UNICEF girl lauded by NCERT

PATNA: A girl from a poverty-stricken family who turned to bee-keeping for a better living and was declared the 'UNICEF girl' has now been hailed as a role model by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

The girl Anita Kushwaha, from a backward family from remote Bochaha village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, took up bee-keeping when she found that she could earn more from it with little investment.

Anita, now a 19-year-old, took to bee keeping when she was ten after her mother Rekha Devi provided her with Rs 3000.

The saga of her success in being described as the 'UNICEF girl' has been incorporated in chapter five in a class IV text book on environmental studies 'Looking Around'.

With the money she received from her mother, Anita bought three queen bees and began running hives to make a profit of Rs 50,000 in the first year of her venture.

She not only met the expense of her family, but also paid for her education till class ten.

UNICEF-assisted 'Mahila Samakhya' volunteers, later, identified her and adopted her as a girl model.

By introducing the concept of rearing honeybees for improving one's living condition, Anita ushered in a silent evolution in the rural areas of Muzaffarpur, UNICEF sources said.

Her path-breaking work caught the attention of UNICEF which honoured her by declaring her the 'UNICEF girl' in 2006.
Anita is now studying English (Hons) from a women's college in Muzaffarpur with a firm resolve to pursue education while fighting poverty.