Rural India Mission - Education

What brings order to a society? Ever wondered that, why do some societies keep a constructive approach towards life and development while some fight among themselves for money, name, drugs and other trivial issues.

As we dwell deep into it, we realize that, it is the state of literacy and the prevailing educational psychology in a society, those are primarily responsible for its development and success. A society behaves depending on the status of education and literacy of its individuals. A society which realizes the importance of schools for its children and has good schools and educational institutions backed by dedicated faculty; is on the right path towards development.

Education is fundamental to all-round development- both material and spiritual. It is one of the key components that can make or break a culture’s advancement. Education is unquestionably the most visible index to development and certainly the most efficient means to effect positive changes in an individual in particular and to a society at large.

An educated society can look after the needs of its children, students, youth as well as and elders and strive for development; taking everybody in account. A society which is educated nurtures the younger generation in a much better way than the uneducated society, so that they grow up to become content and happy individuals; contributing to the society and nation’s growth.

An uneducated society, on the other hand has many odds on its side than the evens. A society that constitutes of uneducated and illiterate people cannot provide basic amenities for itself; neither it has the vision to do so. The individuals in such societies don’t have the perception of development, nor do they strive for it; living a deprived and rather depressed life.

It is difficult to explain the plight of Chakma students of Arunachal Pradesh. The small town Diyun, which is home to 90% of Chakmas, a Theravada Buddhist Community which takes great pride in its rich cultural heritage and pure traditional Buddhist culture, is a beautiful place where one can find and enjoy a variety of fresh vegetables produced by humble Chakma farmers. One can’t imagine the poor conditions of the Schools infrastructure and how the students are studying in a place where the teacher-student ratio is 1:70 to 1:200. After schooling in pathetic conditions, only very few students succeed in getting admission in colleges. Due to the miserable economic conditions of the community, 90 % of Chakma students never get a higher education, since there is no source of income to support them. The dropped-out students go out of Arunachal Pradesh in search of livelihood and they are left with no choice but to work in factories, industries and showrooms in big cities as daily wage laborers.

Problems of education in Chakma Areas connect to funding, infrastructure, teacher quality, status of the teaching profession, student academic performance and unequal educational opportunity. Also, the lack of parental involvement in their child's education and awareness seems to be the biggest problem in the development of education in our Chakma Society. Due to the lack of awareness of importance of education, parents do not promote education to their wards, so pushing them towards deprivation and labor. With dropouts and little education, they are left with no choice but to work in factories, industries and showrooms in big cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Noida, Gurgaon, Chennai etc. as daily wage labourers. No one knows if these people will ever have a dignified life with employment, good education, good connectivity, govt. schemes etc. They have nowhere to go but to struggle and survive, working hard in the hope of living a better life one day.

Int'l Sadhananandapala Banavihara Foundation strives to improve access to high-quality education in underserved communities – particularly in rural areas. We have a deep understanding of the challenges that prevent people in rural areas from attaining the resources to succeed. Often, rural communities are widely dispersed and the nearest schools are miles away.

In the remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh such as Diyun, Bijoypur, Kamlang Area, Deban and M'pen where the Chakma communities have limited access to schools, teachers, or educational support. Although the right to a basic education for every child is guaranteed in the Constitution, children in remote areas have not had access to government services. There are only a few complete school buildings in these areas and it is difficult to recruit teachers to villages with poor living and working conditions. Few families can afford to purchase educational supplies and uniforms and parents often prefer to keep children, especially girls, at home to contribute to household income. These issues particularly hurt children who are left at the margins of the society.

Sadhanarama Foundation, a sister organization of ISBF started Bodhi Rasmi School with a goal of providing Holistic education along with Character Building Moral Education. The School strives to provides HOLISTIC EDUCATION in an atmosphere of love and care allowing the children to grow naturally and happily developing intelligence, compassion and wisdom at every stage. Our motto is ‘Nurture, Inspire, Flourish.

We hope that you will pledge your support to Bodhi Rasmi School and Rural India Mission. Pledge your support to their dreams with the same passion as we pursue our own. Join us to become part of their world and welcome them to ours. We need your support today!

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