Snehlata Prize 2026

Episode Summary: In this episode recorded at The English Book Depot, family, colleagues, and friends gather to celebrate the life and legacy of Smt. Snehlata. The conversation covers the power of reading, teacher training, the announcement of the Snehlata Prize 2026, and plans to continue Snehlata’s work through monthly reading sessions and the Good School Alliance. Mrs Brinda Ghosh is announced as the 2026 Snehlata Prize recipient for her 47-year contribution to education and teacher development.

Aftab Seth, author, poet, and diplomat

Aftab Seth is a distinguished retired Indian diplomat, author, and academic who served as India’s Ambassador to Greece, Vietnam, and Japan. Born on September 17, 1943, he had an illustrious career in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) spanning from 1968 to 2003. He is widely recognised for his deep expertise in Indo-Pacific affairs, his mastery of multiple international languages, and his contributions to global education and literature.

Literary Work & Books

Seth is an accomplished author and poet whose recent publications reflect his experiences and cross-cultural journeys:

• The Beautiful Archipelago (2026): A book dedicated to exploring the history, geography, and culture of Indonesia.
• I Do Not Know Why. (2025): A highly praised collection of 26 reflective poems mapping his thoughts on old age, global conflict, and memories from his travels.
• A Diplomat’s Garden (2023): A detailed personal memoir encapsulating his multi-decade journey across global diplomatic postings.

Indonesia: The Beautiful Archipelago is a 224-page exploration of Indonesia’s stunning island nation, published by Birch Books in 2026. The book appears to be a visual and informational guide showcasing Indonesia’s diverse landscapes, culture, and natural beauty across its thousands of islands. It’s designed for readers aged 20-50 who are interested in travel, geography, or Southeast Asian culture.

Would you like to know more about what specific aspects of Indonesia it covers?

Aftab Seth in conversation with Sneha Pundir

Community Engagement for Rural Education: Strategic Targeting & Male Advocacy

Read And Lead

To read and discuss chapter 4 and beyond from the book “Every Last Girl” by Safeena Husain.

Key Takeaways

• Male Advocates Are Essential: The narrator’s initial bias that only women could champion girls’ education was disproven by male advocates like Kamlesh and Ram, whose “father-to-father” chats and male-to-male interactions were uniquely effective in changing mindsets.

• Government Data Is Incomplete: A government list of out-of-school girls proved incomplete when the team found 21 unlisted girls in a single village, underscoring that official data alone is insufficient for comprehensive outreach.

• Strategic Targeting Is Key: The team used MHRD data to target Rajasthan, which had 9 of India’s 26 worst gender-gap districts, and then focused on Pali, a central “hotspot,” to maximise impact.

• Persistence Is Required: The project’s success required navigating bureaucratic hurdles and adapting strategies when initial plans failed, highlighting the need for persistence in social work.

Topics

The Problem: Incomplete Data & Mindset Barriers

• Incomplete Government Lists: The team’s initial strategy relied on school-provided lists of out-of-school girls.

  • Failure Point: In Mr Shankar’s village, after celebrating 100% enrollment from the list, the team discovered 21 unlisted girls from a peripheral community.

  • Significance: This proved that official data was unreliable and that a more robust, ground-up system was needed to find every last girl.

• Mindset Barriers to Girls’ Education:

  • Poverty: Families prioritise educating boys, viewing them as future providers, while girls are seen as temporary family members who will marry and leave.

  • Cultural Protection: A historical “lineage mindset” in Rajasthan views women as a source of family pride, leading to restrictions on their movement and education to “protect” them.

  • Social Fear: Concerns that education leads to inter-caste or inter-religion marriage can cause families to withdraw girls from school to preserve social norms.

The Solution: Strategic Targeting & Male Advocacy

• Strategic Targeting: To find the “needles in a haystack,” the team used MHRD data to focus their efforts.

  • Target State: Rajasthan, with 9 of India’s 26 worst gender-gap districts.

  • Target District: Pali, a central “hotspot” chosen to facilitate expansion into the 8 other districts.

  • Target Blocks: Three development blocks within Pali were approved by the state education minister.

• Male Advocacy: The narrator’s initial bias that only women could champion girls’ education was challenged by the success of male advocates.

  • Kamlesh: A former taxi driver who joined Educate Girls after seeing his wife’s work.

    • Tactics: Used his persuasive skills to enrol 10 girls in 4 months, leveraging his father’s status as a government teacher for credibility and using “father-to-father chats” to connect with men struggling with alcohol.

  • Ram: A former farmer who pulled his daughters from school after his wife’s death.

    • Transformation: Kamlesh reignited Ram’s aspirations by appealing to his memories of his educated wife.

    • Outcome: Ram became a key community advocate, proving that those who have made a profound change themselves can be the most powerful advocates.

Next Steps

• Manisha: Share the bookmark for the next reading session.

• All Participants: Reconvene next week to continue reading and discussing the book.

Session notes courtesy FATHOM AI.

The Recruitment Paradox: Men as Champions for Girls' Education

Read And Lead 

To read and discuss chapter 4 of Every Last Girl, “Learning Who Should Lead.”

Key Takeaways

• Local Messengers are Essential: External teams face deep community mistrust (e.g., kidnapping rumours, hostility for violating social norms). Effective change requires local leaders who are trusted and understand the culture.

• The “Culture Paradox”: Progress is often blocked by a “culture paradox”—a conflict between a stated goal and deeply ingrained social norms. This applies to both the book’s mission (girls’ education) and the session’s goal (promoting reading).

• Rethink Recruitment for Impact: The initial strategy of hiring only women was unworkable due to a “missing generation” of educated women in rural India (~4% complete 12th grade). Hiring male champions like Kamlesh proved effective and necessary for scale.

• Find the True Influencers: Identifying real leaders requires deep local knowledge. The team learned this by mistaking an opium smoker for an elder, then discovering a powerful, unassuming priest (Prabhuji) who was the village’s true guardian of girls’ education.

Topics

The Challenge: External Teams Face Deep Mistrust

• External teams from Mumbai faced hostility and suspicion in rural villages.

• Specific Incidents:

  • Pooja’s father (Ram): Threw stones at the team, fueled by grief and alcoholism.

  • Motorcycle Incident: A team member riding with a male colleague violated social norms, causing a hostile confrontation with villagers.

• Root Causes of Mistrust:

  • Unfamiliarity: Villagers were unaccustomed to outsiders.

  • Rumours: Fear of kidnapping spread.

  • Cultural Missteps: Inappropriate dress, tone, or dialect.

• Conclusion: The problem was not just the message, but the messenger. Change requires local voices.

The Solution: Find and Empower Local Leaders

• The team shifted from a top-down approach to a listening-first approach and began finding internal champions.

• Two Contrasting Examples:

  • Dhirindal (False Lead): An opium smoker mistaken for a village elder. This showed that appearance and development theory alone are insufficient for identifying true leaders.

  • Prabhuji (True Champion): The unassuming village priest was the real leader, acting as a “school guardian.”

    • Enforced school attendance and accountability.

    • Instituted fines for child marriage, citing personal experience with girls dying in childbirth.

• Nadia Banu (Community-Led Change): A respected elder in a village where no girl had ever attended school.

  • After seeing the government residential school, she personally convinced 10 girls (ages 11–14) and their families to enrol.

  • Outcome: Girls’ enrollment is now a self-sustaining tradition, driven by the community.

The Recruitment Paradox: Men as Champions for Girls’ Education

• Initial Strategy: Hire only women, inspired by the author’s aunt, who championed her education.

• The Paradox: This strategy was unworkable.

  • Data: Only ~4% of rural Indian girls completed 12th grade, creating a “missing generation” of qualified female candidates.

  • Conflict: The author struggled to lead a feminist organisation with a male workforce.

• The Shift: Reality forced a change in strategy.

  • Sanjay (Motivated Brother): Advocated for his sister’s daughters, driven by guilt over his own education.

  • Asif (Determined Father): His resolve for his daughter, Salma, was “She will not break stones.”

  • Kamlesh (Effective Champion): A taxi driver inspired by his wife’s volunteer work.

    • Credibility: Used his father’s status as a government teacher.

    • Skills: Used his persuasive ability to engage difficult community members like Ram.

    • Results: Enrolled 10 girls in a challenging village in his first four months.

Session Discussion & Connections

• Pushpita Ghosh: Connected the book’s themes to school texts:

  • Grade 7: “The Day the River Spoke” (girl’s longing for school).

  • Grade 9: “How I Taught My Grandmother to Read” (educating the elderly).

• Sandeep Dutt: Identified a “culture paradox” in the session itself—a stated goal (promoting reading) vs. a lack of participation.

• Sneha Pundir: Proposed inviting students to future sessions to connect the book to their curriculum.

FATHOM AI-generated summary. Read with care.

Mindset Barriers to Girls’ Education

Meeting Purpose

To read and discuss a chapter on changing mindsets for girls’ education. 

Part II - Finding Antimbala from Every Last Girl by Safeena Hussain. Brinda is the narrator, so you will find her name in the notes as you read the author’s autobiography.

Key Takeaways

• Storytelling is the most effective tool for mindset change. It must be authentic, locally relevant, and delivered by an “insider” to resonate.

• Relatable stories build trust and demonstrate value. Vikram’s personal story of his educated sister becoming an Anganwadi worker showed education as a practical “dowry” against health shocks, shifting a father’s perspective.

• Local influencers are essential for community ownership. Vijaylakshmi’s tactic of having the headmaster counter a cultural objection publicly secured community consensus and on-the-spot admissions.

Topics

The Challenge: Mindset Barriers to Girls’ Education

• The core problem is a mindset that devalues girls, not just poverty or geography.

• The goal is to change this “school of thought” to secure girls’ fundamental right to education.

Case Study 1: The Outsider’s Failure (Prachi)

• Brinda’s direct, rights-based appeal to Prachi’s mother, Sarita, failed.

• Why it failed:

  • Brinda was an “outsider” (from Mumbai) with no local rapport.

  • The approach was transactional (“talking at”), not relational (“listening to”).

  • The appeal was abstract (rights), not practical (value).

• Key finding: Prachi’s own reason for leaving school was bullying over a hearing impairment, a fact Brinda only learned by listening after the formal pitch failed.

Case Study 2: The Insider’s Success (Kirti)

• Vikram’s approach with Kirti’s father, Ram, succeeded.

• Why it succeeded:

  • Vikram was an “insider” (local, spoke the dialect) who built rapport by discussing farming.

  • He used a relatable, authentic personal story about his educated sister.

  • The story framed education as a practical “dowry” against health shocks, a value the father understood.

• Outcome: The father requested the enrollment form, a key turning point.

Case Study 3: Community-Wide Change (Village Meetings)

• Problem: A young man publicly stated that girls’ education leads to “love marriages” and “short clothes.”

• Solution: Vijaylakshmi had the headmaster, a respected local influencer, counter the objection.

  • Tactic: The headmaster confirmed that his own educated daughter was not “spoiled,” reframing school as academic learning rather than cultural values (taught at home).

  • Outcome: The community laughed, tension diffused, and the headmaster offered on-the-spot admissions.

• Problem: Parents cited household chores as the reason girls must stay home.

• Solution: Sarpanch Madhuri used a local success story.

  • Tactic: A girl who had returned to school recited the English alphabet, making her grandfather (Hitan) visibly proud.

  • Outcome: Hitan publicly committed to keeping his granddaughter in school, creating a powerful peer-pressure ally.

FATHOM AI-generated notes, E. & O. E.