The U.N. is transporting therapeutic milk by helicopter to Kanya and Kanyabayonga to feed hundreds of malnourished children.

CNN: U.N.: Gunmen kill woman while trying to rape girl at camp

Farther north, thousands have fled the town of Kanya and are "hiding in the bush" after fighting there, the U.N. reported.

CNN: U.N.: Gunmen kill woman while trying to rape girl at camp

The alternative might be no school for girls, Arora acknowledged, adding that many parents want their daughters to attend Amar Chand Kanya.

CNN: For a girl in rural India, education is a difficult pursuit

Themes such as untouchability were tackled by Bombay Talkies's Achhut Kanya (1936) and yet again in 1959 by Bimal Roy in Sujata.

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Many parents want to keep boys and girls separate in schools beginning at the intermediate education level, says Shrimohan Arora, school manager at the Amar Chand Kanya Intermediate College for girls in Atrauli, Uttar Pradesh state.

CNN: For a girl in rural India, education is a difficult pursuit

Conditions at Amar Chand Kanya are basic.

CNN: For a girl in rural India, education is a difficult pursuit