Media Cliping

In 1991, India had a 52 percent overall literacy rate compared to America’s 97 percent and in rural India it was as low as 20 percent. By 2001, India’s overall literacy rate had improved to 65.5 percent. That India still has a long way to go is not lost on Indian Americans in Houston, judging by the outpouring of support for a fund-raiser for Ekal Vidyalaya on Saturday, Aug. 14.
Ekal Vidyalaya is working to eradicate illiteracy and bring education to the tribal areas of India. The movement follows Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy, “If the poor cannot come to education, education must go to them.” The Ekal Vidyalaya concept of “one teacher, one school” for rural education is sustained by only $365 per year for each school.

More than 1,200 people attended the fund-rasier featuring a memorable music concert at the Stafford Center for Performing Arts. The bhajan/geet/ghazal program was sold out two weeks before the event. The Ekal Vidyalaya-Houston team set new records in several other respects as well. This year’s event raised more than $300,000 sponsoring over 800 schools for the coming year. In Texas alone, 1,000 schools have been sponsored. “It’s a new record,” says Meera Kapur, Ekal Vidyalaya, Vice-President, Southwest Area.

Young Indian Americans played a key role in the program. The night’s emcee was young dentist Sandhya Kishan, the keynote speaker was second-year medical student, Sanjay Bhatt, and the vote of thanks was given by young entrepreneur, Rishi Bhutada. Over 100 young volunteers actively supported the event by helping with setup, guiding attendees from the dinner hall to the auditorium, and with ticket collection and ushering for the concert. Three young men, Deepak Gandhi, Dharmendra Shah and Jayesh Mistri coordinated the musical event.

“It shows that the Ekalvidyalaya is growing, and more importantly more Indians are becoming involved in social causes – even young people are getting involved,” says Rishi Bhutada, a volunteer and officer of Hindu Students Council, a university level Hindu group, which is also fundraising for Ekal Vidyalaya as one of its main seva projects.

Ekal advisor Jugal Malani welcomed the gathering and said he was heartened to see so many new supporters. The Ekal Vidyalaya program started in 1988 with 60 schools. Today it has spread to 15 states with 11,000 schools giving education to 300,000 kids. “The education is more than book learning,” Malani said. “It includes basic hygeine, primary healthcare, women’s education and the complete development of the entire village.”

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India and USA are working hand-in-hand to reach the goal of 100,000 non-formal schools across the tribal belt by the year 2010.

Sanjay Bhatt, who had committed an entire year to Ekal Vidyalaya as an Indicorps fellow, says the Ekal program “isn’t just primary education. It improves the individual at all levels including health education, village development, and empowerment, moreover, the program is versatile and far-reaching with more than 11,000 schools across India.”

Bhatt had visited more than 130 schools across India. Bhatt flew into Houston from India the day of the program to present Jagriti, a video on the history of Ekal Vidyalaya, and share his impressions of the project.

Umesh Kapur, who is also deeply involved with the program along with his wife Meera Kapur, visited five Ekal schools in the Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh state. These schools were located one or two miles off the nearest paved road and were held in the compound of a house, under a tree and other functional gathering places. Boys and girls learned math, science, samskaras and the languages.

“All this for a dollar a day per school... It is a worthy investment in the future of India,” Kapur says. “The leaders in these schools were retired teachers, principals and professors. We stayed one night with an Ekal teacher and her family; it was an experience of a lifetime for us. We knew this is the organization for our contributions.”

The musical program began with singer Sushil Baweja singing Sant Tulsidas’s chaupais Mangal bhavan amangal haari. It was a rousing start wsith Baweja urging the audience to join in. Baweja was joined by Malini Awasthi (vocalist) and the Tabla Martand, Ashok Pandey. Their incredible performance stirred the hearts of the audience. Later, Awasthi energized the audience with patriotic geets, commemorating India’s Independence Day, notably a geet written by a poet from Surinam whose ancestors had migrated to the South American country more than a century ago. Baweja concluded the program with interactive ghazals and old Hindi classics that transported the audience, young and old, to a musical heaven.

Of the more than 25 US cities holding benefit programs for Ekal Vidyalaya, Houston had raised the most money for Ekal schools. Moreover, two teenagers, Kavita Pallod and Bharat Pallod, joined the donors’ list. They contributed part of their first paycheck to Ekal.

However, the most heart-felt and inspiring appeal for support came from Ramesh Shah, the general secretary of Ekal Vidyalaya, who was introduced by the night’s emcee, Sandhya Kishan, as “the personification of seva.”

Shah paid tributes to all the mothers in the audience, recognizing their strength and influential role in the upbringing and education of children. “Mothers always want the best education for their children, similarly, Bharat Mata wants the best for all her children. We have the responsibility to help Bharat Mata take care of her other children that still need this education.”

Advisors, Jugal Malani welcomed the audience and Shekhar Agarwal appealed for support. Advisors Govind Agarwal, Subhash Gupta, Durga Agarwal, Jugal Malani, Raj Malani and Meera Kapur handed certificates and plaques to the artists.The support of the Indian community of Houston at the Ekal Vidyalaya fundraising program demonstrates that a united and large-scale support for a revolutionizing cause is possible. What began as a small project in 1986 with the primitive tribes in the forests of Jharkand by a group of young educationists, Ekal Vidyalaya has transformed into an international initiative to achieve a 100 percent literate India.
Sanjay Bhatt’s final words asked Indian-Americans to reflect: “Many Indians came to America to fulfill their dream ... of economic or social stability and they have achieved it. Now it is our turn to give these children a chance to reach their dream.”

To get more information on Ekal Vidyalaya, A People’s Movement, you may visit www.ekal.org or call 281-933-1707.