 
Pace professor
touches lives of rural women in India
By HEMA
EASLEY
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: February 16, 2004)
BRIARCLIFF MANOR — Growing up in Malsisar, a small town in
western India, Surendra Kaushik saw that boys had more
opportunities than girls. While Kaushik and his two brothers
went to college in a larger town 50 miles away, their sister
stopped studying after the eighth grade and was married off at
14.
"In my own family I could see that girls were treated
differently — they didn't have access to education," said
Kaushik, who has a doctorate in economics and teaches finance
at Pace University's Lubin School of Business in White Plains.
Four years ago, Kaushik fulfilled a longtime ambition to
open a women's college in his hometown. In January, he led a
team of U.S. educators to give talks to the students on
subjects as varied as biotechnology, classical music and
public health.
But 50 years ago, such opportunites were unheard of. The
reasons were a complex mix of conservatism and limited
resources.
Like many families in rural India, the Kaushiks were not
opposed to education for girls; they just didn't want their
daughters studying in the same school as boys once they
reached puberty. In a culture where women are considered the
repository of family honor, unsupervised intermingling between
the sexes is frowned upon, and dating is prohibited. Devotion
to family is stressed — a local temple honoring widows who
burned with their husbands on funeral pyres draws thousands of
devotees.
There were several schools in and around Malsisar, a
community of subsistence farmers in the western desert state
of Rajasthan, but none exclusively for girls in a 21-mile
radius. As a result, generation after generation of girls
stopped studying in middle school, were married off and became
mothers in their teens.
Their plight haunted Kaushik through college and later,
when he came to the United States to study, and then to teach.
He now lives in Briarcliff Manor with his wife, Helena.
Educating women, Kaushik has always believed, is the surest
way for a people to progress, both economically and socially.
Less than 1 percent of India's half billion women have a
college education.
So Kaushik decided that if girls couldn't go to school, the
school would come to them.
In 1999, after years of planning, fund raising and battling
with Indian bureaucratic red tape, Kaushik opened the Mrs.
Helena Kaushik Women's College in Malsisar. The college was
named after his wife, who visited Malsisar five times in
connection with the college before being paralyzed by a stroke
in 1991.
The government donated 30 acres of state land for the
college. Four modern buildings with classrooms, science labs,
an auditorium and dormitories were built at a cost of $1
million that Kaushik raised in the United States. The college
now attracts 225 women from 60 neighboring villages. It has a
staff of 21 lecturers and offers undergraduate and
post-graduate degrees.
Kaushik decided to open a college instead of a school for
girls because the former requires more effort and money, which
he, as an expatriate Indian, was more capable of raising than
local farmers and shopkeepers. In any case, Kaushik reasoned,
if a college for girls opened in the area, the local school
system would be motivated to open a high school for girls.
And it did. As soon as plans of the opening of Helena
Kaushik college became public, a high school for girls was
opened because an opportunity for further education was
available. That women would flock to the college was never in
question. Indians venerate education, both literally and
figuratively. The Hindu pantheon has a goddess for learning:
Saraswati.
With a running cost of about $150,000 a year, which Kaushik
raises through appeals, benefit concerts and contributions,
the college offers courses in history, political science,
psychology, geography, mathematics, physics, chemistry,
biotechnology and microbiology, among other subjects. Tuition
is free, though students must pay for board, lodging and
books. Kaushik also organizes talks by visiting professors,
both Indian and American.
"It's a beautiful accomplishment," said former U.S. Rep.
Richard Ottinger of Mamaroneck, who visited Malsisar two years
ago. "In a very rural area, (Kaushik) has developed a
first-rate education for girls who would never get an
education in any other way."
Last month, Kaushik led a group of 15 American educators,
diplomats, politicians, business people and doctors to
Malsisar. The team, including professors from Pace University
and Manhattanville College, spoke to eager students on
subjects as diverse as epidemiology, art history, English
grammar, public health, and occupational and physical therapy.
The talks helped the students expand their knowledge in areas
outside their curriculum.
The education has made a big difference to women in the
area. Some who are already married are resuming their
education. Others are putting off marriage and childbearing
until their 20s. Many students openly aspire to careers in
education, law, public administration, business and social
service.
"This is a part of the new India," said Larry Bridwell, who
teaches international business at Pace University and was part
of the group that visited Malsisar. "I was struck by their
energy and the feeling that they knew that what they were
doing was very important for their future."
The change is taking place in an area known for its
conservatism. Jhunjhunun, just 20 miles south of Malsisar, is
the site of a famous temple of Sati, the banned practice of
burning widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands. Though
the practice was outlawed in 1829, more than 20 satis have
occurred in the past 50 years. Thousands continue to glorify
the practice and throng the temple to worship every year.
The women of Malsisar grew up in such an environment, which
preaches selfless devotion to family and husband. While the
women don't reject the value of family, many today believe
their lives have a meaning far beyond the traditional
prescription. As a first-year undergraduate student, Neha,
wrote in the college yearbook:
"I strive to reach the sky ...
I strive to touch the changing times."
Send e-mail to Hema Easley
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