In drought-affected districts of Maharashtra, 17-year-old Ramati Mangla walks kilometres each day to fetch water and often returns after school has already started. Local officials say nearly 2 million people in Nashik and Nandurbar face daily water shortages. UNESCO and UNICEF warn that climate disruptions and longer water-collection duties are pushing girls out of classrooms. Mangla’s story is part of a photography series by Shefali Rafiq for the 2025 Marai Photo Grant, an AFP award honouring the late Shah Marai.
Dry Wells, Lost Classrooms: Maharashtra Drought Forces Girls to Choose Between Water and Education
In drought-affected districts of Maharashtra, 17-year-old Ramati Mangla walks kilometres each day to fetch water and often returns after school has already started. Local officials say nearly 2 million people in Nashik and Nandurbar face daily water shortages. UNESCO and UNICEF warn that climate disruptions and longer water-collection duties are pushing girls out of classrooms. Mangla’s story is part of a photography series by Shefali Rafiq for the 2025 Marai Photo Grant, an AFP award honouring the late Shah Marai.
09:59 AM, 11/18/2025Society
Dry wells, longer walks — and fewer girls in school
Each morning 17-year-old Ramati Mangla sets out barefoot with a steel pot, walking several kilometres to fetch water from a distant spring in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. By the time she returns, classes have already begun.
"I have kept my books," she said. "But what if I never get a chance to go back?"
In drought-hit villages across Nashik and Nandurbar districts, traditional wells are running dry and rainfall has become increasingly erratic. The resulting water scarcity has forced families to adapt to harsher living conditions and to redistribute household responsibilities.
With many men migrating to nearby cities in search of work, girls like Mangla are often left to shoulder the daily duty of collecting water — a chore that can take several hours and leaves little time for school. Local officials estimate that nearly two million people in these districts face daily shortages of potable water.
Global agencies warn that the effect goes beyond immediate hardship. A 2021 UNESCO report cautioned that climate-related disruptions could push millions of girls worldwide out of classrooms. UNICEF has highlighted how children living in drought-prone areas, who must fetch water, often struggle to attend school regularly because collection now takes longer and water sources are frequently polluted.
Teachers in the region report a sharp decline in girls' attendance in recent years, particularly during the driest months. Families under severe economic strain sometimes see no option but to keep daughters at home or to consider early marriage, further jeopardising girls’ education and future prospects.
Mangla’s situation is documented in a photography series by Shefali Rafiq, produced for the 2025 Marai Photo Grant. The grant, organised by Agence France-Presse in memory of Shah Marai, is open to South Asian photographers aged 25 and under; the 2025 theme examined how climate change affects daily life and local communities.
Shah Marai, the former AFP photo chief in Kabul and an inspiration to many Afghan photographers, was killed in a suicide attack on 30 April 2018. The Marai Photo Grant honours his legacy by elevating young photographers who document pressing social and environmental issues.
Why this matters: The story of Ramati Mangla illustrates a growing, global pattern: climate stress multiplies household burdens and deepens existing inequalities, often forcing the most vulnerable — particularly girls — to sacrifice education for survival.