Our Journey

Trutiya Ratna was founded based on the lived experiences of caste, class, gender, language, and region of the founding members since their childhood when they were enrolled in educational institutions for schooling and higher education. Our team consists of research scholars, first-generation learners, and higher education aspirants who have been working in the field of education and promoting critical consciousness among youths from marginalised communities. 

Trutiya Ratna aims to enable children and youths from the remotest areas in Bihar, empowering them to continue their education, lead the social change process, and create an inclusive and diverse community. 

Our journey began during the first wave of the pandemic when many homeless families were made to struggle for their survival due to the COVID-19-imposed lockdown. Trutiya Ratna supported approximately 80 such families with one month's ration in Patna, Bihar. The foundation of Trutiya Ratna's work was laid in 2020 wherein we started to provide educational support that includes basic reading, writing, numeracy, and socio-emotional learning skills to children from marginalised communities. Although the Bihar Government had launched online classes, we realised that not all students from slums and villages had access to digital devices or the internet. It was then that the Trutiya Ratna team approached youths from the community to provide educational support to these children as they had been missing out on school lessons, were starting to forget whatever they had learnt in school, and were going back to begging, child labour, rag picking, substance abuse, etc. 

Trutiya Ratna has also been supporting the education of first-generation learners from marginalised communities by providing free tuition and literacy skills (information, media & digital literacy) to youths, setting up libraries, providing mentorship for higher education, supporting youths with the application process, with the admission fees and accommodation charges, encouraging girls and persons with disabilities to opt for higher education, and ensuring school admissions in 4 districts of Bihar viz. Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Jamui, and Patna. We have been also working with grassroots-level activists to prevent early child marriages which are very rampant among marginalised communities of Bihar. We have also been promoting artivism; a way to express our everyday reality through poetry, art/drawing, and songs among our community educators, students and youths. We have also been creating awareness among our youths and community educators through discussions on several important issues such as child rights, sexuality, gender, disability, caste, class, masculinity, consent, etc.

Mission 

Trutiya Ratna strives to end all forms of discrimination based on caste, class, gender, sexuality, disability, age, language, and ethnicity. Our group’s mission is to create a safe space for all individuals to work towards Gender equality, Caste abolition, Accessibility for all, Knowledge building, Equitable access to all resources, and Empowerment of women, children, sexual minorities, and persons with disabilities. We envision a world where systemic hierarchies are no longer a barrier to individual and community development. We aim to achieve our mission through anti-discriminatory practices, inclusive policies, and with dignity.  

Impact

1. We have been able to impact 200+ children through our library and education programme, out of which 63% are girls. 

2. In three years, we have enrolled 150+ first-generation learners in school.

3. We have four community libraries which we have named after our anti-caste leaders. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Community Library in Aurangabad has 415 books, Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Community Library in Jamui has 465 books, Ambedkar-Phule Community Library in Jehanabad has 638 books, and Savitri-Fatima Community Library in Patna has 398 books. These books include storybooks on STEM topics, storybooks in general, law books, reasoning books, NEET preparation books, books for the CLAT UG exam, IIT preparation books, NCERT books, books for general competitive exams, Hindi and English literature, storybooks in Hindi and English, as well as books on science, history, and arts, and 20+ educational games. All our libraries are managed by women from marginalised communities. 

4. Our community educators have successfully re-enrolled 50+ students who dropped out of schools in their villages and slum areas by continuously working with their families and with the school authorities. We have collaborated with professionals to support and train our educators in English, Math, Storytelling, and Fine Arts.

5. We have generated employment for 40+ youths, out of which 60% are women. 

6. Our youths have been shortlisted for Interviews for the Master's programmes at TISS, IIT Gandhinagar, and Azim Premji University. One student received an offer letter from IIT Gandhinagar and APU. He has successfully enrolled in APU and is currently pursuing his Master’s degree from there. Another student secured admission to Delhi University for their Bachelor’s programme. 

7. We have mentored and supported more than 20 students in the past years for UG and PG entrance examinations for central universities. We have helped them with application fees, registration fees, travel fares, books, and mess fees. 

8. In the year 2024, we collaborated with 22 volunteers from different domains to provide support in preparation for SHRESHTA NETS, CUET UG, APU, and NCET exams through online classes to 6 students from marginalised communities. We have also provided support to 5 youths for filling out the Detailed Application Form as part of the TISS Post-Graduate admission process. 

9. We have also been able to prevent the child marriage of an adolescent girl with the support of local activists who have been working on the issue for a very long time. Additionally, we have indirectly prevented child marriages of 50+ girls by promoting free and inclusive education and enrolling them in schools. 

10. We were able to wean 40+ children from begging by enrolling them in education programmes.

11. We collaborated with and sensitised  5 government schools and 25 teachers towards promoting inclusive education.

12. We have conducted 144 Bal Sabhas to date. Bal Sabha is a democratic body comprising children and young adolescents wherein they independently organise meetings and take decisions collectively in the best interests of the group. 

13. We have been able to sensitise 5 local governance bodies to inclusive education. 

14. We have networked with  50+ volunteers, including lawyers, academicians, development sector professionals, doctors, etc. for conducting various programmes such as mentoring for higher education, preventing child marriage, sensitising families on different social issues, writing proposals, medical workshops, helping us build and organise our libraries, fundraising, etc.

15. We believe in gender equality and realise the importance of education for women and girls. Three teachers associated with Trutiya Ratna who had dropped out of school were encouraged and supported to enroll again and prepare for their examinations.  Some of them could not complete their education because of being married and bearing children at an early age. We provided them with all the necessary support we could such as books, admission fees, and English and Math classes. It has instilled in them the desire and confidence to aspire for a better future. 

16. We have been providing educational resources to 200+ youths and children across four districts of Bihar through our libraries.

17. We have also collaborated and held sessions with child-rights experts and other experts to generate awareness and sensitivity on child rights,  caste, class, gender, disability, masculinity, sexuality, mental health, education system, digital security, etc. 

Recognitions 

1. Our work has been featured and recognized in Dalit History Month 2022 by Project Mukti. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc2dwwOvwRc/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

2. We have been featured in The Swaddle story titled, 'How Community Education Collectives Are Challenging Existing and Increasing Educational Inequality'. https://theswaddle.com/how-community-education-collectives-are-challenging-existing-and-increasing-educational-inequality/

3. We were invited to the 1st Ayyankali conference organised by the Samyak Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (SCIR), Nalanda Academy. https://twitter.com/nalanda_wardha/status/1506554934355193859?s=28&t=2T6EukxOIlPiwhQW_aARwA

Challenges

We have been facing many challenges in continuing our work. Our community educators, particularly female educators, have had to and continue to face sexism and discouragement while teaching and promoting girls' education among marginalised communities. It has also been a challenge to pay honorariums to our hardworking community educators due to the lack of funds. The lack of basic infrastructure is also a major hindrance in organising our work. Due to the lack of funds, we are unable to rent bigger spaces and even purchase amenities like chairs, tables, fans, bookshelves, amongst other necessary items. We also lack ICT resources like laptops/desktops/smartphones essential for providing quality education to the students. Our students face challenges most of the time because of a lack of access to technology. The world is going digital but technology has still not reached the majority of the population, especially people from marginalised communities. 

So far, we have been able to continue our work with community support. We have faith in our community that they will continue to support our work towards paying back to the community and improving the educational status of marginalised communities in Bihar. However, while community support is essential to our work, further funding and assistance would help us to continue to do our work more effectively and to extend its reach as well.

Annual Utilisation of Funds

1. Rs 75,000 will be paid towards library rental.

2. Rs 5,000 will be paid towards maintenance of the libraries.

3. Rs 540,000 will be paid as staff honorarium.

4. Rs 60,000 will be utilised for excursion visits.

5. Rs 10,000 will be utilised towards payment of application fees for higher education entrance exams (CUET UG & PG, NCET, APU) and registration fees for universities.

6. Rs 7,000 will be utilised for purchasing books for the preparation for entrance exams and for internet recharges for the students to study online.

7. Rs 100,000 will be utilised towards purchasing annual school kits and monthly school supplies for children attending government schools.

Future Plans

1. To set up 2 new community libraries

2. Introducing a Feminist Fellowship Programme for marginalised women

3. To support/mentor at least 10 Students for the CUET-UG and CUET-PG exams

4. To support/mentor at least 10 students for admission to Navodya Vidyalaya, Sainik Schools, and for the SHRESHTA-NETS exam

5. To support the school education of 250+ students

6. Expanding and Strengthening Bal Sabhas

7. To start a Mental Health Support Program for children, women, and youths

8. To start our organisation's website

9. To apply for 12A and 80G registration and certificate

10. To collaborate with NGOs to organise sessions on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Human rights, Leadership Development, Women Empowerment, etc.

11. To organise programmes/camps to promote higher education in rural areas of Bihar in collaboration with Government Schools and other NGOs

Child Privacy and Consent  

We ensure that the privacy of a child is maintained by not uploading their photos directly into the public domain. We believe it will be a violation of their right to privacy and consent. Therefore, we make sure that we either click photos from behind or hide/blur the children's faces while sharing their photos with anyone, including group members, and on social media/public platforms.

You can write to us at trutiyaratna@gmail.com for any queries regarding our initiatives and/or funding. 

Check out our work on social media platforms:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079010135398

Twitter: @TrutiyaRatna

Instagram: @trutiya_ratna