WEST BENGAL: Pulak Roy Chowdhury, a headmaster in Hingalganj, a nondescript town in South 24-Parganas district of West Bengal, has initiated tailoring training for young women, most of who are educationally qualified but failed to secure a job. Among the 30 women who have enrolled for the training, four are postgraduates and four are graduates.
The women are being trained to add creativity using their educational knowledge and turn their products into brands in their own rights, in the local market. “There are many in the area who are jobless. After completing higher studies, young women are directionless about what to do next. They belong to economically weaker sections of the society and have educated themselves with much hardship. There are homemakers who want to supplement the family income. The idea is to train them to be eligible to make their own product. It will help them earn a living gradually,’’ said Roy Chowdhury, the headmaster of Kanaknagar SD Institution, who spends over Rs 40,000 for the training initiative.
The training is a joint venture between the school and Mom Sundarban Society, which was created to work on empowering women in the area. Most of the women working with Roy are former students. Some have joined the venture to meet their financial crisis.
“There are some women whose husbands are sick or work in other states,” said Roy. These women have started making masks and bags of all kinds, ranging from backpacks to shopping bags. “We do not want to create only labour. Our goal is to make these young women as entrepreneurs. These women are adding their creativity skill to make it as a brand in the market. They should not be the ones who would cut and stitch while middlemen will come and walk away with the profit,’’ said Roy. The training session for them is held six days a week from 10.30am to 4pm.
The women recently underwent training to learn how to manufacture jewellery using natural products. “They will also make wrist-bands with seeds, for festivals like Rakshabandhan,” said Roy.
Twelve of the women formed a self-help group, a village-based financial intermediary body that cater products to government and private bodies as well. They are also holding workshops and training sessions at my school to teach students so that they can start their own venture after stepping out of the institution completing their education.
Sumita Kayal (25), a postgraduate in English, has enrolled in the training. “I used to teach English to students in the area for the past two years. But now no one comes for tuition. Since the schools are closed, many of the parents think the children don’t need tuition. I have had no source to earn money. Once the training is over, I will not only be able to meet my expenses but also help my father,” said Sumita.
The tailoring training started with six machines and an initial investment of `80,000. Roy had contributed more than 50 per cent of the investment. Monira Khatun (22), a graduate in Bengali said, “I was an intern in a consultancy firm. When I heard about the tailoring training initiative I did not think twice,” she said.