CHANDIGARH: After the ‘Lipstick Under my Burkha’, now another kind of Burkha is taking Jatland by storm. A campaign—High-tech under Burkha—has been launched to encourage women from the Muslim community to learn computers.In the Muslim-dominated villages of Mewat district, women are being encouraged to join social networking platforms. The area includes 20-odd villages out of the 100 adopted by former President Pranab Mukherjee under his ‘Smart Gram’ programme.
Around 28 women have joined the computer classes, spearheaded by two women—Shabnam and Vaseema—along with ex-sarpanch of Bibipur, Sunil Jaglan.“This campaign was started about a month back in Rozkamave village. We go to each and every household in the village, and try to convince men and women that women should be educated about their rights. In most of these villages, women drop out after Class VIII and are not even allowed to use their mobile phones. For them, learning computers was a distant dream,’’ says Jaglan.
Shabnam, a nursing student, and Vaseema, who has studied only till Class VIII, came forward to help Jaglan to convince the villagers. “The men have understood that women need to be empowered for the family to progress,” says Shabnam.