In many Indian villages, a girl’s life after Class 12 follows a familiar script. Marriage. A degree with no clear outcome. Or hard labour that offers survival, but no growth. Career is rarely part of the conversation.
Surabhi Yadav saw this reality up close and refused to accept it.
“In villages, girls are told from childhood not to dream too big,” she says. “I wanted to change this.”
That belief became Sajhe Sapne.
Meaning “Shared Dreams,” Sajhe Sapne is an organisation that helps young rural women, especially from marginalised caste groups, build real careers in the modern workforce.
The organisation’s first Sapna Centre was set up in Kandbari, a small village in Himachal Pradesh. It was a residential centre, designed as a rural college model. Here, girls went through a mini-MBA programme, learning communication, English, computer skills, workplace readiness, and basic management.
“The Sapna Centre supports girls end-to-end, from education to employment,” Surabhi explains. “Just like a college would.”
But working on the ground revealed another truth. Distance mattered.
While the Himachal centre ran successfully for four years, many families were still hesitant to send their daughters far away from home. Safety concerns, social pressure, and tradition often stood in the way.
To take the change closer to where it was needed most, Surabhi opened a non-residential Sapna Centre in Nadwan, a village just 30 minutes from Patna, Bihar.
The shift changed everything.
“When a Sapna Centre exists within the village, something powerful happens,” Surabhi says. “Girls begin forming a group. They start seeing each other try new things. Slowly, the atmosphere changes.”
In these centres, learning isn’t rigid or intimidating. There is laughter, debate, mistakes, and growth. Girls sit with laptops, practise English conversations, learn professional skills and most importantly, begin imagining futures that once felt impossible.
What started with one girl and one centre has now expanded across 90+ villages in 9 states, training over 150 young women. Today, Sajhe Sapne graduates, known as Sapnewalis, work in roles ranging from project management and coding to math teaching and other professional fields.
More than 80% of Sajhe graduates remain in the workforce years after completing the programme, a number that quietly challenges the belief that rural women won’t, or can’t, sustain careers.
For many Sapnewalis, their first income; sometimes up to ₹20,000 a month; is transformational. It brings confidence, independence, and a new place of respect within their families and communities.
“At Sajhe, we are not talking about livelihood,” Surabhi says. “We are talking about growth and freedom. Moving from livelihood to career and agency.”
Looking ahead, Sajhe Sapne’s vision is ambitious and deeply rooted in trust. Over the next 3–5 years, Surabhi hopes that 20% of girls completing Class 12 in any given state will have access to earning and learning opportunities for at least a year.
“Our dream is simple,” she says. “Wherever 20 girls stand up and say, ‘We want to study,’ we will open a Sapna Centre there.”
In this episode of Force For Good Heroes, Brut follows the journey of Sajhe Sapne, from one shared dream to hundreds of futures in motion.
Because sometimes, change doesn’t begin with a revolution. It begins when one girl says, “I want to learn.”
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