'I Want to Help Girls Like Me': An Exploration of the Educational Aspirations of Teenage Girls in Kolkata Slums

This qualitative study used participatory visual research in order to develop an understanding of the educational experiences of urban poor adolescent girls in Kolkata and to elicit their capabilities. The sample comprised urban poor girls who were undergoing formal education at a religious, philanthropic primary school in Kolkata. Findings from the drawings and interviews reveal the girls' ambitions to be future providers and breadwinners for their families, roles socially accepted as the preserve of men in India's male-dominated society. Ultimately, longitudinal research on these "first-generation" girls may shed more insight into understanding educational pathways of girls from urban slums and provide more comprehensive understandings of social mobility.