After her father had no money to send for higher studies, 19-year-old Neetu Sharma could have accepted the harsh reality and given up on her dream of becoming a teacher. But Neetu, who hails from a small city of Rajasthan, didn’t lose hope and started exploring other options. To fund her studies, Neetu turned a milkmaid and started to deliver milk door to door.
Neetu wakes up at 4:00 am and collects milk from houses in Bhandor Khurd village and brings that to Bharatpur city on a motorcycle. Neetu’s elder sister, Sushma, dropped out of school to help her in milk delivery.
After completing her milk delivery job, she goes to her relative’s house, changes clothes and goes for the two-hour computer classes by Rajasthan State Certificate Course in Information Technology that begins at 10 am.
Neetu returns from her class in evening and goes for the second round of milk delivery at 5:00 pm. Neetu and Sushma return home around 7.30 pm. The daily struggle began Neetu’s father asked her to discontinue studies after she passed class 8 exam. “We don’t have money for your education,” Sushma’s father Banwari Lal Sharma told her. But Neetu wants to continue her study to become a school teacher.
Presently, Neetu is pursuing BA course from correspondence. She had completed her class 10 and class 12 from Government Senior Secondary School in Maharajsar, scoring 56 per cent and 58 per cent respectively. After being a graduate, she plans to pursue Bachelor of Education. With Rs 5 every litre sold, she earns around Rs 12,000 a month after discounting the expenses on fuel for bike etc.
“I think there’s nothing that a girl cannot do. When I began riding a bike, people in the village mocked me. My father dissuaded me from doing what I do. ‘It’s not right for the girls to roam around like this,’ he said, but I was determined to continue my education and find funds for it,” Neetu was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Neetu, who has five sisters, two are married, and a brother, says she will stop delivering milk after two of her sisters get married.
HELP POURS IN FOR BHARATPUR GIRL WHO TOOK UP MILK SUPPLY TO FUND STUDIES
Organisations came forward to help the family of 19-year-old Neetu Sharma after Hindustan Times published a report on Friday that highlighted how she took to milk supply to fund her education and raise money for her sisters’ wedding.
The Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation gave the family a cheque of Rs 15,000 for purchase of items for the grocery shop that Neetu’s elder sister and mother run in Bhador Khurd village near Bharatpur. The foundation also donated a computer to the family.
