Isha Vidhya

India’s rural masses have the potential to contribute and share in the growth of this country; the key is education.

Education is the only ladder we can provide India’s rural population to climb out of the vicious cycle of poverty –Sadhguru, Founder

Table of Content

• Opportunities and Challenges

• Vision, Mission, Goals

• Methodology and Practices

• Differentiating Factors

• Pedagogy Team

• Noon-Meal Kitchens

• Impact

• Sharing by Parents, Teachers, Others

• Management

• Our Key Supporters

• Milestones

• Capex Funding Needs & Donation Options

• About Us

• Appendix- Funding Requirements Explained

Rural Education Challenge

• 90% of India’s 250 million children do not have access to quality education.

• High dropouts in Government schools

• Poor employability of graduating students

• English capability very low in Govt. schools

Education is the only ladder we can provide to help India’s rural population climb out of the vicious cycle of poverty - Sadhguru

Our main Challenge

• Need to Empower rural children with good quality education while preserving the identity and culture of the rural community they live in

Isha Vidhya – Mission

Mission: to achieve the economic and social empowerment of the rural child, and thus of society, by makinng high quality education accessible and affordable to them.

Goal:

1. To establish one Isha Vidhya school in each of the 32 districts in Tamil Nadu.

2. Use the learning to adopt Govt. schools and intervene to enhance the quality in these schools.

Isha Vidhya – Key Statistics

• First School Start Date – Jun 2006

• Total # of Schools Now - 9

• Total # of Students - 5820

• % Girls - 47%

• Total # of Teachers – 287

• Total # non-teaching staff - 191

• Avg Income of Parents –

Rs. 5000/month ($ US 105/GBP 66)

• 58% of students on Scholarship

(some are fully supported, some pay for transport & uniforms, some a small amount for food)

Isha Vidhya – Management

The Management Team consists of experienced people who work on a pro bono basis (3 full-time and 1 part-time). Fund-raising is mostly by volunteers..

• The Board of 9 Trustees includes reputed people like Deepak Satwalekar (Ex-MD of HDFC & HDFC Standard Life) & Prahlad Kakkar (Ad-Guru).

• Ravi Venkatesan (Independent Director- Infosys, Ex- Chairman of Microsoft India, is on the Advisory Committee.

Govt. Schools

Board of Trustees

Management Committee

Advisory Council

Executive Team

Isha Vidhya Schools Fund-Raising,

Donor Response

Isha Vidhya

School Coordinators

Accounts, HR, Admin, Maint.,

Purchase

Construction

Principal

/VP School Admin

Govt.School Coordinators

Isha Vidhya - Milestones

• 2006, June – First school opened in Santhegoundanpalayam, Coimbatore district

• 2007, May - Scholarship Program launched, 2 new schools opened

• 2009, June – 3 new schools opened

• 2010, June - Seventh school opened ; covered districts are: Coimbatore, Erode, Nagercoil, Tuticorin, Villupuram, Salem and Cuddalore

• 2012, June – New school at Aragonda village, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh– the first IV school outside Tamil Nadu

• 2013, June – New school at Samichettypatti village, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – one of the most backward districts in TN

• 2012 to 14 – 40 Govt. schools chosen for critical interventions

5820 students from classes LKG to 10th Standard in the 9 schools during the Academic Year 2014-15 ; 58% of them on scholarships

Isha Vidhya - Growth

261

7161114

1871

2754

3488

4050

5200

5820

0242

687

12641462

2095 2245

27003145

2006-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15

Total No. of Students No. on Scholarship

Methodology and Practices

• Holistic approach to academic excellence through innovative methodologies such as the Karadi Path & Power English methods combined with exposure to sports, arts, crafts, dance, music, chess, and yoga

• Extensive libraries of print, audio, video, computer based learning materials and classroom educational aids

• Computer to student ratio of 1:2 in our Computer Aided Learning Lab

Encompassing… Enjoyable… Effective…

• Annual medical camps including vision, hearing, dental checks

• Nutritious mid-day meals to overcome health deficiencies

• Opportunities to help create seedling nurseries besides learning basic life skills

Isha Vidhya – Our Differentiating Factors

• The success of rural education hinges on making quality education available and affordable to the underprivileged

– Our access to expertise worldwide for creating the pedagogy and providing teacher training is the key to achieving quality in a replicable manner

– Our high percentage of scholarships for the most underprivileged ensures reaching our target group: the marginalized and economically weak rural child

• Isha Vidhya, can draw on a global volunteer base of its parent organization, the Isha Foundation

– 90% of the scholarships come from individual volunteers worldwide

• All-round development : Yoga, Sports, Arts & Crafts, Excursions, Music, Environmental Awareness, Health

• In house infrastructure expertise ensures low cost of construction.

Isha Vidhya – Pedagogy Team

• Central Academic Team consisting of 8 people to oversee Pedagogy development, Training & Implementation

• Highly experienced Academic Director (AD) & Academic Coordinator (AC)

– Choice of Methodologies

– Integration of Learning Tools and Educational Aids including Digital Content to supplement curriculum

– Design & Delivery of extensive Teacher Training Modules

• Team of School Coordinators Under AC

– Constantly visiting the schools

– Observing classes & supervising implementation

– Providing feedback and training to teachers in the classroom

– Feedback to Principals, AD & AC

Noon-Meal Kitchens

• Every school (except the most recent) has a kitchen to provide a nutritious meals at a highly subsidized.

• Meals cooked are cooked with salt fortified with 11 essential micronutrients

• Will help address the problem of malnutrition.

• For most children this is their only good meal of the day.

Impact

•The schools transform almost every aspect of a child’s life & parental attitudes to education, as well

• The child

– Learns basic hygiene

– Is comfortable comprehending and conversing in English in 2 - 3 years

– Is able to develop to their fullest potential through opportunities exploring sporting and other talents like music, arts, etc.

– Children get to learn basic life skills, connect with nature and live responsibly, which helps them handle life with confidence and sensitivity

– Their physical & mental growth is helped to a great extent by the nutrition provided at the school

– They learn to appreciate their culture & traditions better

Sharings from Parents

“As a laborer I never imagined this quality of education with computers and modern learning systems. Now I have hope for my son’s future. This scholarship is God’s gift to my family through you.” Mr. Venkatesh Subramaniam, father of Logesh, student at Isha Vidhya.

I am Kalaimani. I am a farmer and I live in the village of Chinnandikuzhi. Last year my two daughters, K.Pavithra and K.Rajalakshmi, enrolled in a private Matriculation School in Cuddalore, but I couldn’t pay the fees because of my poor income, and my daughters had to leave the school. This year I admitted them in Isha Vidhya. In this school the teaching method is different. There is lot of improvement in their studies and behavior. I am deeply indebted to the donor who is taking care of my children’s education.

Sharings from Parents (contd.)

I can see a big difference in my son after joining Isha Vidhya. Previously, he used to study only out of compulsion and fear towards his teachers, but now he learns with interest and joy. He has become disciplined, caring and helpful to others. On my birthday, recently, he made a fruit basket out of clay and presented it to me. He had never done something like this before. He even promised me that he would remain a good son to me for ever. He has learnt to make the basket in his Art class. He made me feel like a child that day. I felt the same love and affection showered by my parents on that day. Before he joined Isha Vidhya, I did not have any time to take him for any extracurricular activities, though he was interested to learn out of academics. Now at school, he learns many things without my help. He also has become more independent, and does not expect my help in doing his work

Jayant, a Std. 5 student & his mother, a single parent.

Sharings from Teachers

Dhavakumar- Teacher in the school I can see lot of changes in myself and our other teachers, after I joined Isha Vidhya, Cuddalore. Earlier, we used to beat the students to discipline them, but now we are gentle with them. The behavior of the students is also much better towards teachers and parents. Last year they were shy to speak in English, but now they are quite comfortable with English. Parents from the local villages are taking part in all our school functions enthusiastically.

Vasanthi-Teacher in the school I am working in Isha Vidhya Cuddalore for the past two years. When I joined the school, our Principal instructed the teachers not to beat the students or punish them harshly. A silent question arose within me “if we cannot do so, how do we maintain discipline in class”. I very soon got the answer. I realized that our gentleness and understanding made the children like us and listen to us.

Sharings from Others

It was a moving experience to see such a wonderful atmosphere prevailing in the schools. We could see a sense of dedication among the teachers & the management. The students were from very poor families and most of them were attending school for the first time in their family. This opportunity given by Isha Vidhya to them is not only a boost to the students but also to the parents about their future. The students with whom we interacted were so joyous which is a very rare thing. (Chitra Sairaj – a visitor to the School)

Observation on Swetha, a student by her teacher, Karthikeyan In the beginning Swetha had some attention problems and she was not interested in sitting in the class. Now she has improved a lot in her behavior and studies. The central academic team train us in different methodologies and urge us to teach the students according to their level and ability. This helps both the teachers as well as the students. Seeing Swetha’s improvement, not only made me happy, but I also decided to work in this school for more years than I thought before.

Government School Adoption Program (GSAP) • Isha Vidhya is also taking a major step in bringing the Isha Vidhya learning and

methodology into government schools to improve quality in these schools.

• 40 Govt. schools in Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Kanchipuram and Salem Districts have been adopted.

• Our Isha Vidhya schools will also serve as demonstration and training centers to aid government schools .

• Since most rural children are still dependent on Govt. schools for their education, this initiative has been started to provide the badly needed support and up gradation of government school education.

• This will address the following issues in most Govt. schools:

• Very high student-teacher ratio

• Lack of basic facilities such as toilets, benches, library books, etc.

• Lack of accountability, de-motivated teachers and a high absenteeism rate

• De-motivated students and a high drop-out rate

Intervention in Government Schools

• The following critical interventions have been started

Appointing additional teachers to reduce the student-teacher ratio

Hiring teachers for special teaching to slow-learners to mainstream them

English language program intervention

Infusing hitherto neglected aspects like sports, yoga, arts and crafts, and health and hygiene into school life

Basic training to teachers to maintain discipline without physical punishment, motivating children, lesson planning, access and use of classroom educational aids and digital content

• This is likely to result in several thousands of children benefitting from the transformation that is achieved by a meaningful education.

Our Key Supporters

– Infosys Foundation

– Apollo Hospitals

– Agility Logistics

– IDBI Bank

– Ramaniyam Real Estate

– Indian Diamond Industry

– Cognizant Foundation

– SBI Life Insurance

– Lakhi Foundation

– Barclays, Singapore

– Asha for Education

– Gaja Capital Advisors

– Seahorse Trust

– Yatra Foundation, Australia

– Tamilnadu Foundation, USA

– Tamilnadu Newsprint & Paper

– Google

– Alok Industries

– Ashok Leyland

– Hitachi Metglass

– Mahendra Brothers

– Vijaya Bank

– S.Kumars Nationwide

– ICICI Lombard

– ICICI Prudential Life

– India Infoline

– Central Warehousing Corpn

– Dr. Ravi Sankaran Trust

& several thousands of individuals

– JFA

– HP

– IBM

– LIC of India

– L & T

– EID Parry

– Tata Motors

– BPCL

– HPCL

– GAIL

– MyIris.com

– All Cargo

– Himedia

Total Funding Requirements for 2014-15 - Summary

S.No. Description Amt. (Rs.) Amt.(US$) Amt.(GBP)

1 Infrastructure Requirements for all schools in TN

8,79,37,082 15,98,856 11,72,494

2 Student Sponsorships

4,78,50,000 11,49,200 7,18,000

3 Govt. School Adoption Program

1,30,95,647 2,38,103 1,74,609

Total 14,88,82,729 29,86,159 20,65,103

Isha Vidhya – Total Infra Funding Required (2014-15)

• Completion of existing 8 schools in TN to allow capacity increase from currently 5200 students to 8800 (By 2017)

• Total: Rs. 88 mn ($ 1.6 mn / £ 1.2 mn)

– 47 new classrooms & labs in all schools together

– Furniture & material for math lab, computer lab, AV lab

– 21 new school buses (to replace expensive hired vans)

– Toilet blocks

– Sports, Kitchen, Office, Lab & Classroom material

– Educational Aids, Library books

– Compound Walls around the perimeter, etc.

• Setting up of new schools

– Rs. 65 mn ($ 1.3 mn / £ 0.87 mn) per school spread over 4 years (excluding cost of 5 acres of land reqd.)

Scholarship/ Subsidy Sponsorship Requirements: 2014-15 (All Schools)

S. No.

Description (Amt. Reqd. Per Child Per Year)

Numbers Required

Amt. (Rs.) Amt.(US$) Amt.(GBP)

1 Full Educational Support (Rs.20000/$480/GBP 300)

500 1,00,00,000 2,40,000 1,50,000

2 Scholarship (Rs.10000/$240/GBP150)

2750 2,75,00,000 6,60,000 4,12,500

3 Transport Subsidy (Rs.5250/$130/GBP 80)

200 10,50,000 26,000 16,000

4 Food Subsidy (Rs.3000/ $72 /GBP 45)

3100 93,00,000 2,23,200 139,500

Total 4,78,50,000 11,49,200 7,18,000

Infrastructure Requirements for 2014-15 (for existing 8 Schools in T.N.)

All Amounts in Indian Rupees Lakhs (INR)

S.No.

Description Total Dharma

puri Coimbatore

Erode Nagercoil

Tuticorin

Villupura

m

Cuddalore

Salem

1 Class rooms 328 42 7 42 28 42 56 56 56

(Quantity) (47) (6) (1) (6) (4) (6) (8) (8) (8)

2 Classroom Furniture 46 9 5 5 4 5 6 6 6

3 Academic Learning Material* 31 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

4 Sports equipment 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

5 School Bus 347 66 33 50 66 33 50 17 33

6 Others** 120 15 4 18 14 14 18 19 18

Total 879 137 54 119 116 99 134 102 119 * Science, Math, English & Comp lab materials, Arts & Craft and montessori materials, DVDs.

** Compound wall, Cycle stand, Kitchen building, miscellaneous equipment & library books

Govt. School Adoption Program – Coimbatore Dt.

S.No. School Name Village Name

1 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Kuniyamuthur

2 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Kulathupalayam

3 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Sundakamuthur

4 Govt. High School Semmedu

5 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Madhvarayapuram

6 Govt. High School Madampatti

7 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Alandurai

8 Govt. Girls Hr. Sec. School Thondamuthur

9 Govt. Boys Hr. Sec. School Thondamuthur

10 Govt. High School Devarayapuram

11 Govt. High School Narasipuram

12 Adi Dravider and Tribal Welfare High School Muttathuvayal

13 Govt. High School Nathe Gounden Pudur

14 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Kalveerampalayam

15 Govt. High School Sethumadai

Govt. Schools – Dharmapuri Dt.

S.No. School Name Village Name

1 Govt. Boys Hr. Sec. School Athiyamankottai

2 Govt. Girls Hr. Sec. School Athiyamankottai

3 Govt. Hr. Sec. school Laligam

4 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Palayampudur

5 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Pandahalli

6 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Indur

7 Govt. Hr. Sec.School B. Agraharam

8 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Kullanur

9 Govt. Boys Hr. Sec. School Pennagaram

10 Govt. Girls Hr. Sec. School Pennagaram

11 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Yeriyur

12 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Nerupur

Govt. Schools – Salem Dt.

We also invite donors to adopt a Govt. school and donate every month in

installments to meet the requirements.

S.No. School Name Village Name 1 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Mallur 2 Govt. Hr. Sec. School -Tamil Panamarathupatti 3 English medium Panamarathupatti 4 Govt. High School Gajjalnaickenpatti 5 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Kullappanaickanur

Govt. Schools – Tirupur Dt. S.No. School Name Village Name

1 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Poolavadi

S.No School Name Village Name 1 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Pudhupattinam 2 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Saduranga pattinam 3 Govt. Hr. Sec. School Vengapakkam 4 Govt. Adi Dravidar School Nalapalli

Kanchipuram District Schools

Govt. Schools - Kanchipuram Dt.

New Schools – Infrastructure Requirements

• Land Requirement: 5 acres @ about Rs. 5 mn (varies place to place)

• Cost of Infrastructure :

Total over 4 years: (Rs. 65 million / $1.3mn / £ 0.87 mn) *

The unique design of the school building accommodates staggered construction to be completed over 4 years

Fully constructed school (LKG – XII) will have 38 classrooms (690 sq ft each) (including library; AV rooms; computer, science and mathematics laboratories) , office space, kitchen, multipurpose hall & school buses

Donations can be made in stages along with construction: 1st year – 40%, 2nd to 4th year – 20% each year.

*Includes all costs for a complete school except cost of land.

About Us

• Isha Vidhya is the rural education initiative of Isha Foundation (under a separate trust, Isha Education).

• Contributions t o the Trust enjoy Income Tax benefits under Sec 80G in India and under sec 501(c)(3) in the USA & in UK.

• Isha Foundation is a non-profit organization headquartered in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The founder, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, is a visionary and humanitarian whose work has been deeply appreciated and acknowledged worldwide at every major international forum such as the World Economic Forum in Davos , the United Nations in New York and TED, where he has been a much sought after speaker.

Cuddalore Coimbatore

Nagercoil Erode

Funding Needs - Explained

Appendix

Sponsorship – Full Educational Support

• This covers the cost of tuition, notebooks, textbooks, nutritional health snacks , noon-meals, transport and uniforms .

• Comprehensive support including all of the above is sought for these students, mostly from tribal and very backward areas, where the culture of education is still yet to take root.

Full Educational Support: (Rs. 20,000 / $ 480/ £ 300) / child / year

Sponsorship - Scholarship

Even nominal fees are too much for some rural families. Recognizing this challenge, Isha Vidhya provides full tuition scholarships for students in need.

• Scholarships cover students’ tuition, notebooks, textbooks and nutritional health snacks.

• Comprehensive allocation process ensures only students truly in need receive scholarships.

• Scholarship sponsors are matched with a specific students and receive regular updates including photos, letters and progress reports.

• Sponsors are encouraged to support a student for the entire duration of education at Isha Vidhya.

Cost of Scholarship : (Rs. 10,000 / $ 240 / £ 150) / child / year

Sponsorship – Transport

• Many of our children struggle to travel to our school due to the absence of low cost, dependable public transport.

• Children sometimes come from surrounding villages as far as 5 to 20 km away in our school vans or buses.

• The transport cost is unaffordable to most parents. As a result children end up dropping out of our schools or end up going to poorly run Government schools nearer to their homes.

• School buses are run by Isha Vidhya schools on a no-loss-no-profit basis. These provide safe and the most economical means of transport for the children.

Cost of sponsoring a child’s transport : (Rs. 5,250 / $ 130 / £ 80) / year

Sponsorship – Noon Meal

• Many of our children come from families where both parents are daily wagers, who need to leave for work early.

• Usually, they cook just once a day and this is the dinner, a portion of which is kept aside for the children as breakfast and lunch as well.

• In the absence of any vegetables, fruit or proteins, the nutritional content of their food is very poor.

• This severely impedes the physical and mental growth of the children.

• By providing at least one tasty and nutritious meal to these kids, two issues are addressed– health of the children and incentivizing the parent to send their child to school.

Cost of sponsoring a noon-meal : (Rs. 3,000/ $ 72 / £ 45) / child / year

Govt. School Adoption

• There are 40 Govt. schools adopted by Isha Vidhya

• Cost of interventions varies from school to school from Rs. 0.33 mn to Rs. 0.50 mn per annum.

• Sponsors can choose to donate the sponsorship amount for a Govt. school on a monthly basis also, besides the option of making a single donation.

Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkMmCbiLWr4&feature=youtu.be

Contact: info@ishavidhya.org M: 9841048949/9442228606

donations@ishavidhya.org

Thank You