Launched in July 2013 by KHPT, the intervention aims to reduce HIV risk among adolescent girls in Bijapur and Bagalkot Districts by increasing their rates of secondary school enrolment and completion.

Context

India’s commitment to realizing universal education has been demonstrated through its landmark Right to Education Act and flagship Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme. Yet serious challenges remain in terms of retention, quality, and equity in education. Aggregate indications of progress conceal disparities in education quality and attainment that are compounded by gender, geography, caste, and class.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of adolescent girls belonging to scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) families in the districts of Bijapur and Bagalkot in northern Karnataka. The likelihood of SC/ST girls in these districts completing secondary school is sharply diminished by poverty, stigma and traditions of early marriage or dedication as devadasi sex workers before they turn 18.

Intervention

Samata will reach 69 high schools and 605 teachers, serving approximately 3,600 adolescent girls from villages in Bijapur and Bagalkot Districts. The project is designed for a range of stakeholders, from adolescent girls and boys, their parents, schools and teachers, to the wider community, state and district officials and local media. It focuses on the most proximate structural issues impeding girls’ access to education and academic performance, including:

• family poverty
• gender discrimination
• the traditions of early marriage and devadasi dedication
• boys’ actions and attitudes towards girls
• inadequate measures to meet girls’ needs at schools
• inadequate measures by community authorities and education officials to enforce girls’ right to education

Resources

Publications

• Developing a Mental Health Measurement Strategy to Capture Psychological Problems among Lower Caste Adolescent Girls in Rural, South India
• Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among 13–14 year old adolescent girls in North Karnataka, South India: a cross-sectional study
• Education, poverty and "purity" in the context of adolescent girls’ secondary school retention and dropout: A qualitative study from Karnataka, southern India
• Correlates of school dropout and absenteeism among adolescent girls from marginalized community in north Karnataka, south India
• The barriers and enablers to education among scheduled caste and scheduled tribe adolescent girls in northern Karnataka, South India: A qualitative study
• Supporting adolescent girls to stay in school, reduce child marriage and reduce entry into sex work as HIV risk prevention in north Karnataka, India: protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Reports

• Know me: Understanding the vulnerabilities of adolescent girls 
• Regional, gender and social disparities in secondary school attainment in Karnataka, South India 
• State conference on Keeping Girls in Secondary School: Successes and Challenges

Evidence briefs

• Samata intervention to increase secondary school completion and reduce child marriage among adolescent girls from marginalised communities
• Taking Stock: Secondary education in Bagalkot and Bijapur districts in northern Karnataka
• Barriers and Enablers to Education: A qualitative exploration of factors among communities in northern Karnataka

Intervention briefs

• Mentoring adolescent boys to reduce gender-based violence 
  
• Fostering adolescent girl leaders
• Schools become safer and friendly for girls
• Creating village champions for girls’ education

Posters and presentations

• Know me: A self-exploratory exercise to understand vulnerabilities of adolescent girls – A northern Karnataka experience
• Samata poster

Videos

• On Our Own Two Feet - a video about the barriers to girls' completing high school
• On Our Own Two Feet - Kannada Version
• Like a Banyan Tree - 15 minute documentary captures progress on the project two years after a first round of filming
• Like a Banyan Tree - with Kannada subtitles
• Samata - Equality 7minute documentary summarises progress on the project two years after a first round of filming also available in Kannada
• The Awadhi Family - a film about efforts to end discrimination against girls, as one family experiences them
• Aarti and Bharati - a short video about twin sisters experience of the threat of under-age marriage
• The Chavan Family - a film highlighting the importance of parental support for eduction

Programme tools

• Know your schemes: An information manual on government programmes for school going girls - manual
• Understanding Gender: A training module for teachers - manual
• Taking Stock: Secondary education in Bagalkot and Bijapur districts in northern Karnataka - survey

Infographics

• Celebrating the Girl Child on International Day of the Girl Child 2015

Other resources

• Samata implementation design
• Samata brochure
• Supporting adolescent girls to stay in school, reduce child marriage and reduce entry into sex work as HIV prevention in north Karnataka, India - study protocol
• Taking stock of secondary education in Bijapur and Bagalkot districts, Karnataka - summary
• Barriers and Enablers to Education: A qualitative exploration of factors among communities in in northern Karnataka - research update
• My Story: I met a girl from rural Karnataka who has fought all odds to pursue her education - blog
• Engaging boys to reduce violence against girls - blog

News

• 'Get Girls to School' campaign
• KHPT marks International Day of the Girl Child 2013 with Samata
• A gallery of photographs of the 2013 IDGC
• KHPT invited to speak at UNESCO in Paris
• Conferenece on educating adolescent girls in Karnataka State, India
• A gallery of photographs of the conference on girls education in rural India

Samata newsletters

• Samata Samachara - March 2015 
• Samata Samachara - July 2015 
• Samata Samachara - December 2015
• Samata Samachara - May 2016 
• Samata Samachara - November 2016
• Samata Samachara - December 2016
• Samata Samachara - February 2017