Australian cricketers interact with inspiring young girls in Jharkhand ahead of Ranchi Test

Ranchi, March 15: Australian cricketers on Tuesday (March 14) visited Yuwa, an NGO based in Ranchi, Jharkhand that provides a platform through team sport for young women to gain confidence to make a change in their world.

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The players took time out from their preparations for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which begins on Thursday (March 16) in Ranchi, to engage with some inspiring young girls who hail from Jharkhand.

Australian cricketers interact with inspiring young girls in Jharkhand ahead of Ranchi Test — Australian cricketers Peter Handscomb and Stephen O'Keefe interacting with Jharkhand girls. Image Courtesy: Cricket Australia

Jharkhand is among the states with some of the lowest rates of literacy and girls' school attendance in India.

In Jharkhand, 6 in 10 girls drop out of school and become child brides, and thousands of girls are trafficked each year. The girls who are part of Yuwa are rewriting their script-and it all starts with sport and education.

Australian players spent time in small groups hearing firsthand from the girls the challenges they have faced to get to where they are now with the help of Yuwa.

All 81 students from the school then gathered to share their experiences in sport and how it has benefited them before engaging in some light-hearted competition between the players and the senior girls' soccer team.

The event was managed in partnership with the Australian High Commission in India.

Yuwa works to empower girls by combatting child marriage, illiteracy and human trafficking in Jharkhand. In Jharkhand, 6 out of 10 girls drop out of school and become child brides. More than 9 out of 10 families in rural areas lack access to a toilet.

Yuwa operates in Jharkhand and uses girls' team sports as a platform for social development in rural India. Here, girls are rarely given a chance to choose their own future. But the girls of Yuwa are rewriting their script-and it all starts with sport.

OneIndia News