The first rays of sunlight mark the beginning of another day at the Ashram Ganjad School. A rooster cry soon grows into a collective chatter.
The children awake and tuck the bed mats away into their trunks, clearing the space for classes to begin. The clanging of metal pots and buckets is interspersed with running water as they wash, clean, and bathe. They huddle into their dimly lit classrooms. They are taught mathematics, science, history, and geography.
Meanwhile food is prepared in a small kitchen, its walls blackened with soot from burning logs. Holding cups and plates, students assemble in the school hall during mealtime. Once again the cycle of history, geography, maths, and science repeats.
The ringing of the school bell signals the close of any ordinary day. While the few children residing in villages nearby leave, the rest pull out their mats, turning their classroom back into their home. As the sun sets, children study under a dim bulb or two, dinner is served and preparations are made to sleep.
ABOUT ASHRAM SCHOOL, GANJAD
The Ashram Ganjad School is located in the village of Ganjad in the Dahanu taluka of Maharashtra. This is a tribal village, home to the Warli tribe. The Warlis are cultivators and pastoralists tribes of Maharashtra. Their beliefs and traditions expressed through paintings on the walls of their house were a means of transmitting folklore to a populace not acquainted with the written word. Today the tribe remains economically backward but retains some of their ancient practices. The Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Trust, an educational institution runs ashram schools aimed particularly at educating this community. With a government grant for each student per month, the students’ basic needs are barely provided for. The Trust strives to meet the bare necessities of the students but cannot provide for a more holistic development of the children.
