Under the leadership of our overall program manager, Mr. Hariom Tiwari, and the school’s principal, Mr. Satyendra Bahadur Singh, Keshwa Gurukul School has become a model of success. The majority of the children come from low-income villages outside of Robertsganj, and they enjoy attending our school.
We would like to thank our principal, Mr. Singh. He has been with our school since June 2022 and previously served as principal of other schools.

The planned expansion of the school to accommodate up to 250 children required the purchase of a third school bus, which can transport more than 40 children. We now have a total of three school buses, which we use to pick up and drop off all children who do not live in the immediate vicinity of the school.
The 2024/2025 school year was successfully concluded with the exams in March, and all children were granted permission to advance to the next grade. The year always ends with a teacher-parent-student meeting. The new school year has now begun.

Our principal, Mr. Singh, knows all the families and succeeds in winning parents to send their children to our school. He has managed to build a well-coordinated and motivated teacher team. Without him, the Keshwa Gurukul School would not have developed so positively in such a short time.

“Honesty is the best policy” is a principle that I have always admired and lived by. I will continue my path in education and social activities and work daily to improve society.
— Satyendra Bahadur Singh

Our principal, together with the ten teachers and social workers, finds the right balance between consistent adherence to the most important rules and loving appreciation for all children. In addition to the curriculum, the focus is on play, music, hygiene, sports, and fun, all while being considerate of one another. This balance and the high quality are the recipe for success that both the children and the parents appreciate and love.
Many thanks to the entire team at Sonbhadra.

When we started our “Keshwa Gurukul School” after the pandemic, we were not sure how our school approach would be accepted by parents.

Private schools with similar quality standards are not affordable for the vast majority of residents in the Sonbhadra region.
We started with five children at the end of 2021, and in the 2023/2024 school year we were teaching 150 children regularly. For the current year 199 children are registered.

Our partner organization, the Creation India Society, has a license up to the 8th grade. We will discuss in the near future whether we should apply for a license up to the 10th grade in the medium term. But this also has consequences, as our Keshwa Welfare Centre is already well filled, as it also runs a vocational training centre for women in addition to the school.

This year, the 6,800 sqft plot, we bought four years ago, is being prepared for use. Significant soil work had to be carried out to keep the area dry even during the rainy season.

As usual, a wall will be built around the property. The access to the property must also be built because we want to park our school buses there at night. During the day, the property will be used as a play and sports area for the students, as well as for morning prayers and singing. We also want to grow some agricultural crops in one area, which the children will look after.
In order to obtain a license up to the 10th grade, we definitely need the playground and sports field, and it will serve the children and teachers very well until then. Whether we will expand the building with additional rooms will be decided within the next two years.

Our Keshwa Gurukul School in Robertsganj, Sonbhadra in the state of Uttar Pradesh started after Corona in May 2022 with five children. At the beginning of 2022, 50 children were already attending classes.

Enthusiasm filled the air when we recently reached the incredible milestone of over 100 children who have eagerly joined our school community now. It is a true testament to our commitment to nurturing young minds and providing a nurturing environment where they can thrive. We are honored to have them on this journey of discovery and growth.

It is not only the number of students that gives us great pleasure, but also the quality of the education for BPL (Below Poverty Line) children that is so important and unique in the region. Classes are available to children from poor families free of charge.

We offer high-quality instruction that is otherwise only available in a private school, but which very few people can afford.
Of particular note is the fact that we teach bilingually, i.e. in Hindi and English. In addition, group work, music lessons, yoga interludes, joint trips to socialize the children, games, computer training and much more are offered, which is not the case in public schools. Around 25% of the students get a free lunch.

We are organizing special events several times a year, such as International Yoga Day or Indian Independence Day, which are celebrated with a large program. And children learn the background and meaning of those events.

From now on, we will introduce two students per report, who attend our school. Today we talk about Ansh and Jyoti. All family basic problem is poverty, as the earning of family is very poor. This is one reason why children are often not allowed to go to school but help their parents. You can see that the children are not used to being in front of a camera and are very shy. But it is completely different when you have personal contact with the children.

Ansh is an orphan, 7 years old, and lives with his grandfather in the Hydil Colony in Robertsganj. His grandpa does not have a steady job and only earns some money every now and then. Despite the difficult family situation, Ansh is mature for his age and is in 1st grade. He loves maths and would like to become a teacher.

We thank you very much for your incredible support. This makes you part of the Keshwa Gurukul school.

School operations at our Keshwa Child Welfare Center in Robertsganj, Sonbhadra continue to run well. More than 50 children come to the school, and we want to increase the number of pupils in 2023 when the school year changes.

The special feature of our school for poor children is the wide range of subjects, that is only offered at expensive private schools. In addition to Hindi, mathematics and science, we offer sports, music, painting, computer technology and English. Science and mathematics are taught in two languages (Hindi and English).

At the end of October, the exams for the second half of 2022 were carried out with great success. The children enjoy coming to school and there are regular teacher/parent talks, as is the case again in November after the exams.
Our target for 2023 is to have 100 children at school.

After the start of the children’s emergency aid program in August 2022, more than 30 children were “picked up and rescued” in August and September, i.e. in cooperation with the authorities they were either handed over to their relatives with intensive counseling sessions were held or taken to other social institutions.

From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., 5 social workers each work in two shifts at the train station and in a 2-kilometer area on the lookout for children who have run away from home, are begging, might be involved in drug deals and much more .

One example is about a 16-year-old boy and an unhappy love affair with a girl who was unaware of his affection. The boy then “threw up” at school, ran away from home and came to Varanasi. A relative of the girl then found the boy at our booth at Banaras train station in Varanasi and physically attacked the youth and our staff. The situation was resolved with the help of the authorities. The boy is now back at home with his parents and is learning a trade and is doing well.

This is an example of cases emerging daily.

It is now nine months since we were allowed to start school operations in our center in Robertsganj, Sonbhadra.

The Indian government gave its approval in November 2021 and so we were able to inaugurate the Keshwa Gurukul School with five children. The problem was that we were in the middle of the school year and therefore children couldn’t just be pulled from other schools.

Thanks to a lot of persuasion by the center management and the teaching team, it has now been possible to have a permanent student base of more than 50 children. This is much more difficult than one can imagine, since schooling is compulsory in India, but it is up to the parents to decide whether their children go to school or not.

It is all the more gratifying that almost all students regularly come to our classes. A great success, which is only maintained through regular discussions with the guardians.

The following subjects are taught: English, mathematics, Hindi, science and from the 3rd grade also Computer lessons. There are also arts, sports and yoga.

We are very proud and happy that the school is developing so successfully. We aim to have 100-150 children at the school in the next year. Currently we have children in preschool and grades 1-4.

Although the corona pandemic in India is still having massive effects and thus also our activities are severely impacted, we have achieved two very positive results in the last few weeks:

1. We have received a license from the Indian Government to run an “inclusive school”, means a special school where children with and without disabilities learn together. This is the first license granted to an organization in the Sonbhadra district. We are very proud of this. We now, of course, very much hope that we can start running the school as soon as the Corona situation allows. The breakthrough came in a conversation with Dr Ajaya Kumar, Government Representative for Special Disability Education. We have now collected data from over 120 families in the area close to our center where people with disabilities live.

2. We will purchase a piece of land opposite from our Keshwa Child Welfare Center. We need this property as a playground and sports field for the school and want to keep the option open to possibly build a small additional building at a later date. The plot has a size of approx. 6,800 sqft.

The press reports every now and then about our intention to run an inclusion school. The registration phase for the school has started.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we will be able to offer all our programs for the benefit of children and women again by next year at the latest. 

In November 2019, the overall concept of the Keshwa Child Welfare Center was expanded again. There will also be a special school for children from poor families, from kindergarten to 5th grade. A particular focus is on English, personal development, musical elements and computer training (learning to use digital media). The government from the Sonbhadra district came directly to us with the desire to offer this element. We have also expanded our program for disabled people. Here you can study the overall concept in detail.

The Keshwa Child Welfare Center has now a Program Director / Center Manager 

The first day in the new center.