Asha for Education

The purpose of the school is to provide basic literacy and regular elementary education in a rural region with low literacy rate (54.2%). It also imparts vocational /professional training, and basic computer education. To that end, the focus area of the school includes free primary schooling, distribution of books, supporting meritorious students with their higher education, and promoting physical fitness. The school has also organized excursions, and events for enjoyment, and to encourage cultural awareness. The school additionally provides free transportation to students who require it, supplementary nutrition, weekly health check-ups and clothing support. The long term vision of KSSK is to provide a momentum to the destitute children of this region through basic literacy so they can move onto future endeavors like employment or further education.
The hope is that success in this project will inspire more children from the region to pursue primary schooling, and continue to increase literacy rates in the region, while decreasing problems like child labor.

Paushi Khagendra Sishu Sikha Kendra (KSSK) is a primary school owned and operated by the Antyodoy Ananth Ashram (AAA) in the remote village of Paushi, in the Purba district of West Bengal, India. Paushi is about 138 km from Koltaka and is accessible by train or a 3 hr. drive on the Kolkata-Digha route. The Ashram, which is an orphanage, was founded by Sri Balaram Karan in 1995, and was registered in 2004 under the West Bengal Societies Registration ACT 1961. The Ashram started a nursery school for infants in 1995 that was upgraded to a primary school (KSSK), in 2006. The school is located in an area of rural poverty. This region falls in the area of Purba district that has been reported, in 2012, to have about 9-20% of its population below poverty (World Bank Document, Jun 20 2017), and Purba is considered one of the country’s most backward districts with no sustainable infrastructure of basic education. There are no government schools at the primary level in the vicinity of this school, and only one high school (from grades 5-12). The literacy rate in this area is low at 54.52% (boys 59.56% and girls 49.48%). The students of the school are from the orphanage or come from low income families, and daily wage workers, primarily from industries such as fishery, agricultural labor, and household industry. The school offers free elementary education, books, and school supplies, and basic health care to kids aged 4-12 from surrounding villages.
As of Oct 2019, 4800 children have studied in this school before stepping onto secondary/higher education. The school boasts of quite a few success stories. The ashram itself has been the recipient of many awards in social upliftment/development, and education.