Jiyo Beti - Anuradha Beniwal's initiative to empower the girls of India
Chess is such a powerful tool when used in the right manner by right individuals. We have seen examples of how chess has transformed entire communities. Marottichal, a village in Kerala, overcame alcohol addiction because of chess. Up in the north Punjab Kesari is fighting the drug issue among youngsters by introducing them to chess. In this article we bring to you the example of Anuradha Beniwal, a former national under-16 champion of India, who is using chess to transform the future of girls who come from financially poor background. Anuradha places her faith in the game of chess and believes that if these girls learn the sport, they will have a bright future and employment opportunities in the years to come. Read and be inspired!
Jiyo Beti - Empowering the girl child
By Anuradha Beniwal
A twenty days Chess Camp was conducted at Kanya Shala, a girls school from 1st to 8th standard in Chikodhra village, district Anand of Gujarat. It's government school with midday meal facilities. The administration of the school was very welcoming and supportive. The principal Vishnubhai sought permission from parents of the girls from 6th, 7th and 8th standard, to come early to school and attend one and half hour of chess and stay back an hour after school. The girls also came on the weekend for four hours. In total we did 40 hours of chess in fifteen days.
These girls come from an income group ranges between two thousand to fifteen thousand a month. Some of the parents are daily wage labourers, house maids and factory workers. It was't easy for some girls to get permission from homes as they also go to work with their parents, before and after school. But towards the end of 15 days, some girls started to stay back for chess lessons even if it meant a tiff with the parents, and that's what I consider a real success of our project! I used chess as a tool to enter the lives of these girls and empower them through this wonderful game. The girls learnt to sit, think and make decisions. They were making decisions of which move to make, face consequences and think again to make better moves. They learnt to make strategies and plan ahead to make their strategies successful. It was heartening to see so many girls to learn so quickly!
On the last day a tournament was conducted where we played five rounds and prizes were awarded to the winners. All parents were invited out of which only a few could come. The girl who won the tournament (Disha), wasn't given permission on the last day to come early, when she told her father that she had won the tournament he didn't believe it and came to the school to verify for himself!
Most of these girls don't finish even high school education and some are married after class eight. Our aim through Jiyo Beti is to help them go to college and not get married off at an early age. Through chess not only can we empower them to develop their reasoning skills but also help them to get jobs as chess coaches. Employment can help them a great deal to continue their education and delay their marriage!
We have given twenty chess sets, a demonstration board and some chess literature to the school which they will use to study chess further. Every Tuesday we will have a video lesson with the girls. One teacher who took this initiative to introduce chess in the school, Chhaya Upadhya has taken responsibility to continue chess lessons in the school. I will visit the school once again in July for 15 days. I have also tied up with a chess academy in Ahmedabad, where the girls can go once a month for free chess workshop.
After six months or a year some of these girls will be ready to teach chess, they will coach other girls in the school and Jiyo Beti will pay for the same. Once some of them get employment, the parents of other girls will be encouraged to send their girls to learn chess. We hope there will be less resistance if they see girls are making money as chess coaches. Even when they go to another school or get married, they can continue Jiyo Beti Chess Programme and create more chess coaches while we pay them. Some of them will later be chess champions and some will be employed by other chess academies and some will start their own chess academies!
About the author
Anuradha Beniwal is the former under-16 national champion of India. She belongs from Kheri Maham village (Maham tahsil) of Rohtak district in Haryana. She shifted to London to begin a chess coaching career, which continues till date. Recently she began with the Jiyo Beti initiative and has been travelling across India teaching chess in government schools and to girls who cannot afford a decent livelihood. Her aim is to empower the girl child through chess. She wrote a book named "Azaadi meri Brand" in Hindi which has been well received.
Anuradha needs some chess players who can visit the Kanya Shala in the Anand district, Gujarat and continue the work she has started. If you are keen on helping this initiative get in touch with Anuradha through her mail id: jiyobeti@gmail.com
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जन्मदिन विशेष : पूर्व नेशनल चैम्पियन अनुराधा बेनीवाल
@ 20/04/2020 by Niklesh Jain (hi) |