Visit our mobile site

The Globe and Mail

Jump to main navigation
Jump to main content

News Search
Search Stock Quotes
Search The Web
by Google
Search People at canada411.ca
by Canada411.ca
Search Businesses at yellowpages.ca
by Yellowpages.ca
Search Jobs at eluta.ca
by eluta.ca

News

Breaking Caste

Inside an extraordinary school that gives India's Dalit girls a chance at a better life

Sudents of Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit Girls study in class and after hours in their classroom.

What do you want to know about the girls from our 'Breaking Caste' series?

A student studies on the hallway floor at the Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit Girls in Jamsaut, in India's eastern Bihar state.

Part 1: Remarkable school gives girls from the bottom of India's caste system new hope

Meet Sudha Varghese and her students

Sister Sudha Varghese at the Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit girls in Danapur, Bihar, India, which she founded.

Sudha Varghese talks about the school she founded to help Dalit girls

Poonam stands outside the Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit girls in Danapur, Bihar, India.

Poonam hopes to be a teacher so she can help other Dalit girls

Lakshmi stands outside the Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit girls in Danapur, Bihar, India.

Karate champion Lakshmi has come a long way from her Indian slum

Jyoti stands outside the Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit girls in Danapur, Bihar, India.

Jyoti, a Dalit girl, dreams of being a police officer

More from Breaking Caste
The Prerna Residential School for Mahadalit Girls is pictured in Danapur, in India's eastern Bihar state September 30, 2011.

Interactive: Explore Bihar state, the home of Sister Sudha's school for girls

More from Stephanie Nolen on gender issues in India
Women gather at a village well to draw drinking water at Kayla village, 65 km west of the Indian city of Ahmedabad, May 5, 2009.

Indian women now reporting more violent crime, study shows

Related news
Priyanka Roychoudury, 18, is a young New Delhi entrepreneur.

Barriers in India for women’s role in the work force

Related commentary

The moral vacuum of India’s middle class

The project

Stephanie Nolen with girls and women in Danapur, Bihar.

Stephanie Nolen: The goal is to see how far a Mushahar girl can go

Resources

Poonam's mother, Rajkumari, and her children in their village of Jamsaut in Bihar, India.

Further reading on Dalits and India’s caste system

Most Popular

News on the go

Download our totally redesigned Globe News app

Sign up for our politics newsletter