Students from tribal villages located in remote interior hilly tracts do not have schools easily within their reach. In past, many children from these areas were completely devoid of any opportunities for formal education.
A movement was started to open residential schools in interior areas whereby the students from such areas could live and learn.
Shrimad Rajchandra Vidyavihar is one such residential school located in Tamachhadi village of Dharampur taluka in Valsad district for rural children from standards 4 to 10. More than 230 students from 35 villages attend this school.
Shrimad Rajchandra Vidyavihar is a school which is rooted in local culture while still providing students the wings to explore beyond. Inspite of coming from economically deprived backgrounds, students are rich in their values and culture and enjoy a serene environment nestled in nature for their formal education and overall development.
The medium of instruction is Gujarati. English and Hindi are also taught to a high level as second languages. After the school was adopted by SRLC in 2004, we increased the standards each year from standard 7 up to standard 10. With the increased support from volunteers and teachers, there is a marked improvement in student learning levels and performance at the State level exams.
Some of the activities that we undertake, in addition to academics, are:
“The volunteers of Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care take out time from their busy schedule in Mumbai and come to the remote interiors to teach us, which we are grateful for. The volunteers take deep interest in teaching us Maths, Science and English and make it interesting for us through various techniques. They don’t confine teaching only to the classrooms but also engage us in fun-filled games! I thank all of them who are devoting their time for our progress.”
Students of Shrimad Rajchandra Vidyavihar (SRV) were provided with a session on goal-setting in order to help them shape up their life at an early age. In order to help students visualise and set their goals, inspirational movie clippings were shown, followed by meaningful introspection and discussions. To make the session more enjoyable, sevaks conducted games for the participants, through which they learned the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship.
With evolutions in technology, computer education has become a necessity in most education curriculum. Students from 9th to 12th standard of SRV were provided with a course in computers to enhance their knowledge. They learned various computer programes and their enthusiasm was such that they decided to come to school on holidays to get more practical experience of working with computers!