For two years now, Chiguru school in Karnataka’s remote village of Bidarahalli in Mysuru district has been providing education to 82 children from 20 nearby villages of HD Kote Taluk, in English medium at a nominal fee.
The children are from kindergarten up to second standard and a significant number of families of these villages are tribals or from socially backward sections.
The school run by the NGO, Chiguru Vignana Samsthe, is known for promoting science education among rural children in the region. It currently operates out of a temporary structure built on leased land.
The school and the NGO were set up by Katavalu Shivappa, who looks after the educational side of the institution, while Parashivamurthy manages the administrative side. Four women from nearby areas work as teachers.
Shivappa, the ‘science experiment’ teacher is a popular local figure known for making science education more appealing to school students across the state.
Parashivamurthy works as a staff in a nearby hospital.
From the next academic session starting in June 2017, Chiguru wants to expand and start offering courses for higher classes as well.
For this reason, Shivappa is now seeking financial help so that he can buy a piece of land in the area and build a permanent structure for the school.
Even after two years of functioning, the school lacks basic infrastructure like drinking water and is running solely on personal savings from its founders and contributions made by well-wishers like Lakshmikanth Pai, a Bengaluru resident.
Pai has been one of the persons who has helped Chiguru School since its inception and decided to start an crowdfunding campaign using an online platform, Milaap. And the response has been overwhelming.
Pai had met Shivappa in 2011 when he had come to teach disadvantaged students in a school managed by a charitable initiative run by Pai and his colleagues at Broadcom’s (the semi-conductor major) Bengaluru facility.
Speaking to The News Minute, Shivappa said that for him getting 80 students enrolled was a big achievement given the local population are mostly tribals or are from socially backward sections.
Shivappa said, “Most of the students are first-generation learners and I am more than happy that I have managed to convince their parents to send them to school.”
You can make your contribution for Chiguru school here.