Program Title: “Education will light up our villages and lead the way for others”
Module IV – Understanding and Reducing Vulnerabilities
Location: Multipurpose Training Center, Singarapettai-Uthangarai, Tamil Nadu
Dates: 10th, 11th and 12th May 2025
Partner Organizations: WELFARE Trust, Sanjeevi Trust, ROAD Society, SPRING Trust, Gold Trust
Resource Person: P. Dhanalakshmi,
Youth Participants: 35 (Male – 12, Female – 23)
The participants who attended the youth capacity building training in Uthangarai discovered that vulnerabilities of the poor are not limited to socio-economic hardships but a systemic caste discrimination which is still visibly practised in their communities. About 35 youth from SC/ST communities took part in Basic Module IV training on Understanding and Reducing Vulnerabilities and analysed social issues that make them more vulnerable such as alcohol addiction, caste discrimination, early marriage of girls etc. The training space became a site of deep introspection, where youth began to see their personal struggles within the larger context of systemic inequality.
Ms. Dhanalakshmi, an experienced social educator, inspired the youth by connecting local realities to wider social movements of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Periyar, and Savitri Bai Phule who struggled against caste and gender-based oppression.
It is a big challenge for the vulnerable communities accessing quality education because of the socio-economic conditions. The participants expressed that access to quality is a distant dream in their life, though some of them have come a hard way in pursuing higher education. Right to Education (RTE) guarantees access to quality education to the economically disadvantaged in our country, but it is only a distant reality for these vulnerable communities. In spite of the challenges they face, they expressed a desire for higher education, including professional aspirations such as pursuing MBBS.
At the end of the training, youth expressed that they would form organizing study circles and encourage others to pursue with quality education. One young participant aptly summarized the collective sentiment: “We may have come from broken roads and dark houses, but with education and unity, we can light up our villages and lead the way for others.”
Premkumar D
Facilitator, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry
Social Inclusion and Democracy Unit