The Shanti Bhavan Children's Project is a U.S. 501 and India 80-G non-profit organisation based in Bangalore, India, that operates a pre-K-12 residential school in Baliganapalli, Tamil Nadu. The school annually enrolls 12 boys and 12 girls for its incoming pre-school class. Thereafter, students stay at the school year-round except for summer and winter breaks. Students attend Shanti Bhavan free of charge and are provided with nutritional meals, clothes, shelter, education, healthcare and emotional and mental support. Shanti Bhavan is accredited by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, one of India’s most robust academic curriculums, and administers the ICSE and ISC exams during students' 10th and 12th grades. After students' 12th grade, Shanti Bhavan also pays for their college education. At present, the school accommodates approximately 300 students who come from rural villages or urban slums. A majority of the students are Dalits - formerly known as untouchables. Due to caste-based discrimination, the students come from extremely impoverished backgrounds, most families surviving on less than $2 per day. Many families experience generational poverty and therefore do not have electricity or running water in their homes. Shanti Bhavan is the only chance for an education that these children have. Students are educated in subjects such as mathematics, history, geography, Hindi, English writing/reading, physics, chemistry, business, accounting, biology, etc. Older students attend workshops in writing, public speaking, and debate. Students are able to engage in sports such as volleyball, basketball, and soccer. Finally, students learn the importance of volunteerism, feminism, leadership, and personal/emotional development. After their Shanti Bhavan education, students go on to join colleges such as St. Joseph's College of Commerce, National Law School in Bangalore, and many more. Current graduates of Shanti Bhavan have obtained full-time jobs at companies such as Amazon, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Yahoo. Furthermore, Shanti Bhavan graduates give back a portion of their salaries to their families and communities, thereby working to extinguish the cycle of generational poverty.
History
The school was founded by Dr Abraham George, an Indian-American businessman and philanthropist. After serving in the Indian Army, Dr. George attended NYU's Stern School of Business and began his own company Multinational Computer Models Inc. In 1995, he began the non-profit organisation The George Foundation. Shanti Bhavan was established in August 1997 as a project of The George Foundation to help economically and socially disadvantaged children, mostly Dalit children, in rural India - specifically in the Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka regions. In 2008, as a result of the global financial crisis, Shanti Bhavan underwent a financial crisis of its own. Spearheaded by Director of Operations Ajit George, the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project moved from a privately funded institution to a mixed model of individual donations, corporate and NGO partnerships, and grants. On September 10, 2008, Shanti Bhavan separated from The George Foundation and became a non-profit organisation run under the Shanti Bhavan Educational Trust. As of 2017, Shanti Bhavan has had 8 graduating classes and counting. With a 97% high school retention rate and a 98% college retention rate. Its college graduates make more in the first five years of their careers than their parents will their entire lives. Shanti Bhavan students give 20-50% of their incomes to help their families and other children in need. Currently the Shanti Bhavan team is working to raise money to build a second school in India.
Mission
The organisation aims to provide holistic, quality education to India's most underprivileged children, mostly from the lower caste or the Dalits to allow them to succeed in the modern global workplace. By breaking the cycle of poverty for these children, while modeling civic engagement and charitable giving, Shanti Bhavan aims to create a generation of changemakers and leaders in India who will go on to uplift their communities out of poverty.
Method
The school takes in children as young as four years old who are below poverty level. Shanti Bhavan financially supports them throughout their years at the school as well as through college, providing 17 years of support and high quality education. Shanti Bhavan follows the CISCE curriculum; students take their ISCE examinations in their 10th and 12th grades to determine their college placement. The school employs full-time teachers as well as international volunteers, who are given accommodations on the campus. The volunteers support the student's education by teaching classes and providing a global perspective for students' coursework. Students receive a holistic education, including a focus on global events, feminism, leadership development, and guidance on how to cope with the endemic discrimination they face.
Cost
The cost per student per day at Shanti Bhavan is approximately $4. For one year, pre-K through 12th grade, the cost is approximately $1600 per student. For one college student, the cost is approximately $3200 per year.
Media
Shanti Bhavan has recently been featured in the documentary The Backward Class, as well as the Netflix documentary series Daughters of Destiny: The Journey of Shanti Bhavan, written, directed and co-produced by Vanessa Roth. In 2016, Shanti Bhavan student Keerthi was profiled in Glamour’s The Girl Project. In 2014, Shanti Bhavan student Visali was honored as one of Glamour’s Women of the Year. Shanti Bhavan has also been featured on or in Charlie Rose, ABC World News Tonight, the New York Times, and Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat.
Partners and programs
The organisation has a volunteer program which employs volunteer educators from some educational and non-profit organisations such as ASTEP, and She's the First to teach academic and non-academic subjects.
