PRT English / General Science

Garoth Road, Afghanistan

Smt. Kamala Saklecha Gyan Mandir – the School – was started in 1992 with the sole aim of providing quality schooling to the children of Bhanpura and surrounding villages. There were schools in Bhanpura and in nearby villages but the quality was missing and so was the dedication to provide good education. All the schools functioned in the typical government run module.   <strong>THE BEGINNING AND THE PHILOSOPHY</strong> Our School was started in three rooms of a Dharamshala (Village Inn) with 81 students of pre-primary classes. Soon, we started buying our own land outside Bhanpura and making our own buildings. In 1997, we moved on our own campus and own building. In this age where education has become a profitable business in India, where schools vie with each other on who charges more and can give five star facilities, we stand apart and provide quality education to those who cannot afford those five star fees and air conditioned classrooms. True, we cannot provide a swimming pool or a modern state-of-the-art gym, but we give basic education in the best quality available which the students of small villages need the most. We encourage them and expose them on the path of classical performing arts which is India’s heritage and culture and which is totally ignored by the commercial minded schools in India. The School management, comprising mainly of Mr. Sharad Saklecha Mrs. Pratibha Saklecha and Mr. Surendra Dixit have always believed that the children of smaller villages have all the potential to compete with the more fortunate children of big cities who have access to better and more equipped schools – provided they are also given such access. One another thing that was the basic principle was to include children from the lowest segment of the society – be they be farmers’ children or poorest of the poor from smallest of the villages. Today, we have students from villages whose population is barely 500! The School is run by a non-profit Charitable Trust (Foundation). With the meager fees that is charged by the school from those students who can afford barely meets the working expenses of the School. Those students who cannot afford to pay even that – are immediately sponsored by many generous donors who pay their full year’s tuition fees. It is a sight to see those economically poorer children who have the courage to join a school and get educated even though they don’t have full means. It is this spirit which prompts us to find sponsors for them.