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Yuwa

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Through football and education, Yuwa empowers girls by combatting child marriage, illiteracy and human trafficking. Join us.

Through team sport, Yuwa provides a platform for young women to gain confidence to make a change in their world. Yuwa is a Jharkhand, India-based organization; registered both as a Trust in India and a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization in the U.S.

31/07/2026

When Jira’s mother was ten years old, she got married. When Jira was ten, she joined a Yuwa football team.
 Jira grew up in a family of farmers in rural Jharkhand, and neither of her parents finished primary school. The plan for Jira was school until 8th standard, then marriage. 
At her government school, a teacher slapped her across the face because she couldn’t write her name. She kept going back anyway, mostly for the free lunch, and she always sat at the back. 
In 2014 Jira saw a group of girls in her village playing football and laughing, and she joined them. What stayed with her from those first practices was not the football. 
“In my village, people don’t talk very politely. But the Yuwa coaches respected me and gave me a chance to speak.” 
Her parents called football a man’s game and told her to stay home and do housework. She negotiated: chores first, then football. 
When a place opened at Yuwa School, Jira’s parents refused to pay her fees or make her lunch. Jira joined anyway. 
She moved from 8th standard back into 3rd, because she had never really been taught and could not read or write. “I felt afraid because I was older. But my Yuwa classmates didn’t laugh at me.” 
By 12th standard, Jira was a football coach, a Life Skills facilitator, and an elected House Representative in Yuwa’s Student Parliament. 
She graduated in April 2025. Then she failed the national board exams she needed for university. 
So Jira studied again. She paid her own way with her earnings as a Yuwa coach. She sat the exams a second time and reapplied. 
This month, Kumaraguru Institutes in Tamil Nadu offered Jira a full scholarship to study Sport Science. She is the first person in her family to pursue higher education. 
Jira’s advice for a girl just joining Yuwa:  
“In your life, there are different kinds of situations: family, money, problems. You have to take control of your life, and then others will help. If you only think negative, you will just go down. Try to think positively.”

29/07/2026

This week, 147 girls went to the polls. 
Yuwa School just held its annual Student Council elections, and we run them the way India runs them: nominations, campaigns, speeches, ballots. Our process is modeled on the Indian Parliamentary system, because democracy is not something you learn from a textbook. You learn it by standing up in front of your peers and asking for their vote. 
The girls who won are not symbols. Student Council manages a real budget, plans and runs real events, and makes decisions that shape the school all year long. 
Here is why this matters: In the world’s largest democracy, women hold fewer than 1 in 7 seats in the Lok Sabha. Under 14 percent. Every single one of our 147 students is a girl from an underprivileged background in rural Jharkhand, the exact demographic that almost never makes it into a room where decisions get made. 
This year, Yuwa has the highest enrollment in our school’s history. 147 girls, learning what it feels like to cast a vote that counts and to be the one asking for it.

Invest in girls’ education. Invest in girls’ leadership. Then watch what they do with it. Sachin Tendulkar Foundation (STF)

02/07/2026

At Yuwa School, we have an annual tradition called Gratitude Day. 
Each year, we set aside time to formally celebrate the people whose contributions are easy to overlook: our bus drivers, our bus safety assistant, and our campus cleaner. These are individuals who show up every day with consistency, care, and quiet dedication. Without them, Yuwa School simply doesn’t function.  This year’s Gratitude Day included performances, speeches, and the distribution of handmade cards and gifts from students and staff. But beyond the celebration itself, Gratitude Day serves an important purpose in the values we try to build at Yuwa.  We want our students to grow up understanding that leadership isn’t just about visibility. It’s about recognising the dignity and worth of every person around you, and saying so out loud.  In a school environment, it’s easy for children to absorb hierarchies without thinking about them. Gratitude Day is our way of intentionally naming and disrupting that.   We hope they carry that habit with them long after they leave us.
 To Raju, Shubham, Pappu, Babita, and Tanveer — thank you for everything you do!

19/06/2026

It may be summer, and it’s definitely hot, but Yuwa School is back in action for the 2026-27 academic year!   Our teachers who spent a week in intensive training and preparation before school started came back with new ideas and a lot of energy—and the girls matched it.  Here’s to Year 11 of Yuwa School!

09/06/2026

In the community where we work, harassment and gender-based violence are not rare occurrences. They are part of daily life for girls and young women.

Recently, a group of Yuwa players had been regularly harassed on their way home from football and life-skills sessions. The boys responsible would disappear right before staff arrived — making direct intervention nearly impossible.

So our teenage coaches handled it themselves.

They made an anonymous call to the local police. A PCR van was deployed for a week, with randomised visiting hours — unpredictable enough to make the harassers nervous.

The boys stopped. The girls walk home without trouble now.

This is what Yuwa's programmes are building: young women who don't wait for someone else to solve the problem. Young women who know their rights, communicate clearly, and follow through until something actually changes.

Reporting harassment to police in rural Jharkhand is not a small thing. It takes confidence, knowledge, and trust that your voice will be taken seriously. Our coaches had all three. We are incredibly proud of them!

07/05/2026

Last month, the whole Yuwa team packed up and headed to Shantiniketan for the organisation's first ever staff retreat.

The town felt fitting — it's where Tagore founded his open-air university, where education was always meant to feel rooted in the world around it. We visited a local Santhali school, reflected on our culture as a team using the Gallup Survey, and spent time understanding each other's individual strengths.

But the retreat was also toto rides through the village lanes, watching jugnoo flicker in the dark, a noisy train journey that started the bonding before anyone had even arrived, and dinner table laughter that continued long after the meal had ended.

"Yuwa is a place where everyone finds courage and support," said Seema, one of our primary teachers. "People learn from each other, teach each other, and respect each other's work. For us, it's a second home."

A team that speaks about their workplace this way is not an accident. It is the result of years of intentional culture-building — and a reminder that the work we do for Yuwa's girls begins with the people who show up for them every day.

30/04/2026

Ten years ago, we had an idea.

What if we opened a school for girls in rural Jharkhand?

What if we provided world-class education by recruiting dedicated teachers to guide girls who had already shown an incredible hunger to learn?

What would happen if we persevered despite limited funding, crumbling infrastructure, monsoon flooding, a pandemic, and bitter people who said that girls should not study, should not play football, should not travel, should not dream?

Last week, Yuwa School marked its 10-year anniversary with an Annual Day that brought students, parents, graduates, and staff together to celebrate a decade of quiet, stubborn progress.

Students filled the classrooms with exhibitions of their own academic work. Traditional Nagpuri dances lit up the campus. Special awards honoured the students and staff who have shown what dedication actually looks like. And along one wall, a Memory Lane of photographs traced a full decade — faces that have grown, teachers who have stayed, and a community that has shown up year after year.

Ten years ago, Yuwa School opened its doors in Hutup Village to girls who deserved an education that believed in their potential.

Looking at these photographs, these performances, these young women — it’s clear something lasting has been built here.��Congratulations to every student, teacher, and family who has been part of this journey. Here’s to ten more!

19/03/2026

Hands muddy, notebooks open!  
On a recent afternoon at Yuwa School, a group of middle school girls were crouched over a patch of soil like they owned it. Because in a way, they do. 
This is “From Soil to Plate” — our hands-on agriculture project where girls are learning vermicomposting, hydroponic farming, soil science, and the economics of food systems.   Not as abstract concepts. As things that already shape their families’ lives. 
“Our families are farmers,” one student explained. “This is our identity. We are farmers.” 
In rural Jharkhand, that’s not a romantic statement. Agriculture shapes income, nutrition, who migrates, who stays, and whose futures get decided for them.   From Soil to Plate is about changing the last part. 
One team of students named themselves the Smart Workers. Ask them why, and they’ll tell you plainly: “If we’re going to do agriculture, we’re going to do it in a smart way.”
 The project was recently awarded a Circle Grant of one lakh rupees. But what we’re most proud of is a group of twelve-year-olds standing in a field, hands in the dirt, arguing about soil health like it belongs to them.
 Because it does.

13/03/2026

Last week, we hosted one of our favorite traditions of the year: the Yuwa Talent Show.

Imagine inviting nearly 600 girls to one big party — players, coaches, and staff from across our teams — all coming together to celebrate the community we’ve built..

The stage belonged to the girls. Teams prepared dances, songs, and performances, bringing energy, laughter, and a lot of courage to the spotlight.

Coaches also took time to recognize achievements across the season, from players with the best attendance in football and workshops, to new Level 2 Coaches, to teams that stood out in the showcase. Three younger players were also honored for quietly stepping up behind the scenes, helping coaches manage equipment and supporting their teams.

And as always, the day ended the best way possible: everyone dancing together to Sadri music!

05/03/2026

Four Yuwa graduates didn’t just join a football team in college — they built one.

Members of Yuwa’s Class of 2025, these four young women are studying on full scholarship at Kumaraguru College of Liberal Arts and Science. This year, they started the college’s first-ever women’s football team.

In their very first tournament together, the team finished in second place.

With only eight players on the squad, the Yuwa graduates make up half the team — bringing years of grit, teamwork, and leadership from the football fields of Jharkhand to their new campus.

Congratulations to these incredible young women! We are so proud to see them continuing to lead, compete, and create new opportunities wherever they go.

Address

Yuwa India, Hutup Village, PO Irba
Ranchi
835219

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4pm
Tuesday	8am - 4pm
Wednesday	8am - 4pm
Thursday	8am - 4pm
Friday	8am - 4pm
Sunday	8am - 4pm

Website

http://www.yuwa-india.org/

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