Infrastructure Projects

In the rural Ashramshalas (residential schools) in India, young children live and study for about ten months every year from Grade 1 to Grade 8 or 10. Not only do they learn there, but also a major part of their early development occurs in this environment. So, it is essential that the basic facilities that affect their health, behavior, learning, and growth are in good condition in these schools.

During our initial work in the medical camps in several rural Ashramshalas in Gujarat, it became apparent to us that the schools had poor to extremely poor basic facilities, and as a result the students had to live and study in unhealthy, unhygienic, and uncomfortable environments. For example: classrooms in crumbling old buildings, no study desks, poor lighting, and ventilation; unhygienic toilets; inadequate water supply; lack of clean drinking water; the same rooms serving as classrooms in the daytime and as hostels in the nighttime where the students sleep on the floor. The school facilities were old, built about 40-50 years back by private trusts with limited government funding, and were not maintained well. Under these conditions, young children cannot study well and grow up to be vibrant and confident adults.

To remedy the situation, it was essential to improve the basic facilities at the schools. This is how we started our Infrastructure Improvement program. Now this work is an important part of our mission.
Over the last ten years, we have funded and built several infrastructure improvement projects in several Ashramshalas. So far, we have focused on the following:

• New school buildings with good lighting, ventilation, and study desks
• New toilet and shower blocks
• Proper water supply/storage systems and clean drinking water facilities
• Separate sleeping rooms with bunk beds

A complete list of the completed projects is shown below.

The work done so far has already made huge improvements in the environment in a few schools. It has resulted in better health and hygiene of the students. They are now more cheerful and able to focus more on learning. We now consider the infrastructure improvement projects as the central part of our mission to improve the overall development of the children. An added benefit is that due to the better facilities, the teachers also are now more motivated in their work.

We have achieved this degree of success because of tremendous field support and cooperation of our NGO partner, Sister Nivedita Foundation, in Rajkot; and in some cases, others as well. The Trustees of the schools where we have built the facilities have also been supportive and have contributed meaningfully towards the funding of the projects.

Going forward, we plan to undertake more projects like these in more Ashramshalas, and then gradually add other facilities like Internet services, computers, libraries, laboratories, etc. to bring the schools up to modern standards.

There is still a vast need for continuing this work. Every year, we undertake several projects based on their priority and feasibility. We select these projects based on the firsthand knowledge of the needs of each school during our visits, and because of that, the positive impact is immediate and evident. Many of our donors have personally seen the changes resulting from this work.

These projects have a great positive impact on the schools and the children. We need your support to continue the work. We therefore urge you to donate to our Infrastructure Improvement projects. With your donation, you will make an enormous difference in the lives of the children from poor families and give them a better future.