Pehchan Schools

As part of a broader effort to establish a Knowledge Community for Children in India (KCCI), UNICEF India partnered with research, academic and development institutions to encourage young students and scholars from a variety of disciplines to increase awareness of the day to day realities for India’s children and women. NCCF graduate researcher Nikita Tolani was selected from more that 600 applicants to participate in this study, within the UNICEF India’s Summer Internship Programme. This on-site research offered an opportunity for analysis, research and documentation (written as well as film) of UNICEF-sponsored field-level interventions for children in India across a variety of areas, such as child development, child protection, health, nutrition, primary education, and water and sanitation. Interns were required to generate a 10 minute documentary, a case study analysis, and present their findings to local and national UNICEF program officers, as well as local policymakers and media outlets. Ms. Tolani was assigned to conduct a case study of the Pehchan Project, an educational intervention created for out-of-school adolescent girls in the rural villages of Rajasthan. The case study explored the impact of the Pehchan schools on educational access, attendance, retention, and quality for out-of-school girls in two districts in which the program was implemented. Researchers found that the Pehchan program had a positive impact on educational access for out-of-school girls; sixty-five Pehchan schools have been opened since the program’s inception. Overall, the Pehchan program has served 1,010 out-of-school girls.

Funding Source: UNICEF.