Empowering Uttarakhand's Tribal Children with SURAAH Alternative School

Imagine the model of traditional schooling in India shifts.

• From Compliance to Critical Thinking
• From Competition to Compassion
• From Consumption to Creation

That's SURAAH - The 🧠 Head, ❤️ Heart and ✋Hands in Harmony education model.

You are invited to be an important part of this change.

Barsha Banerjee, MD of Perkins School India, expresses her sentiments: "SURAAH embodies an education of hope."

'SURAAH is an education of life.' - Monil Modi, Principal, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

'SURAAH is an education for the hills.' - Shalini Rawat, Vice Principal, Olive International School, Qatar

3 Reasons why Rural India needs SURAAH right now?

1. SURAAH is Personal: 🧘‍♂️

Early in my life, I realised that the schooling system is outdated.

Over the last decade, I've explored what it takes to create harmonious and contextual teaching and learning spaces for children.

Working with non-profits such as Teach For India and the Central Square Foundation, and visiting schools in England and Finland, has brought home this one big insight👇

Schools should be spaces that nurture not just the intellect (head), but also the emotional (heart) and physical (hands) well-being of children.

2. SURAAH is Collective: 🤝

SURAAH is not an external intervention to fix the lives of others.

It's meant to be a collective-owned initiative.

This means we, as educators and parents, want to enrol our own children at SURAAH.

The deeper belief is that as parents we all must play a proactive role, taking ownership in shaping how our children experience both school and life.

3. SURAAH is Urgent Action for the Mountains: ⛰️🚨

Uttarakhand has some of India's finest schools such as The Doon School and Woodstock. However, these elite schools only cater to the elite.

How many of the region's tribal children can access such quality schools? 🤔

Is this accessibility divide fostering a just and equitable India we dream of or is it pushing us in the opposite direction?

20% of schools in the hilly areas have been shut down. This is forcing families to migrate downhill into urban slums. This mass exodus leaves behind barren mountains and ghost villages.

The time to build a world-class school that is accessible and affordable for the tribal children of the mountains is right now!

To accelerate our school's growth SURAAH is being incubated by The Circle India Incubation program.

Who will build SURAAH?

The first 25 SURAAH Founders will. The early believers and visionaries, who recognize the importance and urgency of setting up an alternative school like SURAAH.

Become a member of the founding council of SURAAH and take part in shaping the future of education in Uttarakhand and the Rural Bharat.

How is the SURAAH model different and holistic?

While the traditional model of schooling focuses on the head, the learning at SURAAH gives equal emphasis to the heart and hands of the children. Through the learning experiences, students explore three fundamental questions of life.

1. Who am I 'being' today?

2. How am I 'relating' with the other?

3. What role am I 'playing' in life?

Outer academic achievement is balanced with nurturing the inner exploration of children.

These explorations form the divine dualities - the Outer (Head) and the Inner (Heart).

What has been done on the ground so far?

We have been running ongoing program pilots. The most recent one was conducted in Chakrata Hills in January '24. We ran a school with 35 K-5 children and just one teacher, in our alternative methodologies.

Under Swagyan, students identified their strengths and created family webs to understand their connections with various relations.

With Jagatgyan, students crafted community maps of the region using locally sourced materials like stones for mountains and leaves to represent trees.

Yogdaan involved students reflecting on challenges brought by different seasons, such as road closures in winter and snake encounters in summer. They then brainstormed potential solutions by interviewing locals.

In Abhivaykti, students showcased two 5-minute drama performances presenting potential solutions for these seasonal problems in front of their parents on the last day!

Here's an invitation for you to join this movement as a SURAAH Founder and contribute to making this school a reality.

You are welcome to contribute as per your capacity to help build SURAAH together.

The total budget amount that we are raising is INR 45,00,000. This constitutes INR 7,50,000 for the pilot phase, and another INR 37,50,000 for the first year budget.

Sharing is Caring ❤️

After contributing, please help spread the word about this cause. Use your connections to enhance our collective impact.

Reach out to us or follow our progress on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn @suraah.hills to stay updated on our campaign in real time!

Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. 

SURAAH is a registered charitable trust (343/2023) with valid 80G and 12A certificates from the Income Tax Department.