Globally acclaimed Kanyashree emerges as saviour for girls from cash-strapped families

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's pet project Kanyashree, which has garnered worldwide recognition, has come as a boon to girls coming from economically challenged families, with aspirations of higher education.

Case in point, the project has helped the students of Muralidhar Girls' College to carry on with higher education. Around 125 students of the college got benefits of the project in 2016-17, while around 155 were benefitted in 2017-18 and around 240 in 2018-19.

"I come from a very modest background and there was a time when I did not know whether I could pursue my true passion, which is dance. After receiving Kanyashree, I gathered the courage to start a dance class and am happy to see my life getting transformed," said Bishakha Das, daughter of a domestic help. She is pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication at Muralidhar Girls' College.

"Receiving Kanyashree in 2017 has greatly helped me in meeting my education cost as I come from a poor family," said Nasifa Ali, a former student of Muralidhar who is now pursuing a Master's degree in Applied Psychology.

"I could buy instruments after receiving the money from Kanyashree scholarship in 2019, which has been of great help to a folk music aspirant like me," said Sonali Haldar, an inter-collegiate music winner, and a student of Arts stream in Muralidhar Girls' College.

"In 2019 I received a Kanyashree scholarship and the amount has been helpful towards my education expenses," maintained Tuktuki Ruidas, a student in general stream at Muralidhar College, who is also a running enthusiast.

"Today when I see my students I feel immense pride and happiness that many unsure and underconfident young women have been transformed through this institute's continued efforts and Kanyashree into confident and bright women of the future. The college, as many would know, did not earlier have the Science stream but coming from a background in Chemistry, I thought the knowledge of science was very integral to women's education," said Kinjalkini Biswas, principal of the college, while paying her homage to Muralidhar Bandyopadhyay, educationist and visionary whose birthday was on Tuesday.

To mark the occasion, Kavita Singh, associate professor, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, gave a lecture on women empowerment.

Muralidhar Girls' College was initially the Ballygunge Uchho Balika Vidyalaya, which was set up in 1919. It was later converted to Muralidhar Girls' College in 1940, affiliated to The University of Calcutta.