Covid-19 cloud over girl child education efforts

Vadodara: The ripple effect of economic slowdown owing to Covid-19 has reached even those working for noble causes, including the much-needed girl child education.
Ruing that donations for their cause have been hugely hit, a young woman from the city who supported education of thousands of poor girls along with her father, are blaming coronavirus for the poor show.
Nishita and her father Gulab Rajput have been supporting such poor girls’ education since nine years now.
They collect cheques from donors and directly submit these to schools and, in some cases, even the colleges where the girls study.
“Last year, we were given cheques amounting to Rs 70lakh by donors including those staying outside the city and even NRIs. We could pay fees of 6,250 girls with that amount. When we were aiming to push up the figures this year, that seems impossible now owing to the pandemic taking a toll on the economy,” said Gulab Rajput.
Rajput senior pointed out that besides individual’s finances being affected adversely, the other main reason for the immediate shortfall is that handsome donations that used to come from groups through inter coordination, has not been possible this time. “This is particularly true with NRI groups. But as they have promised help, we hope the funds come at a later stage,” he added.
Nishita, however, said that despite difficulties, some have not staved off donating for the greater cause and are giving cheques. “We have collected Rs 19lakh, while another Rs 13lakh is in the pipeline. When things settle, a group from US has assured of donating Rs 17 lakh,” she said, adding that senior citizens with limited source of income too have been regular donors.
“Some gave us lesser amounts this year, but did not defer paying,” she added.