■ Two free rural schools for the poor, founded by Sri Mumtaz Ali; the first in 1999 and the second in 2001.

■ Located in the vicinity of Sugali Thanda, (a hamlet of displaced tribals) in South India.

■ Home to 90 children (ages 6 to 10) from the most deprived and destitute backgrounds from the surrounding Sugali Thanda and other low income Muslim, Christian and Hindu communities.

Beyond providing free literacy to children...

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■ A shelter from violent conditions at home. In their community children are exposed to prostitution, alcoholism and violence from their elders. If left at home they are subject to abuse by young men (especially girls), they are involved in household chores and they lack physical space. In our schools they spend the whole day in an atmosphere of cooperation, caring and joy. They are not ridiculed, pressured or physically punished as is the practice in most conventional Indian schools.

■ A succor for hungry stomachs. At home children often have only one meal a day and nutrition is deficient. At our Schools we provide a free nutritious meal and a protein drink everyday.

 ■ A meeting ground for friends to play, learn and share experiences. Children are given time & space to interact freely among themselves and with teachers.

■ A place for discovery, building self-confidence, and promoting cooperation.

■ A nursing home. Children with health problems are immediately referred to competent Doctors. Also, to promote self-reliance and compassion, children are taught how to deal with simple first aid cases.

Why are our schools different?

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■ Multi-grade classroom and peer-assisted model. Children from different ages share the same class. They work together in small groups, each group containing children from different levels. Within each group they help each other in the exploration and learning process using specially designed material. 

■ In this way, children have access to multiple sources of knowledge: their classmates, peers and seniors, the teaching material, and the teachers. This system promotes co-operation and self motivation. In the conventional system, the children who are fast, get bored, and the slow ones, get frustrated. In our schools each child learns at his/her own pace.

■ Innovating teaching material devised in-house (runs parallel to the government syllabus). It promotes joyful learning by discovery and experience, and it is related to the practical world.

■ The teacher is a facilitator / guide to the process of learning / discovery. Teachers' role is mainly to create and maintain the atmosphere for the whole system to work.

■ There is a continuous evaluation system, so there is no need for the stress and pressure of exams. Only during the last year (age 10) children are coached to give successful exams so that they can join the mainstream education (Class VI)

■ Practical computer skills from age 8 onwards.

■ Daily yoga class.

■ Music and folk dances

■ Comprehensive arts & crafts /vocational activity every day. 

■ English language is taught since age 8.

■ Gardening and maintenance of campus done by children.

Interacting with the local communities

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■ Parents Meeting and Home Visits. The teachers make periodic home visits and hold meetings with parents to discuss health, hygiene and emotional issues of the children and the community.

■ Sugali Embroidery Unit. This is an effort to revive the traditional skills of the Sugalis which is threatened with extinction. Satsang Foundation has tied up with Dwarka Trust – an NGO run by Ms. Anita Reddy- which markets traditional products and helps them to earn an income while keeping their traditional skills alive.

■ Self-Help Group (Co-operative Bank). Members of the Embroidery Unit have created a co-operative bank where they invest their earnings every month and the pooled in money is then loaned to any of the members at a low rate of interest. Profits are distributed equally on a half yearly basis.

Some of our results...

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■ In the past two years, 100% of the children completing their cycle in our schools (Class I to Class V) have been admitted into Class VI of government schools, were they can continue their education. They are in the forefront of their class in the schools they have joined.

■ Applications seeking admission to our schools have tripled since 2003. Unfortunately in 2006 we could accommodate less than half the applications received.

■ From Academic year 2005-06 the school has been extended upto Class VII. This was a long standing demand and need as quality education at senior school level is lacking in the area.

Why we need your help?

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■ We rely entirely on financial contributions from individuals to make a difference in these children's lives. It costs us Rs.6000 (U$ 150 ) per year per child to run our schools.

■ To extend our schools up to Class X (age 16), to ensure full flowering of the children's potential.

■ To extend this schools' model to other villages, building new classrooms and laboratories and opening a section for adult education.