environmental conservation and cleanliness. She also started organizing family meetings every evening in which her extended family (uncles, aunts and cousins and also neighbors joined in). They started discussing their problems together and finding solutions. They also included prayers, motivational songs and devotionals which Roshila had learnt at Barli. This inspired her mother to send Roshila back to Barli to continue her studies. At Barli, she is studying further and inspiring other trainees to study.
Roshila says, “Education is very powerful. It changes the way you think and act. It is like a magnet which attracts all the good things in life. One day, I will become a teacher and open a school in my village in the memory of my sister will also make my village solar so that no one dies of burning”.
Roshila does not get to meet her father often, but her mother, elder brother and relatives are now very supportive of her endeavors to continue education
