The Tathagat School currently operates out of this borrowed one-room structure, with no bathrooms, running water or furniture. Classes are held in the one small room as well as on the outside of two walls and in a small shed constructed of wood and plastic sheeting, attached to one side of the building.
The Tathagat School is a free elementary school run by the Tathagat Shikshan Sansthan Welfare Trust at the village of Bakrour, located just across the river from the town of Bodhgaya, in Bihar, India (map). The School has been in operation since 2001, managed and staffed by a handful of volunteers from the village and surrounding area. Currently about 160 children from the villages of Bakrour and nearby Ganga Bigha are enrolled, though fewer attend on any given day.
The school suffers from both an absence of adequate physical facilities and from an absence of operating funds. For its physical location, the school has so far been borrowing a one-room structure, which is otherwise used as a community center for the village of Bakrour. Due to the lack of space, classes are held on the outside of each wall, which presents major challenges during extremely hot summers and long periods of the monsoons.
The severe lack of funds results in a shortage of teachers and difficulty in obtaining qualified staff. The school cannot afford basic supplies for all its students, and must do with poor quality educational materials. Books beyond the ones dictated by the state run curriculum are a luxury that is out of reach. No food is available to the children throughout their six-hour school day.
Due to the lack of both space and funds, grades are currently bunched together (1st and 2nd together, etc.), sixth grade is not offered at all, and more devastating of all, many school aged children who would like to enroll must be turned away, returning to spend their formative years working in the fields, doing house chores, or begging.
If you are ever in Bodhgaya, which is the adjacent town, and would like to visit the Tathagat School in person, you would be most welcome! The Trust members extend their heartfelt invitation to you. You will find the school at Bakrour Village, just across the river and around the bend from Bodhgaya. It is currently located right next to the Sujata Stupa.
If you would like to write to the school, their full address is: Tathagat Shikshan Sansthan Welfare Trust Sujata Village, Bakrour, Bodhgaya
Gaya, Bihar India 824231
To meet some of the students at the Tathagat School, click here.
