16-year-old tribal girl from MP to study English at Oxford school in UK

Bhopal: A 16-year-old tribal girl from Madhya Pradesh is set to travel to the United Kingdom to study English in an Oxford school.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, Asha Gond, who hails from Janwaar village in the state’s Panna district, was introduced to English language recently and she soon developed a penchant for this language.

After getting support and encouragement from a German woman, Ulrike Reinhard, who has created a skatepark in Janwaar and trains school-going tribal children in skating and English language, Gond decided to travel to UK to learn English.

But her parents were unwilling to let her go and it took 8 months for Reinhard to convince them, said the report.

“I am very excited. I don’t know what UK is like but I will definitely make the most of it. I am not at all scared and will give my best,” Asha was quoted as saying.

Reinhard said that Asha had just completed class 10 from Manohar Kanya High School in Janwaar, and did very well in the English course at a summer camp in June 2015.

It was a tough task for Ulrike Reinhard when she was trying to persuade Asha’s parents. She even had to bring in Lokendra Pratap Singh, MLA of Panna constituency, and her school teacher Awadh Bihari to convince her parents that Asha would be safe in London.

Reinhard said she told Asha’s parents that the girl can be ‘an example for her village’.

“I thought it would never happen. But Asha never gave up and kept telling her parents that she wanted to go,” Reinhard was quoted as saying.

Asha for her part wants to ‘try to make other children read’ when she returns from the UK. Her parents have promised Ulrike that they won’t marry her off when she comes back, said the report.

Now, the only hurdle in Asha Gond’s path are passport formalities, which will enable her to fly towards her dreams.