Socio-Economic Change Through Education

1. Ramdev Nagar & GurutegBodhshalas http://bodh.org/ Socio-Economic Change Through Education

2. About Bodh- the organization Founded in the year 1987 with starting the work in a slum in Jaipur city of Rajasthan, India. The goal was to work with the socio-economically marginalized communities to come together to evolve a school for their own children. The first community took 2 years to give land for the creation of the school and continued the support for almost 15 years to build the infrastructure. Presently, Bodh is directly working with more than 10,000 schools by means of the common community schools that Bodh has established with 40 rural and urban communities ( in Rajasthan) 22 of the 40 schools are from Kindergarten to grade 8 and one of the Bodh schools ( its main lab and resource school- ManasGanga) is from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Bodh’s strength lies in its curriculum, teaching-learning methods, commitment to quality and equity in classrooms and love and respect for the local communities. Bodh is also the main resource agency for the Government of Rajasthan for the last 20 years for supporting the state government in undertaking innovations and improvements in public schools.

3. Bodh – Ramdev Nagar & Guruteg

4. GurutegBodhshala • Guruteg community is a Sikh's migrant community and the people make their living by working as Ironsmiths. The school provides foundational education by serving pre-school to grade 3 • Short Video on the school: • https://youtu.be/ygzzrrF1b54 • Narrative by Milan Kaur, an alumnus who is one of the few girls from Guruteg who has joined college.  • https://youtu.be/4hecZZlivqo Asha Atlanta

5. About GurutegBodhshala • This school is again evolved by a community that many still believes cannot be integrated in the larger society of Jaipur. Being migrant Sikhs who were living on the other side of the present border pre-partition, the community has been displaced many times by the Government and has finally been made to settle in Jaipur. All the people in the community are lohars/ironsmiths. The school was established almost 29 years back and is presently having grades pre-primary to 2nd. The school has a total enrolment of 60 students. The community is a small one and is located in an area where there are private schools and a government school too in the neighbourhood. Though access may not be an issue if the school closes down but the school stands tall as a testimonial to what a marginalized community can do. The school building has been created only 8-9 years back.  From inception till the year 2005, the school used to run at almost 18 different locations which were homes of different members. The women used to cook early in the morning and the class used to take place at their home ( with the family sitting outside for more than 5 hours). This has been the dedication of the women of Guruteg Bahadur school. We feel that the school needs to be sustained and certainly further reformed so that it can work as a demonstration/resource school.  Asha Atlanta

6. Ramdev Nagar Bodhshala Ram Dev Nagar is a mixed community whose main source of income is daily wage labor or making things using glasses, selling utensils etc. The school provides critical foundational education by being from pre-school to grade 5 School Short Film:  https://youtu.be/NqkekrHwULM Asha Atlanta

7. About Ramdev Nagar Bodhshala Ramdev Nagar is a school in a slum where even Government has never attempted to start a school. Somehow socially, the community has been popular to be a criminal group perceived to be a danger to the society. Our experience of running the school has been very different to that. Though the community does engage in making illegal liquour and some engage in daily wage labour work ( different kinds), our teachers have felt safer to be there than anywhere else in Jaipur. The community is a small community with only 100 households ( even lesser) and is very supportive to the school. The school is a primary school which can classes from pre-school to grade 5 and an enrolment of 100 students. As the community is already socially stigmatized, the students struggle to feel safe and respected in any other school they take admission in. Because of the fear of disrespect and also abduction, the community is clear that they would only educate their children if they are go to Bodhshala. The time stands true to the fact that the alumni of Bodhshala ( though most of them dont study beyong grade 8) are very different from the generation older to them. The community feels that after studying from Bodhshala. the students dont engage in drugs and liquour, gambling habits, have better social skills, feel more confident about themselves and have good literacy and numeracy skills to do well in their respect jobs. The community would be of a great loss if the school stops functioning. We surely would make the best possibe efforts to sustain the school.  Asha Atlanta

8. The Communities

9. The Bodhshalas Asha Atlanta

10. Deep-set Learning Asha Atlanta

11. We Welcome You to Visit Over 2000 teachers visit the school from around the globe: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPVNJnJ3_4KkyBEwR8t8QepgzoOOsWjUCxC5BpRxxvpMXKyLm9o0VOVhDswb0teuQ?key=V0FYb3oyLUF6ZDdNRkEtMm1BLTdZdVZXa0dKS0p3 Asha Atlanta

12. The Ask CNJ supports another Bodhshala today (Manasganga), and has volunteers who have worked with Bodh for last 4-5 years. Key Ask: • 1 year funding while new corporate donors are identified • Rs. 6,000 ($86) per student per year that covers all school expenses and supplies for the students • $8,600 for funding the school year for Ramdev Nagar Bodhshala (100 kids) • $5,160 for funding for the school year for GurutegBodhshala (60 kids) Asha Atlanta