In the district that shaped Shri Motilal Oswal’s earliest years, hundreds of women have done something remarkable: years after marriage, work or circumstance closed the school gates, they have passed their Class 10. The Motilal Oswal Foundation and Educate Girls today celebrated the journey of women in Balotra district, Rajasthan, who returned to learning and sat the Rajasthan State Open School (RSOS) Class 10 examinations, the first year of the Foundation’s plan to invest nearly Rs. 100 crore over ten years in the region.
Of around 300 women enrolled in the first year, 270 sat the exam, a 90 per cent appearance rate, after a 500 hours of classroom teaching. 109 cleared every subject on their first attempt, 25 scored above 60 per cent with the highest mark at 71 per cent, and a further 161 cleared all but one paper and will reappear in six months.
The celebration in Balotra was attended by District Collector Shri Sushil Kumar Yadav as Chief Guest, and Shri Motilal Oswal, Trustee, Motilal Oswal Foundation.
Commenting on the milestone, Shri Motilal Oswal, Trustee, Motilal Oswal Foundation, said, “We have always believed in Learn, Earn and Return. My association with this land, which gave me my beginnings and early values, makes this a full-circle moment. Every woman who has chosen to return to the classroom has shown remarkable determination and resilience, and we are proud to stand with them as they build confidence and unlock new opportunity.”
Balotra shaped Shri Oswal’s early years; his hometown, Padru, lies in the district’s Siwana tehsil. Over five years, the Foundation’s rural education and livelihood programme aims to benefit over 1 lakh children, 5,000 youth and 25,000 farmers, and to create nearly 400 local jobs.
The class 10 milestone is one strand of a wider effort across Balotra and Barmer. In its first year, the programme strengthened early learning for over 42,000 children through 3,500-plus anganwadi centres, surveyed 383 villages to identify over 4,000 out-of-school girls and 1,000 women for RSOS certification, brought digital classrooms to 21 government schools, and put its first 150-plus youth through employment-linked skilling that has begun placing them in jobs.
For the long term, the Foundation has acquired 87 bighas in Balotra to build a flagship institution, the Ansidevi Gopilal Oswal Kaushal Evam Krishi Vikas Sansthan (AGOKEKVS), a centre for rural skilling, entrepreneurship and agri-innovation that aims to train over 2,000 youth in future-ready skills in its first three years.
Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls, said, “For many women, returning to education is an opportunity to reclaim aspirations that were once put on hold and create new possibilities for themselves and their families. The graduation of these 270 women is a powerful reminder that it is never too late to learn, and that when women are given a second chance at education, the impact is felt across generations. We are proud to celebrate their determination and grateful to the Motilal Oswal Foundation for partnering with us to make this journey possible.”