J’khand names roads after educated girls

RANCHI: Sumita Bhattacharya, Baisakhi Gope, Mani Mala Sikdar and Sunita Gope are no legends. They are not even political or social leaders. But if you visit their village in Potka block of Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district, you will find lanes named after them.

Juri, the non-descript village 150 km from here, has begun the practice to promote girls’ education. The village, with 600 families, has no high school and children have to travel 3 km to reach a high school and 30 km to go to a college. There is only one government middle school where five teachers teach 300 students.

Sumita Bhattacharya, 23, was the first woman chosen by the village’s committee and a Sumita Bhattacharya ‘gali’ was dedicated to her as she is the most educated woman in the village.

“I had never expected that any lane would be named after my name as I have done nothing remarkable for the society. But the act gave me immense encouragement and confidence for my higher education,” Bhattacharya, pursuing MA in history from Women’s College, said.

She said girls have to struggle for higher studies. “There is no college in the nearby area. We have to travel to Jamshedpur where there is no direct communication from the village,” Bhattacharya, who wants to become a teacher, said.

The village has a literacy rate of 68.39%, higher than the state average of 66.41%. After Bhattacharya, the committee chose three other girls — Mani Mala Sikdar, who is a masters student, and undergraduates Baisakhi Gope and Sunita Gope — and dedicated three lanes after them.