In India’s brickfields, migration is a way of survival. Each year, families leave their villages in search of work, moving from one brickfield to another. While migration provides a livelihood, it disrupts children’s education, leaving many behind and reinforcing cycles of school dropout and illiteracy.
This reality has been especially harsh for women and girls. In many communities, education for girls is seen as unnecessary. Survival takes priority, and generations of women grow up without the opportunity to read or write.
Initiatives like the Brickfield Schools Program, run by the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre, are helping to change this. Open-air, flexible learning keeps children studying despite seasonal migration, allowing many to return to government schools in their home villages.
The program gives women a chance to attend classes after long days in the brickfields, a need made even more pressing as automation and robotics reshape the brick-making sector. In doing so, the program builds the skills needed for the future, affirms their dignity, and opens doors that were once closed.
For years, seasonal migration shaped Ananya’s childhood. She moved between her village and temporary work sites, carrying uncertainty instead of stability. Yet even in this shifting landscape, her desire to learn never wavered.
When her family arrived at a brickfield, Ananya enrolled in the local open-air school. Quiet, observant, and quick to understand, she stood out immediately. Her teachers recall how eagerly she participated, absorbing lessons with a natural ease, despite the challenges around her.
Recognising her potential, the program team helped Ananya transition to mainstream government education. This shift brought new challenges: a more advanced syllabus, higher expectations, and learning gaps created by years of disrupted schooling. Determined not to fall behind, Ananya attended the program’s learning centre, where she received extra support to strengthen her educational foundation and keep pace with her peers.
In 2026, Ananya will sit for the Class 10 Board Examination, an achievement carrying enormous significance. Her teachers are confident in her progress, while her parents watch history unfold. She is on track to become the first in her family to complete a full school education.
Ananya’s journey shows the difference education can make. With determination and support, she is breaking the cycle of seasonal migration and building a future her family once thought impossible.
Across the brickfields, women are seizing the chance to overcome generations of educational exclusion. Adult literacy classes have become a new force for change. They offer opportunities for women of all ages to read, write, and sign their names – small acts with profound meaning.
Three generations of women from one family exemplify this transformation. Sabitri, 80, grew up when education for girls was unheard of. Her daughter Aparna lived in a village without a school and was married before education became accessible. Her granddaughter Puja, 22, hoped for a different future, but migration for survival disrupted any chance of schooling. For all three, a thumbprint was their only signature.
When the family arrived at the brickfields and discovered adult education classes, they enrolled immediately. Each night, they practised letters and numbers together, supporting one another as they learned for the first time to write their names.
Sabitri now speaks with pride and determination. “One day I will go to the bank and sign my name, not just press my thumb,” she says. “I want them to see that I can do it.”
Today, Sabitri, Aparna, and Puja inspire women across the brickfields, proving it is never too late to learn.
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