On a mission to educate rural women

K. Meena, former vice-chancellor of Bharatidasan University, remembers carting a boxy personal computer in the 1990s in a van to the villages near Tiruchi and the look on the faces of the people who w

K. Meena, former vice-chancellor of Bharatidasan University, remembers carting a boxy personal computer in the 1990s in a van to the villages near Tiruchi and the look on the faces of the people who would crowd around them immediately. “There was a lot of curiosity; like a circus had come to town. Our team would explain the different parts of the machine, and allow children to play basic games on it.” In 2021, the story is totally different. “Now I take a laptop and approach women in rural areas to show them how the computer can be a tool of empowerment,” she said. Ms. Meena, 59, has had a long and distinguished career in higher education. She was the first woman vice-chancellor of Bharatidasan University (2010 to 2013) and has served in both academic and administrative capacities in several educational institutions in Tiruchi for over two decades. She has balanced this with a voluntary mission to educate rural women about technology, particularly the vocational skills that can help them with employment.