Infrastructure
We Came, We Saw, We Built
Three broken classrooms. Thirty days. A school transformed.
1,100
Students
3
Classrooms
30
Days
5,000+
Students who have learned in them since
We came. We saw. We built.
Where the journey of Nitya Saarthi Foundation began.
The school
Our journey began on the ground. In 2018, we stepped into Chhatrapati Vidyalaya, a government school in Sakhre village in a remote tribal region of Palghar district. What we encountered was impossible to ignore: classrooms in urgent need of care, safety and dignity. Yet within these fragile walls were children eager to learn and teachers committed to showing up every day. That first visit defined our purpose: change begins by showing up.
The problem
Three classrooms reflected years of neglect. Two were built with weak brick-and-soil walls, unfinished and unsafe, without plaster, colour, tiled floors, ceiling fans or lights. The third had partially collapsed during heavy monsoon rains in July 2018. Fortunately, no students were inside at the time. The school lacked the financial means to rebuild.
Why we acted
Despite these challenges, Chhatrapati Vidyalaya recorded a 96% pass rate in Class 10. One student, who walked seven kilometres every day to attend school, scored 93%. The school serves nearly 1,100 students from Classes 5 to 12, all from Adivasi communities living below the poverty line. The principal, who has dedicated 22 years to the school, does not charge any fees, and the school has more girls than boys, a rare milestone in tribal education.
“Their circumstances were difficult. Their commitment was not.”
Before
After
Before
After, with Warli art by local artists
What we did
- Worked out the scope and cost with the principal, teachers and contractors
- Raised the funds from friends and well-wishers
- Personally supervised the purchase of bricks, sand, cement, tiles, paint and roofing
- Finished the work in 30 days, August to September 2018
The villagers, sarpanch, panchayat, teachers, parents, donors and above all the students celebrated the inauguration together. Donors were welcomed and honoured by the whole village. More than 5,000 students have studied in these classrooms since.
Till date more than 5,000 students have benefited from this project. This was our first step. Not the largest. Not the last. But the one that shaped everything that followed.
Donating towards the school project and watching the classrooms being built in real time was immensely satisfying. I knew exactly how and where my donations were spent.
Gaurav Nemade
दातव्यमिति यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे । देशे काले च पात्रे च तद्दानं सात्त्विकं स्मृतम् ॥
Charity given out of duty, without expectation of return, at the proper time and place, and to a worthy person, is considered to be in the mode of goodness.