One of Pathway to Progress’s essential goals is to increase access to education in the rural communities of developing countries. One of our areas of focus is the tribal villages of Southern Gujarat, India. In these vast agricultural lands, a large percentage of families are generationally uneducated, leading to a constant cycle of poverty. This gap in education is primarily due to the lack of affordable and quality schools and resources within reach of these rural communities. Government-funding falls short for rural schools and is often not enough to provide safe buildings, basic learning resources, or a quality curriculum.
For the students of the Ashramshala Boarding School in the village of Sonvada, Gujarat, their school is not only a place they learn, but it is also their home throughout most of the year. The school has almost 200 students in attendance ranging from five-year-olds to mid-teens, many of whom were sent there because their families cannot support them year-round, some even orphans. However, with such a heavily populated school, the lack of space and basic living conditions was concerning. The small, makeshift classrooms that students learned in throughout the day were the same rooms they slept in at night on the floor with no separation of gender. The kitchen, where the older female students were the primary cooks, was in desperate need of repair and updated appliances, as the students were being exposed to dangerous carcinogens. During monsoon season, it’s even more difficult to maintain the school as many of the rooms become too dangerous to use.
Pathway to Progress has been supporting the Ashramshala Boarding School with the help of your donations, and over the last few months, it has had a bold transformation. The school now has two new dormitory and classroom buildings, providing a safe environment for students to live, learn, and grow. Your contributions also ensure that each student has the proper learning materials to progress in their academics.
To each of these students, this school is their only hope of having a prosperous future and breaking the cycle of poverty. Pathway to Progress is here to make sure that happens, one school at a time. We will keep following the Ashramshala Boarding School on their journey to tackling the obstacles they face and providing the best rural education possible.
