Our History
In September 2001, while working at Global March Against Child Labour, Gaurav Siddhu and Joanna Härmä decided to start a school, inspired by child labourers they met as part of their work.
Gaurav and Joanna were aware of how poor much of the local schooling was so they decided that the school would be free for all, only charging a tiny fee for medical services. At this time, most of the school’s funding came from charitable contributions.
The site for the school was donated by Gaurav’s father, Rajveer Singh, in their ancestral village, Chakarsi, in western Uttar Pradesh. It was a lucky coincidence that Rajveer was retiring from his civil service career and was planning to settle back in his village. He spread the word about the new school in the community and has handled community relations ever since.
Gaurav’s brother, Anurag, is an engineer and was deeply involved in the building project. Gaurav served as the project manager. Joanna has been in charge of fund raising and publicising the school in the UK.
The global financial crisis meant that many of the individual contributors in the UK had to cease. In response, the school introduced a sliding scale of fees for those who could afford it. This coincided with a gradual increase in wages in Uttar Pradesh meaning that more families could afford to contribute. The policy that no child is turned away due to inability to pay remains in place, so the initial inspiration and spirit of the school lives on, and we have the good fortune to have children from many religions and different socio-economic levels mixing together in our school.
See Our Founders page.
Gaurav and Joanna were aware of how poor much of the local schooling was so they decided that the school would be free for all, only charging a tiny fee for medical services. At this time, most of the school’s funding came from charitable contributions.
The site for the school was donated by Gaurav’s father, Rajveer Singh, in their ancestral village, Chakarsi, in western Uttar Pradesh. It was a lucky coincidence that Rajveer was retiring from his civil service career and was planning to settle back in his village. He spread the word about the new school in the community and has handled community relations ever since.
Gaurav’s brother, Anurag, is an engineer and was deeply involved in the building project. Gaurav served as the project manager. Joanna has been in charge of fund raising and publicising the school in the UK.
The global financial crisis meant that many of the individual contributors in the UK had to cease. In response, the school introduced a sliding scale of fees for those who could afford it. This coincided with a gradual increase in wages in Uttar Pradesh meaning that more families could afford to contribute. The policy that no child is turned away due to inability to pay remains in place, so the initial inspiration and spirit of the school lives on, and we have the good fortune to have children from many religions and different socio-economic levels mixing together in our school.
See Our Founders page.