Vision

Our vision is to build necessary infrastructure, engage good teachers and impart quality education in those areas where it is non-existent.

We started this endeavour in Uttarakhand after the devastating floods of 2013 where life had come to absolute halt. After realizing that silent victims of that disaster were kids, we tried to help their families and support their education. Currently we are running tuition centres, computer centres and libraries to supplement their formal education
 

Motivation

While working with children for a long time, we have witnessed many gaps in formal education provided by government run institutions. Most schools work in dilapidated buildings with few teachers and few amenities. Most teachers, often intimidated by wild terrain and difficult living conditions choose to avoid rigorous tenure by seeking transfers once they are posted. And some of them choose not to serve by engaging in absenteeism.

And some teachers who chose to serve in government schools clearly lack necessary skills in relevant subjects. These problems obviously reflect upon children’s education and there are serious gaps in the education levels while comparing with students from other urban areas. Also there are many dropouts among children especially girls due to lack of toilets in government schools. These appalling standards in government run educational institutions are prime reasons of backwardness and unemployment in those regions. We realized that mere supplementation by running tuition centres and other means don’t make any serious impact. We feel that good primary education can be a game changer for all students as it can really be a good foundation for future education.
 

School

Location

We have identified a location at Kumarkot Village , 50 km away from Uttarkashi on Uttarkashi- Buda Kedhar highway. This location is closer to Indo –Tibetan border and will be at the vicinity of seven villages covering around 2700 families. These families are essentially from poor and lower middle class farmers.

Kashika Trust is in possession of 2Acre (8093 sq meters) of land which will be used only for building school and associated amenities.

Details

We have started to build a primary school with six class rooms along with community hall, kitchen, library, residential quarters, toilets, administrative office and sports facilities.

The initial support for this seva project has been from Sri Gowri Shankar ji and Lee and Tony Davis. Sri Gowri Shankar ji’s continued financial support enabled us to start this seva project. Lee and Tony Davis are contributing to this seva through the Jhanavi Mala project. Namarupa Bhandhava are dedicated students of Swami Vishnudevanada. Namarupa Bhandava are doing great service in supporting our school seva project. Their generous support will be vital in continuing and completing this seva project. Our initial plan is to have classes from 1-4 and then scaling gradually up to 6th standard. Along with the best infrastructure, Kashika aims to bring in teaching talents for the school. Teachers will be selected after rigorous selection process and will be continuously trained and evaluated. Along with the teachers, we intend to bring in some volunteers as teaching assistants to create more individual attention to the kids.  
  • School will follow curriculum set by best standards and medium of instruction will be a mix of English and Samskritam.
  • Kashika will involve leading educators to periodically calibrate teaching methodologies.
  • Yoga and meditation classes will be part of regular school curriculum.
  • Total strength will be around 60-80 students and each class will have maximum 20-25 students.
  • There will be lodging facilities for few deserving children and teachers.
  • School will have a full-fledged kitchen which will serve wholesome meals daily.
  • Kashika Trust will run this school through private donations, volunteers and may collect basic fees (with fees exemption for poor students.) Donations to the Kashika are exempt u/s 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Gracious contributions like monetary help, volunteering, material support and your good wishes are always welcome.