As the first person in her entire neighbourhood to pass a state government entrance exam, Prakriti will soon start training as a nurse.
Prakriti lives in Bihar, India, and is the eldest of six children in her family – five girls and one boy. But she has successfully pushed back against the traditional model of the oldest sister leaving school early to care for the family, and is breaking new ground.
As a child, Prakriti wanted to become a doctor, but this level of study was financially out of reach. Rather than abandon her dreams of working in healthcare altogether, Prakriti, now 18, has found a way to make it happen, with support from Project Lehar.
Project Lehar is run by the Aga Khan Foundation with support from Prince’s Trust International. It offers vocational training, entrepreneurship and life skills courses for girls and young women from low-income backgrounds. It also supports girls who left school early to complete their education.
A pathway to success
Prakriti joined Lehar while studying for her final school exams, cycling long distances to and from school each day. Already juggling schoolwork and household duties, she was also keen to contribute to the family income. Lehar helped Prakriti build her skills and identify the strengths that she could use to earn, paving the way for her to pursue her dreams.
‘Life was limited and so were the options,’ Prakriti recalls. ‘But when I joined Lehar sessions, I felt alive. I gained a lot. Self-awareness, better communication skills, being passionate, being good with money, being enterprising – all these skills made me confident and braver than before. Lehar has taught me never to stop aspiring and keep looking out for opportunities.’
Despite still being a schoolgirl herself, Prakriti got a part-time teaching job in a local school. She also started working as a tutor, cycling to students up to 10km away. Prakriti used her earnings to boost her family’s income, while also putting some money aside for her future.
Prakriti passed her 12th grade exams, the equivalent of A-levels, with flying colours and convinced her parents to let her sit the entrance exams for the government nursing programme. She paid the exam fees using her own savings, and passed at the first attempt.
Prakriti’s achievement is remarkable. She is not only the first person in her family to pass a state level government entrance exam, but the first in her entire neighbourhood to do so. She is now looking forward to starting her nursing course.
Changing attitudes
Throughout her life as one of five sisters, Prakriti has always felt the different value placed on girls and boys, as her family always hoped for a son. But Prakriti is leading by example, steadily challenging and changing traditional perspectives around girls’ value, capabilities and potential, among her extended family and wider community. The path for her four younger sisters is already far less restricted, thanks to her efforts to clear the way. Her second sister hopes to become an engineer.
Prakriti’s grandparents were initially set against the idea of educating girls, but Prakriti argued passionately to her parents that she and all her younger sisters should not only go to school, but should complete all 12 grades. Despite their initial scepticism and disapproval, Prakriti stresses that her grandparents have also been absolutely delighted at her achievements.
‘The elders work in both ways. Although they had always pushed us back and had taunted my father for letting us continue with our education… they were the happiest ones when I passed the entrance exams,’ she explains. ‘Now my grandparents say no one would stop me.’