Education Desk, Delhi Magazine: Project Rishikulshala of Paavan Chintan Dhara Ashram is completing three years of its formal inauguration by the then President Ram Nath Kovind in the year 2019.
Dr. Pawan Sinha ʻGurujiʼ, the man behind Rishikulshala, believes that “children are the property of the nation and it is the responsibility of all of us to maintain their lives and childhood”. It is necessary to feed the disabled, but even more important is to empower the person so that they can earn their own food with respect and at the same time become aware and healthy so that they can also contribute for the country and society. The most important tool for this is ‘education’.
With this thought, Paavan Chintan Dhara Ashram started the Rishikulshala project in 2010. Project Rishikulshala is an informal education system which aims to teach marginalised children and make them capable to join the mainstream of the society. It has also planned to develop skills among these children to make them stand on their own with dignity.
Every Sunday of the month, the group that works to educate these children is called ‘Vivek Toli’, the team of The Modern Sage of India, Swami Vivekananda ji.
From 10 centers in the year 2019, today Rishikulshala has reached 20 centers in 12 cities in 8 states of the country where about 1600 children are taking informal education . Yog and meditation have an important place in the informal education system of Rishikulshala. At the same time, children are also made aware of the knowledge of India, their rights and duties, language and skills, health and hygiene and to avoid bad habits, crime and depression. Health checkup of children are also done at regular time intervals.
Even during the time of Covid-19 pandemic, Rishikulashala maintained regular contact with these children and online classes were also taken at some centres. Food items were also provided to the children when required.
Our target is to reach 3 lakh children so that these children can also contribute adequately in the development of India.