A visit to my ancestral village
As I had mentioned in one of my previous entries, one of my endeavors this year would be to bring the internet to 10 remote villages in the district of Ratnagiri in Western India. So, in December 2010, I ended visiting the field area, identifying the villages, interacting with students and teachers in the area and enlisting them into the plan.
To do a quick re-cap of what I am trying to do: For those who may not be aware of it, India has a huge urban-rural education quality gap. Students in rural areas do not get access to modern informational technology driven education. Due to this, they enter the labor force with a skill set deficiency that lasts for their entire adult lives thereby relegating them to the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid. This further exacerbates the urban-rural migration problem because lack of technology skills forces these children into menial city jobs and some of them end up on the wrong side of the law as well.
I happened to go to my ancestral village in 2008 when I realized that kids in that village school do not have access to the net. This made me wonder as to how much these kids’ lives would change if they got an opportunity to get access to the internet. Imagine if they could get out of caste, religion, gender and economic scarcity based shackles and explore the world through the internet. The world would literally be their playground.
So after successfully bringing the internet to one village school, I have endeavored to bring the internet to 10 more village schools this year. Below are the names and the schedule when I will make these schools internet-enabled.
Sr.No. Name of School Address Schedule
1 Madhyamik Vidayalaya,Abloli Abloli January
2 Mahatma Phule M.V.Pacheri Aagar, Guhagar Pacheri Agar February
3 Shree Pandurang Rupaji Phatkare M.V,Shir Shir March
4 Madhymik Vidayalaya, Panchkroshi, Kolawali Kolawali April
5 Saraswati Vidyamandir Highschool,Jamsut Jamsut May
6 Madhyamik Vidayalaya, Pacheri Pacheri June
7 M.L. Bhau Hedavakar vidyaniketan, Hedvi Hedvi July
8 Madhymik Vidayamandir, Waghambe Waghambe August
9 New English School, Padve Padve September
10 Madhyamik Vidayalaya, Kudali Parisar Kudali Kudali October
When I went to meet the kids from these schools, it was really an eye opening event for me. What separated me from my US educated-world of a million possibilities and their world of deprivation was one window of opportunity- the internet. The more I spoke and interacted with these kids, the more I realized how talented they were. Their dreams were as vivid and real as any other kids’. God and nature had relegated them to a remote corner of India, but talking to them one realized that their dreams could not be shortchanged. My hope is to internet-enable the school system in entire district of Ratnagiri one day. Many decades back, my grandparents had sat on the benches of one of these schools. Now it is my turn to give back.
