Ekal Vidyalaya
Donation of $500 supports one school (about 25 children) for one year.
Donation of $1200 adopts one village (population of about 1000 residents) and provides Education and Arogya (Health and Hygiene) to the village.
Ekal organization supports one teacher schools in tribal and remote villages of India. Ekal Vidyalaya provides opportunities to children who otherwise will have no chance to get an education. There are no permanent school buildings. Classes are held under a tree, in a hut, or a verandah, or wherever space is available. Most of the work is done by the volunteers.
Picture of an Ekal school under a tree – There are over 100,000 schools with enrollment of about 3 million children. About 100 million people live in these remote villages.
Mission of Ekal movement is holistic development of remote villages in India by providing Education (Ekal schools), Health and Hygiene (Arogya) and Economic Development (Gramothan). Because of the epidemic, the field activities of Ekal schools are suspended temporarily. All resources have been diverted to prevent and control the epidemic in these villages.
Arogya (Health and Hygiene) The main focus of Ekal Canada, at present, is Arogya (Health and Hygiene) in the Ekal villages. Arogya program involves Telemedicine, basic First Aid, with special emphasis on preventive health and malnutrition in these villages.
How does Arogya program operate? A trained medical worker, called Gram Sevika is appointed to cover one or more villages depending on the size of the village. Function of a Gram Sevika can be compared to a paramedic. Gram Sevika receives necessary support from Arogya team, and team of voluntary physicians. As it takes time to train paramedics, Ekal school teachers are also being trained in basic first aid to provide necessary support.
Ekal is a registered charity in Canada and is also registered as an Ontario Corporation. Tax receipts are issued. Ekal Canada has chapters in most of the major cities of Canada, with headquarters in Mississauga. Websites www.ekal.ca, and www.ekal.org can be visited for further information.