Barefoot College by Robert Wallis (25 images)

Rajasthan, one of the poorest and least developed states in India, has the second lowest literacy rate for women in the country, at 44%, and a deeply entrenched caste system. But with the help of non-governmental organisations, women are leading a rural revolution challenging both the prejudices of the past and the country's rush to modernise.

One of these NGOs, the Barefoot College, is a grass roots movement that spreads knowledge rather than money by training poor, mostly...
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Rajasthan, one of the poorest and least developed states in India, has the second lowest literacy rate for women in the country, at 44%, and a deeply entrenched caste system. But with the help of non-governmental organisations, women are leading a rural revolution challenging both the prejudices of the past and the country's rush to modernise.

One of these NGOs, the Barefoot College, is a grass roots movement that spreads knowledge rather than money by training poor, mostly illiterate, village women in non-traditional skills such as solar engineering, lessening the need for wood or other increasingly scarce fuels used for cooking. Villagers are also being encouraged to revive traditional techniques of rainwater harvesting rather than continuing to pump up the depleted underground water.

There is also a social revolution in progress. By taking control of their villages' energy and water supplies, women have challenged traditional gender and caste hierarchies. Such jobs were always off-limits to lower castes and usually done by men with outside education, but the Barefoot College promotes the idea that learning comes with practical action on the ground, and that not being able to read or write is no bar to advancement. Nevertheless schooling - or more particularly night-schooling - is another central focus of its work with young girls. Traditionally rural families opposed girl's education, since daughters always move away to their husband's family after marriage. But, lit by solar lanterns, night schools are being set up in rural Rajasthan - giving many girls the chance to study for the first time (after dark when their day's work has been done).
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