क्या आप जानते हैं कि आज़ादी के 70 साल बाद भी हरियाणा में ऐसे गाँव हैं, जहां एक भी बच्चा कभी कॉलेज नहीं गया है? हरियाणा को देश के विकसित औद्योगिक राज्यों में गिना जाता है मगर किसे विश्वास होगा कि यहां प्रेम नगर, संजय नगर और तारपुर जैसे गाँव हैं, जहां से एक भी बच्चा कॉलेज नहीं जा पाया है।

Do you think youth can make a difference? Do you believe education is the most powerful weapon to change the world? Do you think education must be accessible to all? Do you believe in transfer of knowledge?

Ayeshna Kalyan (co-founder, Varitra Foundation) says, “When an NGO comes and works in an area, they often end up making the local people conditioned to their presence. This makes them dependent. Through Varitra, we want to create projects which can be led by the local people with us as a support in the backdrop. This led us to create an all-local women team on the field who shall become independent change-makers. As an NGO, we had an option of creating or supporting parallel systems for education. But we wanted to address the very root of the issue. And what better way of doing so than through our local government schools?”

Tables and shapes for middle school students, mathematics formulae for senior students, animals, birds, body parts for primary school students — the paintings are a way of teaching them while they play.

Through collective efforts by government departments and village communities, Varitra Foundation is giving a new lease of life to rural schools in Karnal