Guwahati, 25 February 2021 : In an attempt to put an end to the never-ending cycle of concerns like dropout, low attendance in schools, marriage at an early age among the adolescent girls of Assam, Samagra Siksha Assam conducted over 15 workshops across the state to train teachers to win over these issues. The workshops were implemented by down town Charity Trust, promoters of Assam down town University (AdtU), under the project ‘Adolescent Training for Girl Students of Secondary Level’ that started from January 19, 2021. So far, around 2,500 principals and representative teachers from Darrang, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Goalpara, Hojai, Morigaon, Nagaon, Sivasagar and Tinsukia districts were trained on the topic by master trainers Deepali Borthakur, faculty member and Academic Officer of Assam down town University and Jahnavi Dutta. The primary objective of the training programme is to acquaint the teachers of government schools with topics that need to be discussed with adolescent girls as an awareness initiative.

“Specific inputs are essential to improve their self-esteem and self-confidence in order to make the adolescent girls acquainted with the status and problems related to women” said Deepali Borthakur. “Also, discussions, debates and orientation on fitness, sanitation, menstruation and related physiological understanding which are not being covered as part of the usual curriculum, help students to explore a cosmos beyond their textbooks. This training is an attempt in that direction” she added.

Under the project, a book for girl students of Class VIII-XII – ‘Kixuri’ – has also been published; the book has been written by faculty members  of Humanities of Social Sciences of AdtU and edited by Deepali Borthakur. The book deals with subjects like gender equality, child rights, menstrual health and hygiene among others.