Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya (BPSMV) is a unique institution. It has been set up with a dream to emancipate women. The dream is to ensure that women gain an equal status in the society of today through pursuit of knowledge and realization of their rights and responsibilities.
BPSMV is the ‘dream come true’ of Bhagat Phool Singh. One marvels at the profound vision of the saint who thought ahead of his times to envisage emancipation of women through education. It is hard to imagine that in the rural, backward heartland of the erstwhile undivided Punjab in pre-independence era with skewed sex ratio, one could think of women education. Starting with just three girls in 1936, now the university has around 7000 girls on its rolls. From a mere gurukul to a full fledged university with 17 UTDs, 3 Institutes and 2 Regional Centres, BPSMV has undergone a complete transformation. From a remote village, it now caters to the academic and research demands of students from 13 states belonging to different castes, creeds and religions. In this sense, it offers a microcosm of India with the underlying unity in diversity.
The logo of the institution wherein where four shapes of women emerge, also underscores the core strength of the institution. While the first three stand for the three girls with whom Bhagat Ji started the gurukul in 1936, the fourth girl radiating light symbolizes every girl, woman of the world encompassing in her person all that women stand for.
BPSMV has proved to be a boon for the girls of not only this area but the surrounding states as well to and has been instrumental in increasing the literacy rate and the Gross Enrolment Ratio of women in higher education. It is said that if you educate a boy, you educate a person. If you educate a girl, you educate two families. The real impact of the institution in the society can be gauged from the success stories of the second, third and even fourth generations of the alumna many of whom are serving the nation in key positions including NABARD chairman, IAS, IPS, etc. A majority of the women educationists of the nearby areas have been the alumna of the institution – a fact that speaks volumes about the tremendous impact of the institution in the lives of rural girls/women.
BPSMV has emancipated women from the traditional, conservative mindset. The women who could not think of coming out of their veils are now increasingly realizing their potential and achieving ever-new milestones of success, rising above social taboos and breaking glass ceiling. Another uniqueness of the institution lies in its offering education from KG to PhD level under one roof since its inception – a key concept of the NEP 2020. Again, it is the unique example of the Society’s CSR wherein a fully-operational group of institutions established purely through philanthropic means was handed over to the State Government in the larger interest of the community.
The University has effectively struck a fine balance between tradition with modernity. While on one hand, the chanting of mantras reverberate the campus, thus maintaining the umbilical cord with our rich Vedic traditions, all useful features of modern educational system have been incorporated so as to enable the students to keep pace with the changing times.
Ever committed to its dream of empowering women, the University has initiated a lot of extension activities in surrounding area of the university, especially in rural belt, to create awareness about societal issues. It is pertinent to mention here that 60-70% population of India lives in villages and approximately half of them are women. The University has successfully targeted this chunk of Indian population through its various outreach programmes. Apart from the regular awareness programmes to sensitize the illiterate rural women about the various Government welfare schemes, the University has offered skills development opportunities to university girls and rural women from neighboring villages through its various training initiatives.
Hero Motocorp in collaboration with UNDP has established Driving School on the university campus to make rural women self-reliant in terms of mobility which has trained more than 750 girls/women in riding two-wheelers.
Further, Apparel Skill Development Academy (ASDA) is established under the MoU between BPSMV and UNDP. Matrix Clothing Gurugram, in collaboration with Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India is the industrial partner in this project to provide the industrial expertise. Around 400 girls and women residing in nearby areas have been trained by certified assessors and have got placement and entrepreneurial assistance.
The university has also developed modules for a three-month certificate course on Panchayati Raj through its Department of Management Studies, BPSMV in the form of an edited book for the elected officials of Panchayti Raj institutions under an MOU with HIRD, Nilokheri.
Mission Saahasi, organised from 10 to16 October 2018, has emancipated our girl students in terms of self-defence techniques.
Every institution has a distinct character. Working in the distant, interior, rural hinterlands of Haryana, the University takes pride in its social impact in the region in terms of improving sex ratio, literacy rate and Gross Enrolment Ratio of women over the years. This contribution is in no way less significant than that of Universities focusing exclusively on research.
Thus, taking confident strides, the University is marching ahead to emancipate women in the real sense of the word. To take up such a mission in remote, underprivileged areas such as Khanpur Kalan, Kharal, Bhainswal Kalan and Krishan Nagar, exacts tremendous courage, unswerving faith and indomitable spirit. Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya has brought about a significant change in the mindset of the people by engaging them into the very process of emancipation of women so as to ensure all-inclusive growth of the society and the nation.
