In the initial phase, the focus was on gynaecological health, the distribution of sanitary pads, and the nutrition of girls by conducting haemoglobin tests and providing iron tablets. Launched in 2022 to educate girls about their rights against sexual harassment/abuse and empower them to fight against the violation of their rights, Project Asmita by the Rotary Club of Bibwewadi in Pune has so far covered 500 schools impacting 80,000 girls.
“The project has been operational in five states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa, and Jharkhand. We now set a target of another 36,000 girls in the next few months,” Jignesh Pandya, chairperson of Project Asmita, Rotary Club of Bibwewadi, told The Indian Express in an email interview.
Among the few that have benefited from Project Asmita include Anjuman Islam School, Anjuman’s Islam’s Polytechnic for girls, St Andrew’s Girls School, Ramrajya Highschool Bibwewadi Epiphany School and others. “The focus of the project is to make teenage girls aware of their health and other rights, particularly those related to sexual harassment and abuse faced by them physically and on social media,” Pandya said.
The modules are taught in the form of videos in Marathi, Gujarati, and Hindi related to gynaecological guidance and myths related to menstruation, health and nutrition, rights against physical abuse and exploitation and how to tackle social media abuse. In the initial phase, the focus was on gynaecological health, the distribution of sanitary pads, and the nutrition of girls by conducting haemoglobin tests and providing iron tablets. But while executing this project, several schoolgirls shared their stories of sexual abuse. Hence as part of the project, they decided to train young girls in self-defence and how to fight back.
The modules are taught in the form of videos in Marathi, Gujarati, and Hindi related to gynaecological guidance and myths related to menstruation, health and nutrition, rights against physical abuse and exploitation and how to tackle social media abuse. The information is also provided to the girls in printed booklets containing crisp text messages and eye-catching graphics that make comprehension easy. Special attention is given to terminology and language in the educational material so that there is no discomfort in using it even in orthodox environments.
“So far 80,000 young girls have been educated till now, out of which many have come forward and reported cases of abuse,” Pandya said. Leaders from a few institutions informed coordinators of Project Asmita that previously they did not receive any child sexual abuse complaints but girls have started opening up about the violence and abuse they suffer, Pandya added.