Ekal Vidyalaya

Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation

Formation	1999
Type	NGO
Purpose	Education & Primary Health in Tribal Areas
Location	India, United States
Region served	India
Website	www.ekal.org

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is a non-profit organisation that operates single-teacher schools in underdeveloped parts of India, with over 2,100 schools as of April 2008.

History

Although the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation was registered as charitable trust in 1999, the concept has been in practice and refined over decades.

Foundation laid by Vivekananda: In 1986, inspired by the efforts of early Vivekananda workers, a group of young educationists began work with the primitive tribes in the dense forests of Jharkhand. Notable amongst them were Late Dr. Rakesh Popli (a USA-returned nuclear scientist) and his wife Rama Popli (a child education expert). They refined the concept of the 'one-teacher school' amongst the tribes of Gumla (125 km away from Ranchi (Jharkhand), Chhatisgarh. Two years later, Shri Madan Lalji Agarwal established similar schools in 60 villages near Dhanbad.

Impact of the Jharkhand experiment: By 1995-1996 there were 1200 schools being run in Jharkhand. Jharkhand's experiment with the one-teacher,en emiment industrialist one-school non formal education concept was extraordinary. Overall literacy rates in Jharkand doubled; the literacy rate soared from approximately 30 to 60 percent, with youth literacy surpassing those numbers. Furthermore, during the same time frame, health workers noticed a sharp decline in diseases caused by non-hygienic practices, witchcraft, and alcoholism. Inspired by the success of the Jharkand experiment, organizations around the country adopted the concept. Many organizations including Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra and Friends of Tribal Society (FTS) have been the frontrunners in propagating this cause and have brought education to the doorsteps of many forgotten children.

Spreading of the Movement: In last decade, organizations from all over the country have joined the Ekal Vidyalaya movement. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India serves as the umbrella organization for various NGOs that run one-teacher schools in their respective areas. In the year 2000-2001, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India (EVFI) was established in New Delhi. From December of 2001, a CEO was appointed to look after the trust's activities. In January of 2001, the EVFI international fundraising arm was begun. One month later, the FCRA granted this arm the right to receive foreign contributions. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India and America are working earnestly, hand-in-hand, to help raise the funds necessary to build 100,000 non-formal schools across the tribal belt by the year 2015.

Mission

Literate India: While it is making giant advances in software, space, and nuclear power, India is paradoxically still struggling with questions of basic literacy for a large segment of its population. Upon independence, India's literacy rate was a staggering 11 percent. Since then, we have made tremendous advances in educating our people. Still, more than six decades after independence, 65.4% India is still illiterate. Even worse off is the position of tribal India, which has a literacy rate below 30 percent. The Ekal Vidyalaya movement aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India by 2015. To date, Ekal Vidyalaya is a movement of over 26,719 teachers, 5,000 (Approximately) voluntary workers, 22 field organizations (scattered in 22 Indian states), and 8 support agencies as on January 2009. With this tremendous human force, the Ekal Vidyalaya movement strives to create a network of non-formal schools that will educate and empower children in rural and tribal India. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is a charitable trust that initiates, supports, and runs non-formal one-teacher schools (popularly known as Ekal Vidyalayas) all over the country. With the participation of numerous non-profit trusts and organizations, this program has now become the greatest non-governmental education movement in the country.

The Paradox:While Indians have succeeded in flexing their intellectual prowess and in establishing entrepreneurship throughout the world, over a third of India's population is illiterate. Tribal villagers who live in remote areas away from major cities are the worst affected. Often unreachable by road and untouched by electricity, the tribal population is often neglected by agencies of development. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, therefore, has focused its primary education programs on tribals and other underprivileged communities in rural India.

Beyond Literacy: Ekal Vidyalaya goes beyond mere literacy. Apart from its goal of achieving the national standards of Minimum Level of Learning (MLL) for its students, Ekal Vidyalaya also seeks to empower the village community for its own self-development. Ekal Vidyalaya solicits complete involvement of the local community and aims at making the school self-reliant in a period of five to seven years. The donors, supporters and workers of Ekal Vidyalaya are motivated by a commitment to educate our illiterate brothers and sisters. Their unflinching dedication to serve their motherland is the key to our success.

Programs

Functional Literacy Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation provides functional literacy to the children of the villages through Ekal Vidyalayas – i.e. single teacher schools. “Ekal Vidyalayas” are non-formal schools with focus on providing basic literacy skills with emphasis on 3 R's. 1.Reading 2.Writing 3.Arithmetic The curriculum consists of: Language, Mathematics, General Education / Science, Moral values / story telling, Healthcare, Handicraft, Yoga and Physical Education Further, the schools are also oriented to make aware of basic health and hygiene to the children and the villagers. The Ekal schools run on a minimal budget of $1 (Rs. 50.) a day. Teachers are local youths, who have completed some formal education. The teachers are selected and trained by Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation for 4 months, before being deputed as a teacher in a school. The infrastructural facilities for the schools are also minimal. In some cases, the classed are held in the shade of a tree, or in old building in the village. Apart from becoming educational hubs, the Ekal teachers interact with the villagers, and contribute towards the participatory approach and development of the village. Due to this involvement, the Ekal Vidyalayas are also playing the role of transformational influence in rural and tribal communities.

Healthcare Education Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation activities are extended to provide healthcare education to villagers. The Ekal teacher collects data of the villagers, healthcare facilities, disease incidences and common health issues of the village. These are then reviewed by upper level management teams of the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, and a plan is designed to provide healthcare education, services and access to facilities to the village. The teacher is then trained to provide education and awareness on following areas: Personal Hygiene, Sanitation, Nutrition, Awareness and identification of diseases such as malaria & diarrhea, Maternal and childcare The healthcare education and awareness activities are done through training camps, showing charts, healthcare awareness programs and health centers (Chikitsa Kendra) in the villages or at the block or district levels. The trained teacher provides several levels of education or awareness to the children the villagers, and the housewives to take care of their and their families' health. In many cases, the teacher takes an active role in leading the change towards cleaning up the village, constructing toilets, or creating other sanitation facilities. Depending on the requirement, the teacher is also trained as a primary health worker to serve the villagers at the time of need.

Development Education Through development education, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation's objective is to make villagers self reliant and utilize local resources. The focus of the development education is to train the villagers on agricultural and natural resource management activities. Some of our projects are include: Vermicompost, Plantation, herbal and fruit bearing, Water management, Vegetable cultivation, Cattle care, Self help groups. Further, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation also helps the villagers to create self-help groups and help in development activities.

Empowerment Education Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation believes in empowering the people to establish "Gram Swaraj" or "Self Governance" as visioned by Mahatma Gandhi. It Includes Instill self pride through heritage awareness, Working knowledge about local government functionary, Awareness about constitutional rights, Importance of voting, Make "Panchayat" effective and functional.To enable this, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation volunteers and executives try to provide working knowledge about local government functionary and awareness about the "Right to Information" Act to villagers. To enhance their participation in the governance, Ekal Teachers emphasize the importance of voting to villagers. In many villages, Ekal Foundation has been a catalyst to revive the Panchayat System of the village or to make the system functional and effective towards the village development.

Activities

According to the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, the movement is a large grassroots, non-government education movement in India, operating in over 34,000 villages and educating over 10,00,000 children in rural India. The Ekal Foundation's goal is to reach 100,000 villages in the India tribal belt by 2015. Ekal's philosophy is to take a holistic approach to social and economic development, providing primary school education for children, as well as healthcare, livelihoods and empowerment education for the entire village.

The schools are primarily organized in small villages among India's tribal groups. The local youth who are trained to operate the schools are social workers and teachers, teaching sanitation and health care, literacy and Hindu nationalism. In most of the schools reading and learning materials are scarce and there is strong emphasis on Hindu teachings.

Ekal Vidyalayas are run by the Friends of Tribals Society (FTS). The FTS claims that by 1995-1996 it was running 1,200 schools in Jharkhand. In May 2005 the Union Human Resource Development Ministry stopped grants to Ekal Vidyalayas run by the FTS in collaboration with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad following a study that said the FTS was "misusing these funds, and using the grants for creating disharmony amongst religious groups and creating a political cadre".

International fund raising

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA is active in fundraising. In June 2008 the Atlanta chapter entertained guests with a music program at a fundraising event. In May 2009 the Southern California chapter launched its annual fundraising drive. A benefit concert in Chicago in July 2009 raised $160,000. In September 2009 the San Diego chapter raised about $14,000 at a cultural event featuring music and dance. The organization announced that a similar event in Dallas in November 2009 had been very successful. In May 2010 a fundraising concert in Chicago was attended by over 600 people and raised pledges of $82,525. The same month, Ekal Vidyalaya raised almost $500,000 from five charity shows in the mid-Atlantic region.

EVF Australia was set up in 2004 and as of March 2006 had sponsored 85 schools. In 2006 the National Hindu Students Forum (UK) selected Ekal Vidyalaya as the main recipient of fundraising during its annual Sewa Week drive.

Ekal Vidyalaya Chapters

Wahington DC Chapter Ekal Vidyalaya DC Washington Chapter is actively involved in spreading the word, fund raising and other annual events. This Chapter involves a lots of doctors, young IT professionals, professors and students. All memebers stand side by side to organize local events and help raise the funds. DC Chapter had record of generating about 500 schools worth donation every year. Washington DC Chapter organizes 4 yearly events to spread the word and increase awareness though out DC region.

North West (Seattle) Chapter Ekal North West (Seattle) Chapter is a group of various professionals with enthusiasm and concern about the world. The objective is to see that each and every one in the world is able to receive the best education and go to the highest possible positions. The chapter is driven by strong bharatiya ethos that clearly articulated from time immemorial that the world is one family and is proud of native origins, culture, traditions and religion. Many of the members are from rural and tribal areas where exploitation is norm due to illiteracy and bad habits. The chapter's resolve is to make Ekal Vidyalaya movement a grand success in Greater Seattle making friends for life in due process.

Supporting Organizations

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India (EVFI) is an independent umbrella organization that facilitates the development of one-teacher schools throughout the rural and tribal regions of India. The movement is spreading with the assistance of various education-based NGO's (Non-Governmental Organizations) active in different regions. These NGOs have long believed in the Ekal Vidyalaya concept and have a firm understanding of the local area. Thus, rather than competing with these organizations for funds and local loyalty, Ekal Vidyalaya has joined hands with regional teams to build a stronger, nationwide, tribal education program. There are essentially two types of organizations under the Ekal Vidyalaya umbrella: 1. Support Organisation (SPO): Supporting agencies that help fund the work and connect donors to the education movement. 2. State Volunteer Organization(SVO) : Field organizations that have expertise with education in a particular region

Some of the field organizations through which Ekal works are:

Friends of Tribals Society - Kolkata

Bharat Lok Shiksha Parishad - Delhi

Bharatiya Janseva Pratishthan - Rajasthan

Bharatiya Janseva Sansthan - Gujarat

Swami Vivekananda Cultural Society - Kerala

Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society - Tamilnadu

Janhita - Andhra Pradesh

Uttar Purbanchal Janjati Seva Samity - Assam

Arogya Foundation of India - Delhi

Purbanchal Janjati Shiksha Samity - Assam

Seva Bharati, Bhopal - Madhya Pradesh

Seva Bharati, Raipur - Chhattisgarh

Keshav Seva Kendra - West Bengal

Birsa Sewa Prakalp - Bihar, Jharkhand

Yoga Khsem Trust - Rajasthan

Bharatiya Seva Trust - Gujarat

Utthan Nyas - Orissa

Vikas Bharati - Ranchi

Gram Vikas Foundation - Delhi

The various partner organizations all follow common methodologies, concepts, guidelines, rules and regulations developed and polished over the years.

See also

• Literacy in India