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“Incredulous” was the word that came to my mind when I reached one of capital's most prominent private schools for data collection. The disparity between government schools and private schools in terms of facilities and resources was akin to being on two different planets at the same time.

Girls from Lajpat Nagar are fighting for their right to clean and safe sanitation. We all read and debate a lot about issues relating to corruption, rising prices and unemployment. But do not realize that for few, having safe sanitation is a bigger problem than any other. Our girls tell that 700 houses in their settlement use 20 toilets. These toilets are cleaned once during the course of the day.

"Apna Haq" means "Our Right". For a long time now, many of our tech center students have been contemplating.. about what they can do to get their right... to pee when they need to pee. When I heard the their narrations of how they have to plan their visit to the toilet, which is a community toilet that about 100 or more families share, I went silent for a moment. I had only heard of this reality of many urban slums from others, this was the first time a group of young girls, who suffer the most due to lack of proper sanitation, shared their daily routine with me.

टेक सेण्टर एक ऐसी जगह है जहाँ रोज़ किशोरियाँ आकर अपनी जिंदगी की कहानियाँ मुझसे बांटती है । इन सभी किशोरियों में से एक किशोरी की जिंदगी के कुछ पल में आपके साथ बांटना चाहती हूँ । रवीना उम्र 19 साल, B.A सेकंड ईयर की स्टूडेंट, जल विहार बस्ती की रहने वाली किशोरी।टेक सेण्टर 2011 अप्रैल से शुरू किया, 8 महीने लगातार कंप्यूटर सीखने के बाद, रवीना को फेट में काम करने के लिए चुना गया । रवीना के घर की आय 7000रूपये प्रति माह है । उसे काम की जरुरत थी , पर उसने इसके बावजूद फेट में काम करने से  मना कर दिया क्योंकि रवीना का सबसे बड़ा डर लोगों से बात करना और बस में सफ़र करना था । 

- आशा तिवारी द्वारा एक ब्लॉग पोस्ट

October and November 2013 saw us reaching out to government schools for the quantitative data collection for FAT's school contact programme. FAT's school contact program is a two pronged project, consisting of a research component and an intervention component. The research component is aimed at finding out reasons as to why do girls self eliminate themselves from STEM subjects, and on the basis of those findings, proposed interventions would be put in place.

Today, it's been more than a month of me joining the Tech Centre. Me and Saraswathi reach the office around 9:30 and make preparations for the classes. For us, this tech centre is not just a space to learn about technologies. It's a space which is of our own. It's a space where we envision our dreams for a life of our own and without tensions and inequalities; and work collectively to turn them into reality.