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Where We Are Working
Our first activities started in the shanty-towns of Rashbehari and Beltala, in Calcutta, at the end of 1997. This was followed by the opening of new schools in other parts of this town. In 1999, we moved on to the Sunderban islands, specifically to Chatua and Chapla, to help finance new village schools. Since then, we have built three new country schools. Since 2001, we have extended our activities into villages in the state of Bihar, 500 kilometres north of Calcutta. Having built our first school in January 2002 in the district of Gaya, we have since built three others there. Our adventure continued, starting in the summer of 2005, in the state of Rajasthan. First of all, we opened end 2005 our first school in the Thar desert, in Rataria Ki Dhani. Since then, we have opened two new schools in the district of Jaisalmer.
Calcutta and the state of Bengal
Everything started in Calcutta in the autumn of 1997. We explored the most destitute areas of this city to see where it was possible to work. Thus, in collaboration with other Bengali institutes, we were able to open, under the banner of “Schools of the World”, more than ten schools in shanty-towns in areas such as Beltala, Jhaldarmath, Kidderpur, Rashbehari, Tollygunge, Shantospur, Jihlmill.
Next, we moved on to the Sunderban islands in the Ganges delta where we set out to help children in those rural areas where there were no schools. Here we opened four village schools for children in the rural areas of Bubaneswari, Chatua, Ganga Sagar and Purba Gurgaria, Purba Jotta, Raidigi.
Starting in 1998, we established a health unit in order to provide medical assistance to each child. Our pupils have since then continued to benefit from this care.
Bodhgaya and the state of Bihar
After our start-up in Calcutta and armed with this experience, we moved on to Bihar, a very poor Indian state to the north of Calcutta. In the district of Gaya, we opened our first village school in Aitra in January 2002. We named it Camijuli, a school with more than 1000 children from the 12 surrounding villages. Today, we operate in the state of Bihar four big country schools that take care of the educational needs of children from some 50 villages.
We attach a great importance to our activities in the countryside. We are present in those areas where there is little chance that other organisations will go to do the same work. These are very remote areas which require tens of kilometres along ramshackle roads to reach many villages such as Itra, Nayan Bigha, Mokari, Kachouri, Hasnapur, Piparyia, Pachanma, Kuri, Bangha, Pacchati.
In these rural areas, just as in Calcutta, we operate a regular medical service. Each week a doctor visits our schools. Since its establishment, there has been a significant improvement in the health of our children.
Apart from our schools, we are developing an infrastructure for apprenticeships which, in its first phase, is addressing the needs of young women and mothers from the villages. At a later stage, we expect to be able to offer the same service to the youth coming from these same remote rural areas.
Jaisalmer and the state of Rajasthan
Our activities began with a fact-finding visit in August 2005. We surveyed villages in the Thar desert, in the district of Jaisalmer, and we discovered a desert area where life seemed to be confined to the search for water and food. We met children who had never been to school, for a great number of villages had no educational infrastructure at all. We built our first school in the village of Rataria Ki Dhani which is located 50 kilometres from Jaisalmer, the town on the edge of the desert on the way towards the frontier with Pakistan This is our first action of a long venture with a new committee for “Schools of the World” which will undertake new initiatives in this state. A second school in the village of Gala Ki Dhani has been operational since April 2006. Others are following such the last school – Sunbean’s school – built in Garfoorbattha area during this year 2008.
Delhi, the Indian capital
The expansion of our activities in India has required us to develop our infrastructure. “Schools of the World”, which until recently had been operating locally, is to become a national organisation in order to be able to manage new schools throughout the country. For this reason in 2007 we have opened a representation office in Delhi. We also expect to build a school in the shanty-town in the capital very soon. We have decided to open it at the end of this year 2008 in Dichaon Kalan area for the children of its slum.