A school grows in Rajasthan
Briarcliff Manor couple remember hometown in India with women’s college
By BRYAN F. YURCAN

Beginning next year, young women from rural Rajasthan, India, will have the opportunity to study for the bar.

That’s because after eight years of growth, the Helena Kaushik Women’s College will continue to add more educational offerings, including a college of law.

The college, which opened in 1999, is the brainchild of Pace University economics professor and Briarcliff Manor resident Surendra Kaushik.

Kaushik recently came back from the college’s sixth graduation. The school of law is one of many new future additions to the school, he said, including an auditorium, performing-arts center and a school of business ­ big steps for a school that didn’t even exist 10 years ago, except in the minds of Kaushik and his wife, Helena.

Kaushik grew up in the rural village of Malsisar, where the college is now located, in the state of Rajasthan.

Kaushik had come to the United States for his education and remained here, but he wanted to do something for the youngsters of his hometown, particularly for the girls, who would normally not have access to higher education.

He was troubled by a statistic he read in an article that stated only 4.5 percent of Indians living in India had a college degree, and only about 1 percent of college degrees belonged to women. “I decided to help bring education opportunities in my home village of Malsisar,” he said. “Because all the decision makers in the world are at least college graduates, I focused on providing higher education to women, who normally don’t have that opportunity in rural areas.”

Kaushik’s wife, an American, had visited the village several times with him and saw firsthand the lack of educational opportunities for women in the area. She spurred him on.

Helena Kaushik suffered a stroke, but survived, in 1991, and Surendra decided to name the college after her.

“My wife was always concerned that girls in rural India were getting married and producing babies at such a young age, when they should be getting an education,” he said.

The college has grown steadily in enrollment since its inception eight years ago, from 23 students in the first class to more than 200 today. Fifty-six girls graduated in 2007.

The school has an annual budget of $100,000. Kaushik estimates about $2 million has been spent on it since the beginning, including for construction of the school and dormitories. One reason that number is not much higher is because construction costs are much less expensive in India than in the U.S., he said.

Much of the money spent in that time has been out of Kaushik’s pocket, but he has also received many donations from his colleagues at Pace and the Westchester community as a whole.

“A lot of local bankers and business people have been involved,” he said. “People have been very generous.”

 

In fact, just last week the college received a $50,000 matching grant by two anonymous donors pledging $25,000 each towards a $500,000 capital campaign for a dorm and faculty housing.

A nonprofit, The Helena Kaushik Foundation, was established to provide financial assistance to girls in rural Rajasthan for educational opportunities.

Additionally, many American and Indian politicians and high-ranking government officials have lent time speaking at the college.

One such person is state Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, who spoke at the school’s commencement last year.

Galef learned about the college after speaking with Kaushik at a Pace reception. She had always been interested in going to visit India because her parents had lived there for about five years.

When she finally did get to India and visited the college, Galef said she was “really impressed. It was such an interesting experience, and a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas.”

Galef was struck by the remote, rural location of the village, which took about five hours to reach from New Delhi, despite being only about 120 miles away.

 

“These women would have no educational opportunity otherwise, many of them would not have the transportation to get to another school,” she said.

Although the college faces recruitment competition from other schools in Rajasthan, Kaushik believes it will continue to grow.

“Our mission is to create women leaders,” he said.

For more information, visit www.helenakaushik.org

 

 

 

 

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