A large number of children, especially in the rural and backward areas of India, do not yet have access to proper schooling. What is available is either of poor quality or beyond their reach. It is only the rich and the elite classes who can afford a modicum of good education for their children. This disparity in the educational opportunities available to different classes is a major hurdle in moving towards the cherished goal of creating a good, just and harmonious social order. The government is doing what it can to expand and improve the quality of education. But the desired goal can be achieved more effectively with the participation of the local community and the larger civil society. It is this sense of social responsibility which has prompted us to undertake this school project. Our objective is to build a school in a rural area and to develop it as a model for top quality yet affordable education that could be replicated in other areas.
Educating children is not just making them literate or helping them secure good marks in the Board examinations. It is also not making them merely 'smart' and computer savvy. It should have much higher and futuristic goals. In our view, a good and meaningful education for the future citizens of the fast developing and globalizing India should have the following main dimensions:
Modern education at its best focuses only on the first goal, i.e. in making students competent and successful. The other two goals of making them good citizens and good human beings are being mostly neglected.
