A 17-year-old school dropout in MP has made her parents proud, her neighbours. She’ll take the flight to Britain to study English at a school near the University of Oxford in January.
Asha Gond, a resident of Janwaar village of Panna district of Madhya Pradesh has become the first person in Janwaar village to acquire a passport and travel to another country to study.
Ulrike Reinhard, a German woman, who helped set up the skatepark in Janwaar, discovered a keen learner in Asha, who used to help her father in the farmland and support her mother with household chores after dropping out of Class 11.
“It took us eight months to convince Asha’s parents to let her take up this opportunity. Then we got things rolling with a visit to Bhopal for her passport. It was the first time Asha and her mother rode on a train,” she added.
The flights for Asha and volunteer Alisha, who will accompany the tribal girl, will be paid from sponsors abroad.
She will stay with teacher Sylwia and her family at Wantage, Oxfordshire for eight weeks and will study at The Butler Centre for Education in Wantage, about 24 kms away from Oxford, famous for teaching basics of English language to children.
“The entire cost of Asha’s tour is crowdfunded. People have read about Janwaar Castle and about Asha on several news websites, social media, and have come forward to fund her tour. She has also received several proposals for stay in Oxford,” says Alisha.
Source: Hindustan Times