E-Paper
EVF US to spread literacy in Indian tribal areas
The aim is to establish one lakh Ekal Vidyalayas by 2010 against nearly 16,000 now, writes Lalit K Jha.
Encouraged by the overwhelming response from the non-residents Indian to provide fund to open single-teacher schools in remote and inaccessible tribal areas, the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, US has set a target to raise nearly Rs 9 crore for its literacy project in India this year.
A non-governmental organisation, considered to be close to the Sangh Parivaar, the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation last year raised funds to sponsor a little under 5,000 single-teacher schools in remote rural and tribal areas of India.
Seeking contribution from the NRIs - on the basis of one dollar a day or $ 365 per year to sponsor one such school -- Basant Tariyal, chief executive officer of the Ekal Vidyalaya Global, told HindustanTimes.com, in an exclusive interview: "By the year 2010, we want the EVF (Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation), US to sponsor more than 35,000 such schools in India."
In all, he said, the global movement wants to establish one lakh Ekal Vidyalayas in India by the year 2010 against nearly 16,000 now. The movement, which made a modest start way back in 1986, was inspired by a US-returned nuclear scientist, Rakesh Popli and his wife Rama Popli, a child education expert, probably on the lines of a similar one-room school in rural areas of the US, which are fast diminishing now. The US chapter, which is now known as the EVF, US was launched in 2001.
Giving details, Tariyal said the concept of single-teacher schools in untouched parts of India was fast catching up among the NRIs.
Tariyal, who hails from Uttaranchal, and has worked in Lucent Technologies and AT&T before leading a retired life in the US, said, " We NRIs believe if India has to develop, education has to be given top priority. No doubt we have achieved remarkable in the field of science and technology, but we need to reach the unreached areas and educated our illiterates."
As such, he argued, a large number of people were coming forward all over the US to open and sponsor such schools. Working in India through a network of NGOs - who receive funds from the EVF, US - Tariyal said, "We keep a close watch on the schools we sponsor. Many of the donors make it a point to visit these schools once in a while."
Recently, Tariyal his wife and two sons trekked down to a remote part of Uttaranchal for six hours to personally visit one of such schools.
Sponsorship, he said, mainly comes through individual donors or fund-raisers. In fact, a just a few years, the EVF, US has its chapters in as many as 25 US cities and spreading fast.
While most of the donors are professionals like scientists, doctors and engineers, but bulk of the donation comes from the businessmen and industrialists.
"Florida-based Brahm Ratan Aggarwal has sponsored as many as 1,000 schools. He is the biggest donor of Ekal Vidyalaya so far," he said.
Even many important US citizens too have been coming forward to sponsor such schools. For instance, recently at a fund- raiser at Washington DC, president of the Marshall University Michael Farrell adopted an Ekal school.
Giving details of the functioning of Ekal Vidyalaya, Tariyal said the amount $365 per school per annum goes towards paying the teachers honorarium, maintaining school, providing teaching materials. Normally a school is adopted for five years. During this period, we ensure that the school becomes financially independent and do not require further sponsorship.
Tariyal said, once an individual makes donation, he can watch the progress of the school from the Ekal website. The local chapters organise donor appreciation day.
Ekal Vidyalaya, he claimed, is more than a literacy program. "Our main objective is to provide value-based primary education to tribal and other underprivileged communities in rural India. The movement takes a unique and effective approach to self-empowerment of the tribal villagers of India," he said.
