This Rajasthan Girl Works As ‘Milkmaid’ To Fund Studies

19-year-old Neetu Sharma, who lives in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, understands the pivotal role education can play in making her life better. On realizing that her father is not financially sound to pay for her school fees, she decided to deliver milk to fund her education.

It all started when after passing class 8, her father compelled her to discontinue her education. “We don’t have money for your education,” Neetu's father Banwari Lal Sharma told her.

The paucity of money prompted Neetu to sell milk. Initially, she would carry the milk on her shoulders and walk to the city, 5 km away, for delivery.

Her situation got a little better when she bought a motorcycle with the help of the money that she and her eldest sister had pooled in. The latter runs a grocery store.

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Sushma, another elder sister, also dropped out of school to help Neetu in milk delivery. She sits pillion on Neetu’s bike and balances herself between the milk cans.

Her daily routine

Neetu wakes up at 4 am every day and collects milk from houses in Bhandor Khurd village and brings that to Bharatpur city on the motorcycle. From 6.30 am, she delivers it from door to door.

After delivering milk, Neetu parks the bike at a relative's house, changes her clothes and leaves for a two-hour computer class that begins at 10 am. She is studying is the Rajasthan State Certificate Course in Information Technology.

At 5 pm, the two girls are back in the city with milk for the evening delivery. They return home around 7:30 pm.

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Her success story

Through her sheer hard work and dedication, Neetu is able to earn Rs 12,000 every month after accounting expenses on fuel, etc. With this, she was able to fund her entire education.

She passed class 10 from Government Senior Secondary School in Maharajsar with 56% mark and class 12 from the same institution with 58%. She’s now in enrolled in the second year of BA course as a private candidate because she cannot attend college regularly.

After completing her graduation, she plans to pursue Bachelor of Education to fulfil her dream of becoming a teacher.

Talking about how people mock her for riding a motorbike, she says:

“I think there’s nothing that a girl cannot do. When I began riding a bike, people in the village mocked me. My father dissuaded me from doing what I do"

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However, it was her dedication towards achieving her goals that helped her overcome all odds and study further.

“I have told my father I will stop doing this after the wedding of my two sisters, Radha and Sushma,” she said.