Page 65 - Education World September 2021

velop them into competent, responsible
and tolerant citizens,” says Kalal, born
into a family of farmers.
Since then over the past decade-and-
a-half, Alfa Society has matured into a
well-respected NGO which focuses on
youth development and peace-building
programmes. Alfa Society is behind the
Village Spirit Academy, a school which
teaches students from class V-XII. Ka-
lal recalls going door-to-door in village
homes with his team, begging people to
send their children, especially girl chil-
dren, to school. His efforts have borne
fruit and the attendance of girl children
in government schools has leaped from
single digits to 60 percent, and over
1,000 children have benefited from
the society’s activities. Moreover, the
17000 ft Foundation’s Sujata Sahu (left): solo trek epiphany society hosts film screenings, organ-
ises street plays and cultural shows on
organised training programmes for severely disturbed by the violence of pressing local problems and themes.
over 2,000 government school teach- the Gujarat riots in 2002. I was a teen- The factors and impulses that are
ers. Moreover, 17000 ft Foundation has ager then, but clearly understood that driving a rising number of well-educat-
upgraded 150 government anganwa- education was the only way to protect ed youth and successful professionals
dis benefiting 8,000 young children, future generations from falling into the from the country’s subsidies-addicted
and translated 36 storybooks into the trap of communalism, casteism, child middle class to forsake successful cor-
local Bhoti language. The foundation marriage, and other social ills. That’s porate careers and urban comforts and
has been supported in its journey by why immediately after completing my commit themselves to rural education
numerous individuals and corporate higher education, I decided to devote and development are diverse. A com-
houses such as Axis Bank, SBI Founda- my life to the cause of education, re- mon thread is to provide education and
tion, HDFC Bank, DASRA, Hero Future turning eventually to Kherwara to do social services to the rural poor whom
Energies, ICICI Bank, Signify Innova- my bit to provide children and youth governments at the Centre and states
tions, among others. holistic education, with the aim to de- have cruelly neglected. Their com-
I N A NONDESCRIPT VILLAGE Alfa Society’s Lokesh Kalal (right): harmony restoration goal

in rural Rajasthan, a similar
education transformation is
in the works due to the de-
termined efforts of Lokesh Kalal, a
postgrad in social work of CMJ Uni-
versity, a private varsity in Meghalaya.
Kalal also has another MA degree in
sociology from MLSU, Udaipur, a state
government university. He worked in
Udaipur-based NGO Seva Mandir
before returning to his native village,
Kherwara to register the Alfa Society
(estb.2006), an NGO working in the ar-
eas of “education, youth development,
women’s empowerment and peaceful
community relations”.
“The composite harmonious cul-
ture of my native village, which is on
the Rajasthan-Gujarat border was

SEPTEMBER 2021 EDUCATIONWORLD 65