Being a senior secondary educational institution in a village situated on the national highway has its own woes. While it educates 3000 students from faraway villages – some travelling from as far as 30 kms. – the transport and transit of the teenage girls can be a daunting experience. There are eve-teasers lurking around and the threat of physical molestation is looming large. A simple trip to school can be frightening and in some cases, even threatening.

But for Shaheen Shaikh, a Tanishka Foundation member and the school principal, this came as a challenge. The work originally started with enrolling all her lady teachers into the Tanishka Foundation . Working with clockwork precision, almost every batch of girls is escorted by them to cross the busy national highway, helped to board their state transport buses, and sometimes even being dropped at their destinations. The return gift is stupendous; a secure learning environment and no dropouts!

Once a freelancing hoodlum travelling in the buses with the sole purpose of eve-teasing, was tracked down to his residence and put into place forth his family. All thanks to this elaborate process that is followed. The college staff is divided in equal batches of 3 – comprising of two female and one male teachers – and allotted duties along travel routes; all as per timings of the two shifts that the institute runs. While the lady staff herds the girls together, the sole male teacher is in charge of whisking the boys away!