Ekal Vidyalayas are non-formal, single-teacher schools spreading
the light of education in remote and tribal areas of India. The Ekal
Vidyalaya Foundation of USA is a secular, non-partisan 501(c)(3)
organization that works to educate children. The Ekal Vidyalaya
Foundation also works in vilage development programs in healthcare,
livelihood creation and civic empowerment.
The movement is idea of Swami Vivekanda from 1940s.
Swami Vivekanda's said.. "If the poor boy cannot come to education,
education must go to him..". Ekal Vidyalaya was started with this
philosophy in early 1986s from his followers and was registered as a
charitable trust in United States in 1999.
Progress
Currently Ekal Vidyalaya runs schools and village development programs in over 27,000 schools and 789,420 students
in all states of India. The Ekal foudation's goal is to reach 100,000
villlages in India's tribal belt by 2015, in line with the UN
Millennium Development Goals.
Functional Education
Ekal Vidyalayas operate innovative, informal schools which run on
a minimul budget of $1 a day. Teachers are local youths who has
completed some formal education. The teachers are selected and trained
by Ekal Vidyalaya for 6 months. Schools can be gathered below a tree,
or a old building in the school with emphasis on 3 Rs.
#1 Reading
#2 Writing
#3 Arithmetic
The Curriculum
Ekal schools are transformational influences in rural and tribal
communities, who lack access to basic right. The content and pedagogy
of Ekal Vidyalayas are designed to provide basic literacy skills, and
understanding of health & hygien. The subjects covered are
1) Maths
2) Science
3) Vyayam (Physical fitness)
4) Sanskar (Moral values)
Healthcare Education
Through
training camps, medical camps, healthcare awareness programs and
"Chikitsa Kendra"s, the following concepts are thought to people.
- Personal Hygiene
- Sanitation
- Nutrition
- Awareness and identification of diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and other local diseases
- Maternal and childcare
Development Education
Through
development education, our objective is to make villagers self reliant
and utilize local resources. Some of our projects are,
- Vermi compost
- Plantation, herbal and fruit bearing
- Water management
- Vegetable cultivation
- Cattle care
- Self help groups
Empowerment Education
Our
goal is to empower India by establishing "Gram Swaraj" or Self
Governance as desired by Mahatma Gandhi. Some of our initiatives are
- Instill self pride through heritage awareness
- Working knowledge about local government functionary
- Awareness about constitutional rights
- Importance of voting
- Make "Panchayat" effective and functional
