Success Stories![](images/aae1.jpg)
Village Sunpura, Bisrakh,
District Gautam Budh Nagar, UP
Harbati Gujar is the former
Pradhan of Sunpura Gram Panchayat. 50 years old Harbati was illiterate.
She feels if she was literate, she could have performed her duties as a
Sarpanch much better. When TARA Akshar+ Programme came to her village,
Harbati immediately enrolled herself in the program with the desire to
become literate. Highly motivated Harbati, with dedication and hard
work, passed the examination. The ability to read and write has brought
a new confidence in her and she is an inspiration to other women of her
village.
![](images/Nirmala%20Devi.jpg)
46 years old Nirmala Devi of Garopur village is a president of the Hari
Om SHG. Having done the TARA Akshar course she now works much more
efficiently guiding her group. She also makes it a point to encourage
other members to study. At present her advice carries much more weight
as in the rural areas of India the opinion of a literate woman commands
greater respect and attention. TARA Akshar has not only changed
Nirmala’s life but also enabled her to influence the lives of other
women.
![](images/Guddi.jpg)
Guddi is a resident of village
Khundarpur. She is 38 years old. She has been working as treasurer of
the Jai Maa Durge SHG for a number of years even though she could
earlier neither read nor calculate. This used to be a major source of
worry for her as she was dependent on other persons’ help. One day she
heard that TARA Akshar+ programme would be coming to her village. She
was very excited and wasted no time in enrolling for the course. Now
that she has become literate, she says, "I never believed that I would
ever be able to do mathematical calculations and write as
well.........and that too within two months!" She is thankful to TARA
Akshar+ for giving her the opportunity to study. She now does her work
independently and with confidence. She also helps other members of the
group in various activities of their own.
Murti
Devi, 32 years old, is a president of Jai Ma Durge SHG in the village of
Khundarpur. Till recently she could neither read nor write and found it
difficult to function in an effective manner. She was only able to sign
her name even though she was not familiar with the Hindi letters. One
day her friend told her about TARA Akshar. She has done the course and
says proudly: " Now I am a ‘working’ president as I know what I am doing
and how I can do things better". Her confidence level has gone up
tremendously and she is performing excellently as president of her SHG.
Nirmala is now looking forward to strengthen her organisation by
arranging for an embroidery and tailoring teacher for the members. She
also reads a Hindi newspaper regularly to be abreast of the latest
developments involving government schemes for women.
q
Supriya Yadav
syadav@devalt.org
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