Time for School

KUTCH, India — In the rural region of Kutch in Northwest India, 140 kids—preschoolers through 7th graders—travel to Sadhu Vaswani School six days a week to learn math, science, social studies, English, Gujarati, Hindi, and basic computer skills. The school faces daunting challenges as it attempts to educate students from 14 regional villages, some more than 50 kilometers away, with only one school bus to provide transportation over these long distances. Most of the villages where students live did not have electricity until a few years ago, and most children are the first in their families to attend school. As an English medium school (all subjects are taught in English), it struggles to find teachers that can teach in English, because most qualified instructors live in Bhuj, the nearest urban center, which is 40 kilometers away. Even if teachers are willing to travel the distance, the pay is meager, forcing them to hold a second job after the school day ends. Sadhu Vaswani faces competition for funding and enrollment from other, better-funded Gujarati medium schools.

The largest challenge the school has to face, however, is recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2001 that completely leveled the entire region, leaving almost all buildings in absolute shambles. In the wake of the earthquake, the region has rebounded in a dramatic fashion. Local and state authorities have worked with NGOs and relief organizations to rebuild the local area, and to fundamentally change its economic environment, attracting droves of new business by making Kutch a tax-free zone. Now, there are more jobs than people in Kutch, and every child can dream of holding a real government or corporate job, if only they go to school. Thus, no matter the unbearable heat, the demands of the farm at home, or the long distances, 140 kids are eager to learn in English in what was formerly one of the most rural areas of the country.


Ravi N. Mulani, ’12 is a Crimson editorial writer in Pforzheimer House.