Football team, visually impaired singer shine as beneficiaries of Kanyashree

From forming an all-girls football team, to motivating a visually impaired girl student aspiring to be a singer, – Kanyashree has not only brought down the rate of school drop outs and child marriages, but infused confidence among girls to be self reliant.

Fifteen girls of Classes between IX and XII of Napara High School at Puncha in Purulia formed a football team. In the past two years, all the 15 girls have given a tough fight on the football field against all oppositions and reached to the top to gain the monicker of ‘Puncha Block Kanyashree Football team’.

Usha Mahato, a Class X student, who is one of the 15 players, said: “Our dream would have never seen the light of day had the state government not introduced the Kanyashree project. It infused self confidence among students like us and we fought to make our dreams come true instead of thinking of quitting school. Today, I really felt great after being invited to the stage of Kanyashree Divas.”

Dr Kunal Sardar, the physical education trainer of the school, who accompanied the students to the venue on Sunday, said that the team had also participated in the Subrata Cup and all the 15 students in the team no more need to fight to continue with their football practice as they know that now their future is quite secure.

Kolkata too has witnessed a remarkable fight given by a visually impaired girl student who passed Madhyamik with 86 per cent marks after studying in a normal school. Diya Roy currently is Class XI of Kamala Girls High School, with Arts stream, and aspires to be a singer. Her father said that many well-known English medium schools had denied her admission. Hence, they admitted Diya into a Bengali medium school.

“Though she has a long way to go, till now she has proved that she can compete with normal students and also proved that one can be successful even after studying in Bengali medium schools,” her father Dr Uday Shankar Roy said, adding that she takes lessons in singing from Pandit Ajay Chakraborty. Diya has also sung the score of popular television serial Tumi Asbe Bole and also performs in All India Radio. Diya suffers from retinal detachment and at most she can differentiate between day and night after wearing her spectacles. On Sunday, she performed Rabindra Sangeet on the dais of the Kanyashree Divas.