Pramilla Chaturvedi

Middle age education for women
Not to be confused with Pramila Dandawate.
The education for the girl child was still uncommon in India during the twenties and thirties of the last century. Boys were given preferential treatment. Girls were at best semi literate. The concepts of adult education, self education or middle life education were yet to take root.The overall literacy rate for women In India in 1947 was barely 6% In this regard, the example set by Pramilla Chaturvedi, a house wife, was indeed path breaking.
The life of Pramilla Chaturvedi (11 Sep 1926 - 6 Oct 2006) showcases a positive illustration of adult and continuous education for women in North India.
Early life
Born in Khudia camp in Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, Pramilla spent her childhood at various places in central India. Her father Kalika Prasad Chaturvedi was a contractor of civil works. She also spent sometime at their family village in Sikandarpur in Farukhabad District of Uttar Pradesh. While at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh with her parents, Pramilla started her education in Saraswati Putri Shala. She studied there till class two. Her father then shifted his family to Harsi in Gwalior District. She had school education there for a year. Kalika Prasad was a staunch nationalist and a Gandhian. Pramilla and other children all grew up on an atmosphere of freedom struggle. They all sang patriotic songs and went round the neighbourhood holding Congress flag and shouting slogans. While still in class three she was taken out from school as the girls were not encouraged to study in those days. Determined to study, she continued education from home at Morar in Gwalior. She worked very hard. Her brother Surendra used to draw books for her from the libraries. Babu Lal Sharma ‘Prem’, her tutor, played a prominent role in coaching guide her for the said examinations. She qualified in Visharad and Sahitya Ratna examinations of Sahitya Sammelan with distinction. She chose Sur Sagar as the main topic for her masters degree.
She married Abinash Chandra Chaturvedi an engineer, in 1946.
Adult Education
The second phase of her academic life commenced in 1961. She was keen to persue higher education in English as till then she had studied in Hindi. She was in Sitapur where her husband was posted as Executive Engineer. She started her education by enrolling for the High School examination, as is matriculation commonly known in North Indian States. Her household responsibilities included upbringing five children and two brothers-in-law. She was also required to attend to numerous relatives who came to Sitapur for opthalmic care. Abinash was away for more than fifteen nights every month touring vast areas under his jurisdiction.
Pramilla believed that the purpose of adult education was to change lives through education by helping individuals to reach their full potential in an ongoing effort to facilitate learning. The low literacy rate has had an adverse impact on family planning and population control.She did not take to giving sermons or lectures in ladies clubs or meetings. Rather than embark upon mere rhetorics, she decided to show a way for others by her own example. Subjects chosen by Pramilla for her higher studies were English, Education, Sociology, Economics, History and Asian Culture. She was meticulous and regular in her studies.
Abinash helped her a lot in preparing for the examinations. Her method of study was by way of preparing extensive notes. While he read out the text books and dictated the relevant portions, she would make copious notes. She could thus get used to write fast, something she had not done for a decade and half. She herself used the mnemonic device in the form of acronyms for better retention and memory enhancement.
The gap of more than 16 years and change in her marital status did not discourage her from continuing her education. Often seated alongside her in the examination hall were students decades younger to her. Their amused and bewildered looks did not dissuade her from her unrelenting quest for knowledge.
Pramilla held a view that education was the foremost need for empowerment of women in Indian Society. Further, she advocated the importance of acquiring topical and current academic contents. She grasped the relevance of communication capacity in English language as a major enabling asset not only for enhancing self confidence but to upgrading job gain capacity for the women in India. Towards that aim she demonstrated that meticulous time management and family support were prime requisites.
Pramilla continued with her studies to write Intermediate, BA and finally MA examinations.
Often asked by her sons and others to take up a job, Pramilla steadfastly declined the suggestion. She thought it would deprive many others whose need to find a livelihood was far greater.
Personality
An extremely beautiful lady, Pramilla was of short stature and soft spoken. Though shy, she had an affectionate and helpful nature. Fond of flowers and gardens, she had a passion for books and could be all by herseslf absorbed in work of fiction.
Death
Pramilla, aged 80, died at New Delhi on 6 October 2006.
She was survived by four sons and a daughter.
Contribution
Slowly but steadily, Pramilla’s example was taken up by housewives and countless others across North India. Her approach was emulated by her sister-in-law Urmila to qualify for a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Spouses of engineers, civil servants and others from diverse segments of society sought admissions to schools of higher learning. The notion of the public authorities providing for continuing education was yet to take shape. More than three decades later, the State came to set up the first National Open University in India. Later the Government launched Saakshar Bharat Mission for Female Literacy and Non Formal Education Programme.
National Commission for Woomen was setup 30 years later in 1992.

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