nagpur favourable atmosphere and right opportunity can help a person achieve something in life several housewives and young women from gittikhadan slums who wanted to learn some skills and become selfreliant have been provided this chance by an ngo working in the field of education these women most of who have studied only till secondary school would be soon eligible to get diplomas from the states technical education board sankalp education society which runs a college at wadi has opened a centre in the locality initially courses in beauty culture and fashion technology would be offered here later the women would be given more options like computer courses seemingly a small step this centre has opened doors of opportunities for many women in the area rasika gaikwad who had to drop out of a fashion designing course after marriage now wants to go back to learning this skill since my twoyearold son will start going to school i would get time to do something to contribute to the familys income she says komal gedam 21 could not study beyond class xii now after learning some skills at this centre she plans to make it big in the world of fashion initially the ngo members had a tough time convincing these women to realize their dreams reluctant husbands hesitant women and rigid mindsets posed a big problem from doortodoor counselling to conducting group meetings we did everything in the past few months to change this we told them that they can better options than working as housemaids to earn a living and how this could improve the lives of their children we also told them that it was a free course and the state government would be giving them scholarships we now have 120 women registered with us said project coordinator prashant hande several girls from here are not educated beyond class x their life was direction less or lacking identity but now many of them have also enrolled with us said centre coordinator chitra hande since there was no space to conduct classes the society zeroed in on a community hall where only religious programmes were allowed the hall authorities have granted temporary permission for conducting classes the centres location also ensures that women feel safe coming here said chitra president of the communitys women wing pramila patil believes that the independence thus gained would help these women earn their rightful place in society most of the men here harass their wives only because they are the only earning member in the family however they would now start respecting these women she said