[Round Three Winner: 1/8] Ananth Kumar—Education of rural ‘Out-of-system’ children

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We run a free, quasi-residential school for out-of-system children in a village.

Impacting Lives

2007 a boy joined us, he was 16 years old. He had dropped out from the school after 5 years, father was not staying with the family, mother was working as a domestic help. Did he have a school anywhere else, 16-year-old? No. He came to us seeking a job, and I asked him “are you interested in studying?”  He said yes, can you stay here? Yes. Slowly started showing interest, then he passed in 2010 same exam as city urban children. In first attempt, he passed. Now, he is studying, he is in second year.

The mainstream education system works on the philosophy that children are for the school, but our school works in the philosophy that the school is for children. We are ready to bend any rule in order to make a child happily learn.

What makes the school different?

The mainstream education system works on the philosophy that children are for the school, but our school works in the philosophy that the school is for children. We are ready to bend any rule in order to make a child happily learn.

Whenever a child comes to our school, they get a lot of love, from the teacher, from other children, we make them feel very comfortable, we care for them, we take care of their food, and their basic needs— everything we take care.

Then when the child’s comfort level is good, we come one-to-one, we test his present knowledge of the subjects, and we start from known to unknown.

Eco-friendly school

Environment-education program is going on for the city-going children, but in our school children subconsciously develop the awareness because of the facilities created there: we have rainwater harvesting system, almost we store 24,000 litres of water, then we have solar-powered computer lab, then we have eco-sanitation with human waste also, it’s being used.

We have rainwater harvesting system, almost we store 24,000 litres of water, then we have solar-powered computer lab, then we have eco-sanitation with human waste also, it’s being used.

500+ Youth Volunteers

If a school can create awareness among 500 youth of the city about the importance of rural education, I think it’s a wonderful thing. They do a lot of work, actually: they have built an emotional rapport with the kids; they have done a lot of physical work: every weekend they take our school van, they collect newspapers, they sell them off, and give us the money; they have created our website; and youth is the backbone of our school.

If you would like to learn more about helping rural India rise through education, or if you’d like to volunteer for them, check out their page at http://www.sparktherise.com/projectdetail.php?pid=4751

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