Sulekha Kumari, a Class 8 student, will always remember the day she learnt to use Microsoft Office and Microsoft Excel a month ago.
“I was elated after I learned to type on laptop. My school teaches computer from Class 9 onwards. But I learnt to operate computer in Class 8 itself,” said Sulekha.
It has been two months since she joined ‘computer classes on wheels’, an all-girl training initiative run by Shree Narayan Sanskratik Chetna Trust in Garhi Chaukhandi village to provide computer education to the underprivileged school girls.
For many in the urban cities, a 12-year-old typing on a computer or laptop may not be a feat. But for Sulekha, a girl born and brought up in Garhi Chaukhandi, a semi urban village, in Noida Sector 121, it is indeed an extraordinary achievement for her as well as her family.
Like Sulekha, 80 other girls are learning to operate computer in a van that has eight laptops and a trainer.
For the past two months, the van has been stationed at the entrance of the village. Four batches of students are taught every day.
In the classes, students are taught basic computer operation along with applications such as notepad, MS Office, MS Excel and power point presentation.
Ruchi, a Class 12 student, wants to study medicine after her board examinations. She has never received any training in computer while in school and realises the importance of ‘school on wheels’ classes.
Ruchi and Sulekha’s thoughts are echoed by their trainer Deepmala Rani, who believes that underprivileged girls have little chance to learn computers.
A diploma graduate in web designing and basic computer, Rani decided to teach girls as soon as she completed her education.
Rani’s claims are not far-fetched. Some of her students are already ready to become a teacher after completing their education.
Source: Hindustan Times