Prerna: engendering empowerment through girl education

Abstract

Purpose

Quality education can be provided to underprivileged section in developing economies by the collaborative effort of private-paid schools. The purpose of this paper is to explore and highlight the model which can be adopted by a private school in imparting education to girls coming from lower income strata. It also highlights how synergies could be attained by sharing of resources in terms of infrastructure and utilities.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are gathered through multiple sources via literature and interviews with variety of people including CEO, principal and students. Data on profile of students were provided by the school.

Findings

Achieving quality education for girls of low-income strata is possible by efficiently utilizing the resources of a private-paid school. The school operates in second shift when the infrastructure is lying idle without any use. The mammoth cost of building a school can be saved and funds can be diverted for running it. Successful experiments like Prerna shows very distinctively how well-defined intervention strategies and innovation to methodologies using existing infrastructure can provide meaningful access to education not only to girls but to all.

Research limitations/implications

Can the model be adopted by government of developing economies by making it compulsory for every private-paid school.

Practical implications

Findings confirm that quality education to underprivileged girls is a reality at a minimum possible cost.

Social implications

A learned and well-informed girl is in a better position to take life decisions. In a country like India, where cost act as a deterrent to girl child education this model provides a solution to an extent, bringing relevance of education in their lives by right empowerment approach through focused discussions in the form of critical dialogues on sensitive issues related to marriage, sexual abuse, domestic violence, health and others.

Originality/value

This paper provides case-based evidence of how a successful private-paid school can participate in bringing a paradigm shift in providing quality education to underprivileged girls. It helps in understanding dynamics of sustaining such project.

Citation

Jain, S. and Singh, S. (2017), "Prerna: engendering empowerment through girl education", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 518-529. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-03-2016-0061