March 05, 2024
Introduction
Rural women in India are restricted by many societal barriers. They lack access to many resources, services, and assets such as basic education, healthcare, infrastructure, and proper sanitation. These women struggle every day of their lives to make it to the next day, and much of their labor usually goes unnoticed. In the absence of support from traditional banks, a handful of microfinance companies have enabled rural women to be self-reliant by providing basic education. In this blog, let us understand the importance of microfinance in providing microfinance education loans for rural families.
Importance of education
In today’s modern world, education is the only way out of poverty. Education creates more opportunities and choices for both men and women. However, it is more difficult for girls to pursue education than it is for boys. Even when girls want to study, they often lack support from their families because of traditional beliefs and lack of financial support. Here are the reasons why education is important for everybody:
- Education offers independence
- It enables people to make smart decisions and choices
- Builds self-confidence to speak more confidently
- Allows to build a reputation in the community/society
Impact of microfinance in educating Indian rural girls
Many microfinance organizations usually work with funding from other companies and NGOs to effectively reach remote villages in India and provide women with basic education. Few microfinance companies have been setting up SHGs (Self Help Groups) and providing them with micro-loans offering them an opportunity for education.
Many leading microfinance companies and NGOs are working closely together in the country to improve the literacy rate of women and provide these women with microfinance loans for education. Chaitanya, the fastest growing microfinance company in India has been helping women across various aspects to improve their lifestyles for many years now, some of our contributions include
- We are providing collateral-free loans to help women establish small-scale businesses across various states of India. The additional income generated from these businesses now enables them to provide their kids with quality education- a possibility that was previously beyond their limits.
- Over the past year, our CSR team has been actively involved in providing quality education by setting up tuition centers, both online and offline for underprivileged kids in Jharkhand. In the future, we look forward to extending this initiative to other areas as well.
Many other microfinance companies have focused on providing basic education to women in rural areas, which they usually lack. By concentrating on basic concepts of life such as:
- Infant health and nutrition
- Women’s sanitary health
- Family planning
- Preventing and dealing with common diseases
- How to start a small business with better sales and customer service practices
- Basic accounting to run a business
- How to use a loan wisely
- Savings strategies
Conclusion
All in all, education is the most basic and primary aspect of everybody’s life. And every girl deserves an education, microfinance is not just about the money, microfinance today is helping many women across the country by providing them with micro-loans and enabling them with opportunities to fulfill dreams – it might be education, or entrepreneurial skills, etc., to live a more sustainable and self-reliant life. Imagine a country where every girl is educated and independent, the micro-loans provided by microfinance institutions may be considered as one such stepping stone for making this dream a reality.
