25 students & teachers from Art of Living free tribal schools in Jharkhand, India are visiting Pune on an educational tour in January 2013. This slide deck gives you the idea of this project and how you can help in making it big!!

1. Connecting the Hearts of East to
the Hearts of West!
Pune visit of Tribal students from
Jharkhand

2. An Introduction
• Started by an AOL volunteer Mr. Brij Bhushan
Chawla in 1999.
• Inspired by Sri Sri’s vision of ‘empowerment
through education’.
• Today, 2734 children from 60 villages in
Jharkhand are reaping the benefits of this
project.

3. The Project
• Run from a small office in the town of
Ghatsila, around 40 km. from Jamshedpur.
• Started in a single classroom in the midst of
poor infrastructure, the project has grown
leaps and bounds.
• Initially faced with lack of support from locals,
the project has overcome it to
grow exponentially.

4. Offerings of the Project
• Free education, uniforms, material, transport,
one meal per day & milk every alternate day.
• Industrial & vocational training given to
students & villagers make them independent.
• The approximate monthly cost of Rs. 10 lakh is
funded by AOL and volunteers themselves

5. Offerings of the Project
• The school uses modern techniques & at the
same time maintains their cultural heritage.
• Organic fruits and vegetables are grown by
students in the school premises.
• Daily meditation, yoga and chanting.
BalChetana and NavChetana camps are also
conducted.

6. Challenges
• Limited employment opportunities, less
stability and general backwardness.
• Tribal villagers speak only Santhali language
and a little Bangla.
• Most teachers from outside hence, the
medium of teaching is Bangla.
• Hindi is used in most of the state.

7. Challenges
• Schools are in remote areas and hence a lot of
travel is required. Hence, schools start after
9 a.m. and end before 2:30 p.m.
• Convincing kids to join the school is tough as
they also add income to the household.
• Electricity unavailable most of the time.
Hence, no computers etc.

8. Current Needs
• Spreading awareness about the project itself.
• Technical Training Centre.
• Co-ordination with other schools and NGOs.
• Electricity solutions (solar lamps etc.)
• Website updation and maintenance.
• Educational material.
• Funds for the project!

9. What is Pune doing to help them?
• Training teachers via experts in the field.
• Monthly donations (Gift a Smile program).
• Associating IAHV with the corporate houses.
• Guiding the schools for affiliations.
• Sponsoring students for higher education.
• Solar energy support and training.
• Gyana Prabodhini affiliation

10. The Visit… What can you do?
• 23 students from these schools are visiting
Pune in January 2013.
• Buddy program with SSRVM Pune students.
• Surplus education material to be provided.
• Spreading the word like wildfire.
• Organize fund-raising events, donation
facilities.

11. The Visit… What can you do?
• Organise a satsang in your area for the kids to
showcase their songs and dances.
• Gather volunteers for the work.
• Sponsor any one task in the visit schedule like
transportation, meals, travel etc.
• … and anything else that can make this visit
successful!

12. Jai Gurudev!