Bhim, a small town in Rajasthan, was witness to a poignant protest on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday last year. Girls at the local government school chose to honour the father of the nation not by garlanding his photo, but instead practicing what he taught—satyagraha or civil disobedience. Hundreds of girls sat outside the school gate to make a basic demand—they need more teachers. At that time, their school with an enrollment of 700 girls had just three teachers. Since then, the number of teachers has gone up by only two.
The children’s struggle highlights the challenges that India, and many other countries, will face in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN) last week.