Kishanganj: Six months ago, 18-year-old Raveena Mehto spent all her free time helping her mother with chores and cooking in their mud house in Bihar’s Thakurganj village. Today, she’s shifted from curries to coding and dreams of moving to Bengaluru to work for a big tech company.
She’s one of 67 young women who left their homes in May to study coding at the newly opened School of Programming, Kishanganj, Bihar.
“It was like a war—I had to first convince my mother, then my grandmother, and finally, the neighbours. I fought for the chance to learn something that could change my life,” said Raveena.
Women from across Bihar from Araria to Gaya have enrolled in the 21-month-long course that offers free training as well as boarding and food. Run by two NGOs, NavGurukul and Project Potential, the aim of the school is to pave a path for women from rural and small-town India to enter India’s $250 billion IT industry. More than 36 per cent of the five million-strong workforce is women. But it’s not enough, said Zubin Sharma, founder of Project Potential. He wants Bihar to be part of this success story.
“Only 9.4 per cent of women in Bihar are in the workforce, the lowest rate of any state in India,” said Sharma, who did his undergraduate in Political Science from University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s in Public Policy from Yale. Now, he splits his time between New York and Kishanganj where he runs Project Potential. “Ensuring that rural women have access to aspirational jobs so that they can join the workforce is a major focus of our work,” he said.
The School of Programming has started a quiet revolution in Kishanganj. NavGurukul has eight other such centres including in Raipur, Dantewada and Dharmshala. Daughters of labourers and farmers are becoming software engineers, moving to big cities, and earning Rs 20,000-25,000 per month, far surpassing the average family income of Rs 10,000. Women from Bihar who are now working in Bengaluru and Kolkata have become role models—voices of change, code and careers.
“Skill development courses are important not only because they raise women’s earning potential but also because they help break social norms and patriarchal culture,” said Vidya Mahabare, Professor of Economics, Great Lakes Institute of Management. It also raises women’s confidence level and raises their ambition and aspiration levels.
“Eventually, when they get married, girls with such exposure are likely to have a higher decision-making power within a family and more freedom. Corporate India can help scale up such initiatives under their CSR activities and play its part in women empowerment,” she added.
Raveena’s days are long with classes from 8:30 am to 8:20 pm and two breaks in between. Everyone tries to speak English as they grapple with Python and Java on their laptops.
But she has a long way to go.
“The war isn’t over yet. Now, I’m battling with code on my laptop and with my mother, who is hesitant about letting me explore job opportunities once my course ends,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes.
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Quick learners
Around 10 women in a small room with no air-conditioner sit on mats on the floor, their laptops open. A few have snagged a spot at the handful of wooden benches and tables. There’s total silence as they complete their coding test under the watchful eye of one of the school’s three trainers.
In the main hall of the one-storeyed school, students are drawing coding pyramids on chits of paper. “Tick, tick one, tick, tick two… the clock is running,” said the trainer in charge of the activity session. It’s simple: they have to write a specific code as fast as possible on chits of paper.
“They’ve come a long way. Six months ago, they hadn’t even used a laptop. We had to begin from scratch,” said Priyanka Dangwal, one of three trainers in the school–two women and one man.
A graduate of the Navgurukul coding course herself, Priyanka’s come from Chhattisgarh to train students and is amazed by how much they’ve picked up in such a short period.
It may not have fancy labs or smart boards, but the School of Programming ensures that every student gets her own HP laptop. The training is rigorous and students aren’t allowed to bring their phones into the classrooms. But there’s also a level of informality in the sessions.
“Coding used to be difficult in the beginning but now I have a passion for it. Sometimes we create games as well with codes. It’s the very initial stage of coding we have started,” said Kajal Kumari (20), who came to Kishanganj from Araria District.
In another room, around 10-15 women sit in a circle working on their projects. The trainer plays music from her phone to keep the atmosphere lively. Only English pop—to help the students learn the language.
“I will earn money and start dressing nicely and travel a lot,” said Prachi (18). Her red top and black trousers are a far cry from the kurtis she wore back in her village. Bungee jumping and scuba diving are on her bucket list. A popular song starts playing, and they jump up to dance.
“Six months ago I was only allowed to leave the house for school and house chores. I never thought this could change. But now life has given me a chance and I am not going to waste it,” said Prachi.
The others around her nod in agreement. Most of them come from economically disadvantaged families. At the centre, they get three free meals a day, shared rooms, WiFi and laptops. They want jobs in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, and other IT hubs.
“Money is the most important thing. I know once I start earning, all my parents’ problems will disappear. Earning is my way to independence,” said Kajal
Women from rural India are finding their way out through skills and education to become independent. Data shows that more and more women from rural areas are joining the workforce. The female labour force participation rate has been rising for six years– from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 37 per cent in 2022-23, driven mainly by the rising participation of rural women.
“The initiative shows us what could happen nationwide. It’s a valuable demonstration of how we can overcome the honour-income trade-off. These girls reveal the core driver of cultural change: Parents do become more supportive when many women earn money and maintain respect,” said Alice Evans, a senior lecturer in the Social Science of Development at King’s College, London.
The next step, she said, is to champion structural change nationwide—through growth and even Bollywood.
“Economic growth and culturally respected jobs can shift perceptions about female employment, and Bollywood has the power to normalise this by showcasing women in the workforce. When lots of women participate, it becomes the norm, reducing anxiety about honour and increasing family support. That’s how we tap into all that amazing talent and drive economic progress,” she added.
Convincing their parents to let them leave home is the first hurdle. Before the School of Programming opened in Bihar, women who wanted to join NavGurukul to learn how to code had to leave the state to enrol in one of its branches in Bengaluru, Pune, Raipur or Dharmshala.
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From Bihar to Bengaluru
Raveena Mehto’s hero isn’t Kareena Kapoor or Kiran Bedi—it’s Kabita Mehto. She was the first person from their village to secure a job in the IT sector after completing a coding course three years ago. Today, she works at an IT firm in Kolkata, earns Rs 50,000 every month, and sends money home regularly. Even the neighbouring village knows about her success.
Her parents are proud of her, but it wasn’t always this way. When Kabita decided to carve out a career in the IT sector, there was no free coding school in Kishanganj. Her parents were reluctant to let her leave the house, let alone go all the way to NavGurukul’s school in Bengaluru.
“I fought and got on the train,” said Kabita, who is 21 now. “My parents wouldn’t even allow me to go to Bengaluru. No one in my village or family had ever gone so far. Everyone kept telling them that I should stay at home because I was a girl.”
It rained heavily the day she arrived in Bengaluru—the streets were flooded with water up to her knees. She didn’t know Kannada or English. It was her classmates who guided her over the phone, helping her communicate with the auto driver.
“It was dark, and I got delayed because of the rain. I had never felt so scared in my life. I didn’t know Kannada or English back then. But now, three years later, here I am, making calls with foreign clients in English,” said Kabita.
She got placed with a tech company in Bengaluru, and as soon as she got her first paycheque of Rs 30,000, she started sending money home. Her father used it to pay off the debt he had incurred for her older sister’s marriage. The irony is not lost on Kabita.
Once the Rs 1.5 lakh debt was cleared, he renovated their kutcha house with tin, bought a scooter, and even acquired some land to grow rice.
“I could never have achieved this in my lifetime. I never dreamed my daughter could earn. I always thought she would get married, just like others,” said Mahender Mehto, Kabita’s father, sitting on a plastic chair outside his home. Last Chhath, Mahender’s family celebrated with gifts that Kabita sent—sarees for her mother, a jacket and kurta-pyjama for her father, a suit for her sister, and a shirt for her brother.
Seeing the changes in the Mehto family’s life, more than 10-15 people from the village reached out to Mahender to learn about what Kabita had done and how she found her job. The same people who taunted him for letting Kabita leave the village now want his advice.
“My daughter has earned me a lot of respect,” said Mahender, proudly showing pictures from Chhath, where he was wearing a yellow kurta she gifted him.
One of Kabita’s early critics was Raveena’s father, Manoj Kumar Mehto. But he was ecstatic when the School of Programming opened in Kishanganj.
“I saw how this training transformed Kabita’s family’s life, so I encouraged my daughter to join. She’s learning there now and will find a job after completing the training,” he said.
Escaping the monster
Kabita, Raveena and Kajal have had to fight for what most women in cities take for granted. Their families have a different plan for their lives—marriage. That never-ending “monster” chasing them.
Kajal wants to make money so that parents’ problems can “disappear”. But an hour away from the school, in her family house, her grandmother is already plotting ways to get her married.
“She has to settle down,” said Kajal’s grandmother. The family lives in a small, one-storey house in the narrow lanes of Thakurganj. Her father works at a bicycle repair shop, and her mother runs the house. Kajal’s youngest uncle got married two years ago, and his wife, Soni (23), has found inspiration in Kajal’s journey.
“I’m a graduate, and it’s really inspiring that Kajal is studying coding. I’ve even spoken to my husband about joining the training. We need more income to improve our lives, and I have the qualifications to get a decent job. I just need some training,” said Soni, wearing a yellow sari.
But Kajal’s grandmother is unimpressed.
“What will you do by joining the training? Focus on your child,” she said before leaving the room.
While she learns to code Nargiz Khatoon (17) is trying to figure out how to escape her fate. Her mother has already picked out her future husband.
“It’s not like we’re getting her married right away. She can complete this training first since she was so eager to do it,” said Santara Khatoon, Nargiz’s mother. The proposals started arriving when she was in the 9th standard.
“Back then, I knew nothing about the world outside. But now, I’m being introduced to a new world, and it’s very, very attractive to me,” said Nargiz, sitting at home, wearing a purple hijab.
Nargiz wants to work before marriage. She’s eager to build websites and experience life as an “office girl”.
However, the future holds uncertainties, especially with AI’s growing influence in the IT industry and job instability.
“We can’t predict exactly what will happen with AI; the processing power of these models keeps increasing exponentially. But for now, there’s a strong demand for software engineers who also know how to integrate AI tools into their workflows,” said Zubin Sharma And the women are being trained to do just that.
“Beyond that, the students are learning how to learn, equipping them to master new AI tools as they become relevant,” he added. They are familiar with AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
“I joined this training to learn coding and become independent. Becoming someone’s wife is at the bottom of my wishlist. There are so many things I want to do before marriage—or maybe I’ll meet someone through this new journey. You never know,” said Kajal, before joining the girls dancing to Sia’s Cheap Thrills.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Imagine a model where you first train people, and then employ them. Infosys has successfully done this, I wonder why it hasn’t been copied more widely in India. Also, this is such a great pool of driven workforce that hasn’t been explored yet.