Nibeditaa SpeaksAt Swapnopuron School in West Bengal’s Sundarbans, more than 250 women have received tailoring training, opening a path from informal labour to independent earnings. The initiative is redefining education as an opportunity not only for children, but also for the mothers who raise them.
In the Sundarbans, education often enters a woman’s life through her child. She accompanies her daughter to school, enquires about her son’s progress and works to keep the household running so that the next generation can study. But opportunities for her own learning are far more limited.
In the riverine villages of Bishpur, Mamudpur, Hingalganj and Boltala in West Bengal, many women depend on beedi-rolling, agricultural labour and other informal work to supplement household incomes. The work is demanding, earnings are uncertain, and childcare and domestic responsibilities can make it difficult to pursue employment outside the home.
At Swapnopuron School, an initiative led by the Katakhali Swapnopuron Welfare Society (KSWS), mothers are returning to a different kind of classroom. Here, they are learning to stitch garments, create bandhni-inspired clothing and develop skills that can help them earn within their own communities.
The programme has trained more than 250 women, according to the school. Its approach extends beyond vocational instruction: participants are encouraged to develop products, find customers and build the foundations of home-based enterprises.
The idea is simple but significant. Mothers, too, need access to education, skills and opportunities to shape their futures.
When mothers become learners again
Schools are generally evaluated by the children they educate, their examination results and the opportunities their students secure. Swapnopuron School is extending that responsibility to the adults whose circumstances influence children’s access to education.
For a mother struggling to meet household expenses, the ability to earn can affect whether a child has adequate nutrition, school supplies and the support needed to remain in education. Yet women in remote communities often face a difficult choice: continue working in low-paid occupations that can be managed alongside domestic responsibilities, or seek alternatives that may require time, money and mobility they do not have.
The tailoring initiative attempts to bridge that gap by bringing learning closer to home.
Women begin with the fundamentals of stitching and garment-making. They learn to operate sewing machines, develop their craft and produce items that can be sold locally. The process also introduces them to the practical demands of earning from a skill: completing orders, maintaining quality and finding customers.
For participants, the school becomes more than a place associated with their children’s education. It offers an opportunity to acquire knowledge, interact with educators and develop an identity beyond their responsibilities as mothers.
One participant described how knowing school authorities personally made it easier to ask about her children’s progress. She also observed that the children’s awareness of their mothers’ presence at school appeared to encourage greater involvement in their own education.
The connection between adult learning and children’s schooling is not measured by classroom attendance alone. It also lies in whether mothers have the confidence, resources and time to participate more actively in their children’s lives.
From beedi-rolling to tailoring
For generations of women engaged in informal labour, earning money has not necessarily meant having a choice of occupation.
Beedi-rolling allows women to work from home, but it can involve repetitive tasks, exposure to tobacco dust and dependence on intermediaries who determine payment. The flexibility comes at a cost when long hours produce limited returns.
One participant, identified as K in the programme’s account, recalled earning approximately ₹300–₹400 a day through beedi-related work. She said the difference in her new occupation was not only financial but also related to the kind of work she was doing.
The transition to tailoring offers a different possibility: income linked to a marketable skill, with scope to develop a local customer base.
A survey of 133 women across six village clusters found that 119, or approximately 89%, had completed KSWS’s four-month basic tailoring course. Of those surveyed, 72% continued to practise tailoring. Forty-four per cent worked from home, while 29% worked through local craft centres.
The reported earnings varied according to experience and the nature of the work. Women engaged in garment cutting and stitching earned an average of ₹3,000 a month, while established independent producers reported monthly earnings of ₹6,000–₹10,000. The programme’s figures put monthly earnings from beedi-rolling at approximately ₹500–₹1,000.
These figures represent reported outcomes rather than guaranteed earnings for every participant. Nevertheless, they suggest that vocational learning can open an alternative route to income for women whose existing employment offers limited opportunities for advancement.
Access to equipment remains critical. Among the women surveyed, 40% of those who owned sewing machines earned consistently, compared with 4% of those who did not own machines.
The finding highlights a persistent gap in skills-based programmes. Teaching a woman to stitch is only the first step; she also needs the equipment and resources to turn that skill into paid work.
Learning to earn — and finding customers
The programme’s impact is beginning to extend beyond the classroom into the local marketplace.
Women who once had limited alternatives to male tailors are now taking orders from customers in their communities. For participants, this is an opportunity to demonstrate their skills, build trust and establish their own place in a market that has traditionally offered fewer visible options for women.
“Earlier there were only gents’ tailors available in the market. But now, we have taken away half of their sales,” K said.
Her observation reflects the confidence of women who are beginning to see themselves not merely as trainees but as service providers and potential entrepreneurs.
Yet establishing a business involves more than acquiring technical skills. Women must find customers, price their work appropriately, purchase materials and manage orders while continuing to meet household responsibilities.
The social response has not always been supportive, according to K, who attributed some opposition to gender-related tensions. The available account does not establish how widespread such resistance is, but it points to the challenges women may face when their new economic roles disrupt familiar expectations.
Despite this, participants want to continue learning and working. Some are also sharing their knowledge with other women interested in acquiring tailoring skills.
Their progress illustrates why education for adults must be understood as an ongoing process. A training course may provide the initial knowledge, but continued practice, access to markets and the ability to make independent decisions determine whether that learning becomes sustainable.
Small earnings, larger possibilities
For Rina, whose name has been changed, the journey began with small alterations and simple petticoats made for neighbouring families.
Her first week’s earnings were ₹150.
The sum was modest, but it established that the skills she had acquired could generate an income. As she gained experience in pattern cutting and garment stitching, she progressed towards larger orders. She now earns between ₹3,500 and ₹6,000 a month through home-based garment production, according to the programme’s account.
“I used to roll beedis, but now I earn more than double without ruining my health,” she said.
Anita, a mother of two living in a remote village, faced another challenge. Household responsibilities and childcare made travelling for work difficult. She needed to contribute to the family’s finances but lacked the skills and time to pursue employment elsewhere.
She began with basic mending and blouse stitching at home. Her initial earnings of ₹500–₹600 a month helped cover household expenses, including her children’s needs. She now reportedly earns ₹4,000–₹5,000 a month.
Their experiences demonstrate how adult education can create opportunities even when women cannot easily leave their homes to work. They also reveal the limitations of that arrangement.
Home-based employment may offer flexibility, but it does not automatically reduce the unpaid work of cooking, cleaning and childcare. Women can find themselves managing a business alongside responsibilities that remain largely unchanged.
The question, therefore, is not simply whether they can earn. It is whether they can earn adequately without being expected to carry an unchanged burden of domestic labour.
Beyond the sewing machine
The programme’s survey found that 90% of participants reported increased confidence and independence. It also found that 96% held individual bank accounts and 60% were active members of self-help groups.
These indicators offer a broader picture of women’s participation in economic life. Individual bank accounts provide a formal channel for managing money, while self-help groups can offer collective support and opportunities to access credit. However, neither indicator alone establishes whether women have full control over their earnings or enjoy stable employment.
The programme’s account also describes changes within households. As women began contributing financially, some husbands and in-laws reportedly became more supportive, helping with chores and errands so that participants could complete production orders.
Such shifts matter because access to education and employment is influenced by the conditions in which women live. Skills may open a door, but family support, time, equipment and the freedom to make decisions can determine whether a woman is able to walk through it.
The reported results must also be understood in context. Participation in a training programme does not necessarily translate into long-term financial security. Earnings can fluctuate with demand, and the cost of materials, equipment and production may affect how much women ultimately retain.
For Swapnopuron’s model to become more sustainable, participants will need reliable access to fabric, fair pricing, consistent demand and opportunities to reach customers beyond their immediate neighbourhoods. Shared equipment, collective purchasing and coordinated orders could help women manage costs and take on larger volumes of work.
Equally important is ownership. As their businesses develop, women need a meaningful role in setting prices, deciding what to produce and determining how the income from their labour is used.
Satarupa Majumdar, director of Swapnopuron Welfare Society, has emphasised the importance of giving women a say in pricing, production and income distribution as demand grows.
The next test is whether the initiative can help participants move from learning a skill to sustaining an enterprise — without leaving them dependent indefinitely on outside support.
Education that includes the mother
The story unfolding at Swapnopuron School challenges a familiar assumption: that education is primarily an investment in the young.
For women in the Sundarbans, access to learning can be equally consequential. It can provide a way to acquire a new skill, participate more actively in the local economy and begin earning without abandoning the responsibilities that constrain their choices.
For Rina, a first week’s income of ₹150 marked the beginning of a new livelihood. For Anita, basic stitching became a means of contributing to household expenses. For other participants, the ability to attract customers has created an opportunity to establish their work in their own communities.
“Their experiences do not establish that economic independence has been achieved for every woman. The durability of these gains will depend on regular orders, viable earnings, access to equipment and women’s control over the income they generate. But the initiative offers a compelling lesson about the meaning of education. A mother need not stop learning when her child enters school. Nor should her aspirations be limited to ensuring that the next generation has opportunities she never had. More importantly, she is taking her own decisions at the end of the day,” said Founder secretary at Swapnapuron Welfare Society Satarupa Majumdar.
A school fulfils a larger purpose when its classrooms make room for mothers to learn, earn and shape their own futures. In the Sundarbans, the lasting measure of this initiative will be whether the women who leave the training room can continue building livelihoods — and making decisions about their lives — long after the final lesson ends.
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