An Innovative and Interactive School in Bihar

Via The Better India

Chandrakant Singh hails from Chamanpura village of Gopalganj district, a place you probably couldn’t find on a map unless you’re actually from there. But this audacious Bihari has put this nondescript village on the world map.

In two short years, Chandrakant Singh has established a world class school that will enrol it’s 500th student in the new academic year of 2011-12. He chose this village as the ideal location for such a school not because it’s his ancestral home, but because the landscape here is still devoid of a single electricity pole. This shrine to learning and nurturing talent is run entirely on generators.

The Chaitanya Gurukul Trust was set up with the vision to “Educate, Enlighten, Empower & Emit’. A vision that inspired a hundred villagers to give their land (which the Trust purchased at 30% more than market price) to set up the establishment.

Chandrakant Singh tapped in to all his networks to raise funds for this school. As an IIT alumnus, a former TATA steel employee and a researcher at GM at the time, he urged 3000 people to join in. The request was not a casual email soliciting funds, but a thoroughly researched business plan for a school that would eventually become self sustaining.

“It’s important to prove that given the same opportunities, every child is capable of academic excellence“. Singh is certain that the school will change the fortune of this remote village with each successful student and soon it’s reputation for quality of education and leadership in academic best practices will highlight the plight of the surrounding villages.

The classrooms and other facilities here would be the envy of even the priciest private school in India. Technology is seamlessly woven into every aspect of student life. Sports and extracurricular activities are used to hone leadership skills, for moral guidance and team building. Teachers from many cities in India and abroad teach eager students via Skype!

“There is such disparity in our educational system currently. How can a student from a fancy private school in Delhi and another who learnt his lessons sitting on a cement sack in a village in Bihar, be expected to compete at the same level? I want my students to feel free and empowered by their education. They will eventually become model citizens for our country”, says Singh.

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