I am a seventh grader living in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. I would like to share with you information about an organization that helps children in the rural and tribal areas of India. Every day, I am fortunate enough to have access to an amazing education from wonderful teachers, state-of-the-art technology, and other great resources. I can have all of this because of my parents and grandparents. On both my maternal and paternal sides, my grandparents studied hard in school to become professionals. They passed good values and education onto their children, and I am the beneficiary of this.  It dawns on me that I could have easily ended up in the same position as my brothers and sisters in India who do not have access to resources or a safe environment to study and live in. This greatly saddens me.

A few years ago, my family attended an Ekal Vidyalaya concert. Ekal Vidyalaya is an organization based on Sir Vivekananda’s concept saying that if students cannot go to the school, the school must go to the students. Ekal helps children in tribal and rural India to receive an education. It teaches the children literacy, health and hygiene, economic development and social empowerment. They teach 30 to 40 children in one school by one teacher for just one dollar a day. At the moment, there are around 34,000 schools teaching around one million children all over India. The schools are taught by a single teacher hired by the Foundation. Each student’s education lasts for five years, and then most of them go to formal government schooling. The Ekal goal is to eradicate illiteracy in India by 2015.

My whole family wanted to help these children, so we joined the Ekal Vidyalaya movement. Every month, we go to a meeting where I actively participate in the planning and organizing of the next event. At the events, I help set up the room, and in this recent event, I delivered a speech to the audience. I feel happy that I am able to help these children.

Although there are around one million children getting the benefits of an Ekal Vidyalaya education, there are millions more who have not been given this opportunity.  It would be wonderful if more people helped educate these unfortunate and underprivileged children in India. One dollar doesn’t mean much to us at the end of the day, but it can educate 30-40 children for one day.

If you have any questions, you can go to ekal.org for more information.

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