Rural teens go clubbing

Rani Jatav of Titora village of Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh passed 12th exams this year. She wanted to pursue her study further but her family refused. Her parents expressed the concern that if they allow her to get enrolled in a college; then she will have to travel 12 kms every day by bus to the college. They were afraid that it was unsafe for a girl to travel such a long distance alone. Rani is the eldest among nine sisters and has no brother. Her parents work as daily wage labourers.

Rani always dreamt of becoming a teacher but now found her ambition being crushed under the cruel feet of destiny. It was then that she came to know about Adolescent Club in her village. She shared her problem with the Club members to seek a possible solution. Another girl also came forward and shared a similar problem. The club members visited their houses and counselled their parents to encourage the young girls to get educated and stand on their own feet. Finally, parents of both the girls agreed to send their daughters to college. Chaya, another member associated with the Adolescent Club says, “We have decided that in case of any problem or unfavourable circumstance, we will share it with the group and will face the problem in a united manner”.

This is an example of teenagers seeking possible solutions to their problems by uniting into groups. Such Adolescent/Teen Clubs have been formed with the help of UNFPA by Samarthan in Sehore and by Nehru Yuva Kendra in the villages of Mandla and Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. Through these clubs, adolescent boys and girls are taught reproductive health issues.

During the adolescence period, children undergo various physical and mental changes. If they don’t have problem information about how to deal with such changes they many a times get into serious troubles. Attraction to the opposite sex and myths and misconceptions associated with physical structure and the changes are commonly observed among teenagers. So by organizing joint meetings, disseminating booklets/handouts about adolescent sexual and reproductive health and organizing capacity building training, adolescent groups are empowered to face the challenges. While adolescent girls are keener to talk about menstrual cycle, physical changes, personal hygiene, etc; the dialogues of boys are focused on the Night Fall, upcoming beard-moustache, addictive, voice heaviness, etc. In Jhabua and Mandla career counselling is also being provided through the Teen Clubs.

With the formation of these groups and clubs, youths seem very excited about changes associated with adolescence. Vimal Soni and Hemant Parmar of Hirapur village of Sehore district says, "Now there is no incidents of vandalism in the village. Once a village boy teased a teenager, the boys group convinced him to apologise for his anti-social action." They believe that attraction towards the opposite sex is common, but it does not give the authority to tease others.

Manish Parmar of Mhoda village of Jhabua says, "We organise two to four Teen club meetings in a month. Teenagers have prejudice and misconception about sex and sexuality. Teen clubs helped us to get rid of it. It resulted in enhancing the level of confidence among adolescents and a decline in eve-teasing cases. So far we have not succeeded in putting a complete check on child marriages; but Teen Clubs focuses on education and life skills development."

The 18-year-old Neetu Jharia of Sarai Tola in Mandla district says, "Teen Club helped adolescent girls in the healthy development of life skill education. Meetings with the teenagers help them in removing their misconceptions. They have become so much confident that they can talk openly about the problem. We also encourage them to share their problems with the parents."

Rahul Yadav, a resident of village Jethra Maltehri of Mandla district says, "Through Teen clubs we have succeeded in preventing three child marriages. The adolescent boys in the surrounding villages are also aware of the fact that the village does not have any eve teasing cases. Meera Patel, Program Officer NYKS Mandla says, “Teen Club not only supports in grooming up the personality of adolescent but also contribute in development of the areas. The energy of the youths is diverted in the right direction."

Deputy Director of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, VS Pandey says, "Rural youths have now become competent and can handle problems associated with adolescence confidently. It aims at promoting the overall development of adolescents. The biggest challenge of adolescence is the lack of reliable information about physical and mental changes that takes place during this period of life. Teen Clubs have emerged as a competent group to show the right path to the adolescents and youths."