She cupped a few broken pieces of jaggery in her hand and ran around the neighborhood going door to door, exclaiming, “I will go to school again.”
This moment of pure joy came after months of struggle and fear of losing a prized possession — her future.
With the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacting the education sector, many girls like Radha were on the brink of losing the opportunity to be educated. The pre-existing gender gap was said to have widened due to an increased number of drop-outs by female students during this period. India was said to experience an estimated loss of close to 10 million girls during this time.