Give Children at Parijat Academy a Second Chance to Rebuild Their Lives

In the tribal village of Pamohi on the outskirts of Guwahati in Assam, children often drop out of school or simply do not enrol because of the distance they need to travel to the nearest school. The socio-economic condition of the parents and the community is also a detrimental factor. Uttam Teron, one of the few college graduates from the village, wanted to change all that through transformative action. Twenty years ago, he spent INR 800 from his savings to set up Parijat Academy, a small learning centre in the village.

Since then, Parijat Academy has grown into two schools that provide holistic education to less-privileged children in Pamohi and Garbhanga, a remote forested community, outside Guwahati. With a focus on quality education and holistic extracurricular activities, it has attracted more and more children over the years. Today, around 400 children from grades 1-10 are enrolled in the two schools. The new centre in Gorbhanga also provides accommodation for 30 children.

Parijat Academy runs entirely on donations from well-wishers in India and abroad. But the funds it receives barely meet its growing needs. The global pandemic created a severe financial crunch. 

The school and the hostel in Gorbhanga operate out of simple bamboo structures. And the school in Pamohi is in urgent need of repairs. Operational costs are mounting, with the result that the school has not been able to pay salaries to the teachers for the last five months. 

Through this fundraising campaign, Parijat Academy hopes to meet some of the immediate needs of the two schools and hostels by collecting adequate funds. As a new session has begun, funds are needed to support the education, food and boarding expenses for this academic year and carry out critical infrastructure work.

Some of the immediate actions will be the payment of teacher salaries, and meeting regular operational expenses for food, clothing, uniforms, and basic amenities for the children in the hostel. It’ll also take care of furniture repair, educational materials, and equipment for the two schools.

Parts of the funds will also be utilised for constructing a pucca school and hostel for the children in Garbhanga. The school also requires a drinking water system and a solar lighting system since it does not get electricity. The community here is very poor and in no position to support the needs of the children or the school and hostel. 

The infrastructure development work will enable Parijat to offer the children at Gorbhanga better facilities such as a hostel with basic amenities and comfort, as well as nutritious meals. The children will get a school building like the one in Pamohi, instead of a bamboo shed, and proper furniture, books and study material. Moreover, the children will finally be able to read under solar lamps instead of kerosene lamps.

With the repair and upgrading work at Pamohi, the children will receive an education that will equip them to build a better future for themselves. Parijat Academy has been forced to discontinue some of its extracurricular activities such as participation in sports meets and organising of cultural events because of a lack of funds. With new funds, it expects to resume some of these activities that the children always look forward to.

All the teachers are from nearby villages, with a few being graduates of Parijat. Many of them are from poor families themselves. By ensuring that teachers get paid their dues on time, the school will be able to retain them and keep them motivated.