We are building free libraries and children’s play schools in remote tribal villages in India, hoping to facilitate children and elementary school goers with the books & study materials. It is a small effort to further literacy within the communities of rural India and encouraging children & youth to take up reading & learning.
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.
C S Lewis
The global tensions these days, the wars & the merciless killings, the decimation of climate, the decay of families & relationships all seem to suggest that we as humans are severely deprived of some of the fundamental values of life.
Our mission is to try & reinstate those values in children through heritage education & bringing the modern knowledge of science & technology to those who are hit the hardest & help them raise their voices.
Heritage Education & Learning
The Indian heritage, while is becoming more and more popular & adopted in the West, is slowly losing its vitality within the Indian communities. In an honest effort by a few who are passionate about learning, education & advancement, we hope to build small community libraries & assisted schools for elementary education in tribal dominated regions of India.
Our first play school & library, named Sphoorthy, is coming live in Balrampur in Chhattisgarh, India. The school will be co-managed by the rural tribal communities of Balrampur since the locals have expressed a tremendous appetite for education.
Sphoorthy will be able to provide assistance to children under the age of 12 with books, educational assets, help build their cognitive & structural skills and expose them to modern educational & technical tools. Our children come from numerous tribal communities of the Korwas, Gonds, Kanwars & the Pandos, the major tribes in the Balrampur region.
We have also started to work with the Kabir Math in Varanasi, for setting up a similar library & assisted play school for an orphanage they run for 150+ children. The Kabir Chaura Math follows the traditional Gurukul tradition of education and focuses on man-making education rather than grade-building progression!
Opportunity to Help Rebuild Tribal Communities
Much like us, if you are passionate about education & deeply interested in helping further literacy, you have numerous ways to help. We have been inspired by numerous people & today, there are over 150 registered individuals volunteering & contributing financially towards rebuilding the backbone of Indian communities through education.
There are numerous ways to help:
- Start your own educational foundation with your friends – there are tons of resources available to help you get started. We can help you from our experiences & learnings. Unicef & WHO have numerous programs running in remote Indian villages focused on literacy & education
- Work with us. We have numerous volunteering opportunities. Whether you prefer to lead or follow, we can always use a helping hand for one of our Heritage Education & Learning Programs
- Join us to implement our plans & operate our libraries & play schools by making a small financial contribution
- Join our Book Drive & help replenish our libraries
Without your support & those of our volunteers, sponsors & donors, we will not be able to sustain our operations. We have plans to build 2 more play schools and libraries in the next 2 years. Your assistance will go a long way to help us in our plans to build free schools and libraries for children.
Furthering Education in Tribal Communities of India
Our philosophy stems from one of Mark Twain’s famous quotes:
A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.
Mark Twain
Our effort is to bring worthwhile books to the doorsteps, so anyone willing to read & learn, can grow. While the Indian government has all the right intentions to uplift the literacy standards, almost all their plans fail due to poor implementations, corruptions, political rivalry & the base human attitude of those in power to deprive the less fortunate. Our efforts go in places where the community have realized the need for education & are willing to co-partner with us to sustain our efforts.
The Indian tribal communities are unique in their own ways & customs. Mostly from the hunter-gatherer lifestyles, they demonstrate primitive traits, geographical isolation, distinct culture, economically challenged & shy of contact with community at large. Years of being subjected to exploitation, depravation & violence have alienated our ethnic communities. Today they are more afraid than ever – afraid to ask, afraid to survive & afraid to grow!
Out of approximately 705 Scheduled Tribes of India (based of 2011 census), they constitute about 9% of the total national population, with about 75 classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups with extremely low literacy & living in extreme poverty.
Almost 70% of the Indian tribal population can be found in the central Indian states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh & Odisha, making Balrampur an ideal location for our first free library & play school.
Book Drive for the Free Libraries
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi
We are seeking book donations for elementary schools, from pre-kindergarten to the 5th Grade. New books are preferred but if you have books that are in good conditions, please consider donating them. We seek variety and diversity in our library. Books that are easy to read, entertaining yet educational, builds curiosity and engages children are always welcome.
Please read details on how to send books.