Literacy programme brings more than just cosmetic changes to girls’ lives

Thanks to vocational training, maids are now working as beauticians.

SUKKUR: Not too long ago, Erum used to vigorously scrub grease out of utensils with copious amounts of detergent, but fate had something better in store for her - now she gently applies skin care creams to girls’ faces.

“I was born into a poor family and had to work as a maid in two houses to support my parents,” Erum told The Express Tribune. “Though I used to earn Rs800 after breaking my back the entire month, I was still glad that I was of some help to my parents.”

Erum is among several hundred girls who joined the National Rural Support Programme’s adult literacy centre and after completing a six-month literacy course, received vocational training for two months to become beauticians. “I never thought about becoming a beautician because the training costs an arm and a leg,” she said. “Thanks to the adult literacy programme, not only can I work as a beautician, but I can also read and write Urdu as well as English.”



Now Erum is working at a beauty parlour and earning enough to support her entire family.

The programme has also changed the life of another girl, Sanobar, whose father runs a small grocery shop and earns too little to support her as well as her five siblings. “Like other illiterate and poor girls of the area, I also used to work as a maid to support my family.” She added that she used to face humiliation and would also be harassed occasionally. Then someone told her about the adult literacy programme and changed her life for the better.

Once she completed the course, she was awarded a certificate and a beauty kit to start work. “I am working at a beauty parlour and at my home and I’m earning much more than I used to. My neighbours used to look down on me, but they have lot of respect for ‘Sanobar the beautician’.”

Like the other girls, Noor-e-Sahar also used to work as a maid and earned between Rs300 and Rs400 per month but she also joined the programme.



“Now I am capable of working as a beautician on my own. My life has become so much better - very few people have respect for maids and most treat them like slaves,” she said. “I would like to give a message to all the girls of my age who are illiterate and working as maids to join the adult literacy programme. This will change their lives and they will start earning respectably.”

While talking to The Express Tribune, the girls’ teacher, Kanwal Ayub, said, “During the six-month programme the girls were taught English, Urdu and math. All people enrolled in the programme are between the ages of 15 and 17. They pick stuff up very quickly.”

Mohammad Owais, the monitoring officer of the programme, told The Express Tribune that the Institute of Rural Management provides the two-month vocational training. International Labour Organisation is providing technical assistance and the expenses are borne by the National Rural Support Programme. He added that so far 1,088 girls and 399 boys have completed the programme. A total of 767 girls and 192 boys have received vocational training, with 355 girls opting for tailoring, 246 for cosmetology, 150 for arts and crafts and 16 opted for appliqué.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2013.