DARPAN SALUTES
EKAL VIDYALAYA
Educating Rural Children An NGO with an aim to educate the rural areas of India and Nepal. By Mrinalini Sundar What everyone believes at Ekal Vidyalaya is that “change is possible and education can be the medium to bring the change in the life of the last man in the last row in the remotest parts
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ack of education is one of the biggest problems faced by the youth of India. While there are a lot of NGOs in place to combat this issue, one that comes to mind is Ekal Vidyalaya. What everyone believes at Ekal Vidyalaya is that “change is possible and education can be the medium to bring the change in the life of the last man in the last row in the remotest parts of India.”
of India.”
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SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021 Reflecting The South-Asian Lifestyle
DARPAN
TM
How it all began... It was an interesting story of how the organization started. As they describe it, it was almost like different streams across the country came
together to merge into a big river that will serve all the villages it passes through. The original team that saw the idea turn into action included Late Dr. Rakesh Kumar Popli (an Indian nuclear physicist), Dr. Rajneesh Arora, Dr. Mahesh Sharma from IIT and Ashok Bhagat from BHU. When all the believers visited Bishanpur in Jharkhand, in the year 1983, they conducted a situational analysis of this tribal area. They immediately picked up that some of the areas that need immediate attention are education, health along social, gender and economic disparities. Dr. Rakesh Popli and Dr. Rajneesh Arora took the initial steps and started teaching informally to the local communities. In the process, they developed a well-planned strategy to teach particularly the children. While their efforts were going strong, in 1985, Shri Shyam Ji Gupta, a social activist with extensive knowledge and experience with the Vanvasi communities in the state of
