Prabhujee Gurukul was opened on the auspicious day of Saraswati Puja February 3rd 2001. It was planned that the Gurukul would provide for 25 children, but on the day 76 children arrived and so we set up 3 classes.
Before the foundation of Prabhujee Gurukul, the property was home to a very famous farmhouse in the area, which belonged to a local Rairakhol landlord named Brundavan Tivary. Tivary was a very orthodox Brahmin by caste, but well known in the area for his services to promote the low caste people, the untouchables and the local tribal community. Tivari even took low caste people into his home and kept low caste children with him for many years, in order to give them higher education. The king of Rairakhol and local high caste people were opposed to giving an education to the lower castes and to the untouchables, for the latter were better kept suppressed, if they were deprived of schooling. By taking into his home low caste people, Tivari gave them the opportunity to attend school, which they would otherwise be unable to go to. Although they were now able to be present at the classes; they were still segregated into one corner of the class room and prohibited from touching others and their property. This fact may seem unusual, but caste divisions were very rigid in rural India in the 1960s. Tivari continued following his philosophy throughout his life, and after his death, by handing over the property for the construction of schools and homes for all castes, and those unable to afford a proper education and a place to live. Tivari was not only promoted the lower castes but was against all caste divisions.
Before Prabhujee Gurukul was even opened, many problems were faced as the locals did not want a school to be in the area, it was the general mindset, that schools should be in town areas and not out in the jungle. It was a struggle to persuade people, that a school would be of substantial benefit to the children of the area, their families and the natural surroundings.
From the beginning we opened the Gurukul as both a day and a boarding residential school. We started with 3 classes and every year increased this by one class. Today 250 children are studying in Prabhujee Gurukul. This year the first set of children completed class 7 and faced the board exam, and we are very proud, that all students were successful and, as astonishing as it may seem for a school, established just 6 years previously and with children coming almost entirely from illiterate parents, nearly all children were awarded with ‘A’ grades. This year we will start a class 8 for these children to attend.
When we first established the Gurukul, the children would come dressed improperly, and we realized that they did not know how to clean themselves or their clothes. It was decided, that we would provide them with a school uniform and with the necessary means to clean themselves and their clothes. Each child was, and still is, provided with soap, toothbrush, tongue cleaner, comb and soap for washing clothes. We teach the children how to use these items, and the children go home and tell their parents how to use them. In addition to these necessities, the children are provided with two old rice sacks, one is used to put on the floor to sit on during class, and the other is used to put and carry their books and stationary. All children are provided with lunch and afternoon snacks.
In the beginning we didn’t have classrooms, so we taught under the mango trees, slowly we erected some buildings and now there are some classrooms. However, due to the success of the school, numbers have increased rapidly, and currently we have to divide each room in two to house two separate classes, this is an improvement on the previous situation, but obviously not ideal as the close proximity and lack of proper room division creates disturbances during teaching distracting the children. Approximately 80 children are boarding at the Gurukul plus the entire teaching staff of 9. Currently there are two rooms allocated for such purposes one for boys and one for girls with the teaching staff sleeping in with the children.
The children are taught Sanskrit, Hindi, English, mathematics, music, dance and all other subjects on the Orissa Board of Secondary Education but also yoga is taught in addition to this as the specialist subject. Moreover, all the children are taught how to cook and clean, carpentry and field work such as learning how to cultivate their own food. In the evenings the boarders learn devotional chanting, singing and playing of instruments like the drum, bell and gong, they also learn prayer and kriya yoga meditation. Now even people from outside the area who can afford to pay for education, wants to send children to Prabhujee Gurukul.
Initially the Gurukul was in a malaria infested area, where 10 children a day were falling ill to the disease. But we improved the sanitation, installed mosquito nets and cleaned up the area. These measures had a dramatic effect greatly reducing the number of children, who were catching malaria, which went down to 1-2 children per day. After approximately 3 yrs at this level, by keeping up the sanitation standard, malaria incidents at the school reduced even further and now the level is around only one case of malaria every 6 months.
We are constantly developing the grounds and facilities. Currently we are in the process of adding a new classroom and fitting a proper kitchen. An ashram is also being built adjacent to the school for devotees to come for meditation and spiritual practice in this area of remote rural beauty. We also need to construct a secure boundary will due to rampaging elephants.
Many of the children at the school are orphans having lost their parents to malaria. The children are mainly local tribal children, who would otherwise not have the means and opportunity to get any education, more than that they are now being clothed and fed sufficient nutritional food, which would otherwise be very sparse, thus relieving a burden from the childrens’ families.