 "A beacon of hope for poor but bright children in Uttar Pradesh")
Shivani Yadav, 15, belongs to a small village called Nanglabhara, with roughly 2,000 residents, in the district of Mainpuri near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Her family of five (parents, a brother and a sister) lives off a yearly income of Rs 36,000.
A lot of what they consume comes from their own meagre fields, where they grow wheat, rice and maize. Shivani herself studied at the Prathamik Vidyalaya Bidhuna in the village - a school that had little to offer - and her life would probably have mirrored that of millions of little girls born into poverty across India.
But in 2010, Shivani's life took a radically different path. The bright little girl of 10 cleared an entrance test held by the Vidyagyan Leadership Academy, a school set up, run and financed by the Shiv Nadar Foundation for underprivileged but bright children in UP's 75-odd districts. She was selected to move to Bulandshahar, 200 km away from home and to study and live free of cost at Vidyagyan. It was a big decision for her parents and her. But Shivani says she is what she is today largely thanks to this one single decision. The young aspiring journalist says she felt sad leaving her parents, siblings and home but she was never scared, and was confident that the future had hope in store for her.
Hope underlies the story of Vidyagyan, set up in 2009, a private initiative and an attempt to pull bright students from the crumbling government school system in UP and offer them a CBSE course on a par with the best private schools in the country. Students "who belong to families with an annual income of Rs 1 lakh and below" are given an equal chance as those who would attend private schools in cities.
When it started, an entrance exam was held across 20 districts of the state and 200 students were selected. Tests are held at the "zilla level", students are shortlisted and then a second admission test is held for the final list. In the initial year, out of every 10 students, the school took at least three girls , as in villages they are often not sent to school. The following year this ratio rose to 40:60 and in time they are hoping to reverse the ratio in favour of girls.
In the second year - as infrastructure of the school expanded - 400 students across 40 districts were selected. A second school, Vidyagyan Leadership Academy in Sitapur, 340 km from Bulandshahr, was set up in 2011 and it has 792 students today .
Today the Bulandshahr school, with a staff strength of 90, has 897 children across Classes VI to XI (it now admits 600 students a year - eight each from 75 districts). Its first batch of Class XII will graduate next year. To say that Vidyagyan has transformed lives is an understatement. Only a visit can open one's eyes to the miracle the lives of these students have seen.
Gul Ali, 17, has just returned after a six -month exchange programme at the Brown University in the US . His classmates, almost 20 of them, are working to take their SAT exams, even as the Shiv Nadar Foundation identifies scholarships offered in various countries for underprivileged bright students. Spending a day with these students, as this reporter did, is more rewarding than visits to most schools in the capital. The students are focused, smart and eager. Their faith in their school and the bond with teachers and each other is touching.
Vidyagyan's journey is a story of hope. It is also a ready-reckoner of what can be achieved in the wider education space if the state or central government and its various bodies are willing to put their minds to it.
A lot of what they consume comes from their own meagre fields, where they grow wheat, rice and maize. Shivani herself studied at the Prathamik Vidyalaya Bidhuna in the village - a school that had little to offer - and her life would probably have mirrored that of millions of little girls born into poverty across India.
But in 2010, Shivani's life took a radically different path. The bright little girl of 10 cleared an entrance test held by the Vidyagyan Leadership Academy, a school set up, run and financed by the Shiv Nadar Foundation for underprivileged but bright children in UP's 75-odd districts. She was selected to move to Bulandshahar, 200 km away from home and to study and live free of cost at Vidyagyan. It was a big decision for her parents and her. But Shivani says she is what she is today largely thanks to this one single decision. The young aspiring journalist says she felt sad leaving her parents, siblings and home but she was never scared, and was confident that the future had hope in store for her.
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Studying with Shivani at Vidyagyan is Shreya Patel, 16, from Premnagar village in Rampur district . Patel, an aspiring doctor, came to Vidyagyan in 2009, its first batch, and is the head girl today. With a responsible and positive air about her, Patel says her parents were progressive in their thinking and supportive of her move. The topper at the local school, Prathamik Vidyalaya, says her teachers at her local school never seemed particularly interested in teaching. She says there is no comparison between Vidyagyan and her old school. Leaving her parents stirred in her an excitement, and even today as she takes extra coaching classes at Narayan Institute to clear the medical entrance examinations in India (she travels every weekend with some other Vidyagyan students to Mayur Vihar in Delhi) she looks at a future full of hope.
Hope underlies the story of Vidyagyan, set up in 2009, a private initiative and an attempt to pull bright students from the crumbling government school system in UP and offer them a CBSE course on a par with the best private schools in the country. Students "who belong to families with an annual income of Rs 1 lakh and below" are given an equal chance as those who would attend private schools in cities.
When it started, an entrance exam was held across 20 districts of the state and 200 students were selected. Tests are held at the "zilla level", students are shortlisted and then a second admission test is held for the final list. In the initial year, out of every 10 students, the school took at least three girls , as in villages they are often not sent to school. The following year this ratio rose to 40:60 and in time they are hoping to reverse the ratio in favour of girls.
In the second year - as infrastructure of the school expanded - 400 students across 40 districts were selected. A second school, Vidyagyan Leadership Academy in Sitapur, 340 km from Bulandshahr, was set up in 2011 and it has 792 students today .
Today the Bulandshahr school, with a staff strength of 90, has 897 children across Classes VI to XI (it now admits 600 students a year - eight each from 75 districts). Its first batch of Class XII will graduate next year. To say that Vidyagyan has transformed lives is an understatement. Only a visit can open one's eyes to the miracle the lives of these students have seen.
Gul Ali, 17, has just returned after a six -month exchange programme at the Brown University in the US . His classmates, almost 20 of them, are working to take their SAT exams, even as the Shiv Nadar Foundation identifies scholarships offered in various countries for underprivileged bright students. Spending a day with these students, as this reporter did, is more rewarding than visits to most schools in the capital. The students are focused, smart and eager. Their faith in their school and the bond with teachers and each other is touching.
Vidyagyan's journey is a story of hope. It is also a ready-reckoner of what can be achieved in the wider education space if the state or central government and its various bodies are willing to put their minds to it.