Building Hope

We believe education is the greatest gift ever bestowed on a child. Our charity institution – Kaka-Ba and Kala Budh Charitable Trust works round the clock to ensure accessibility of education for rural children. Here’s an account by PravinChaudhari, Headmaster of S L Patel High School who we extended support to build classrooms that can house infinite dreams.

“If you had visited S L Patel High School in Bhat village before October 2017, you would have witnessed the dead end of hope. With dingy walls and dilapidated classrooms, the school was in no shape to harbor education and development. The children were at the mercy of the elements by sitting in an open shed area with no roof. Being the headmaster, I fought a constant battle to encourage students to pursue their secondary education. However, my efforts were futile because of the unsuitable facilities of the school.

On seeing the growing school dropouts, particularly girls, we started to seek external help to renovate the school building. Months passed by, but we were unable to source funds and were soon losing hope. Then, one day the former Chief Minister of Gujarat – Anandiben Patel came to our village along with the district collector and senior leadership from Cadila for a school enrollment drive. We narrated our problem and requested their help. Cadila agreed to extend support to our cause with financial aid for the construction of classrooms. Unlike other benefactors, Cadila whole heartedly adopted the initiative by being involved in the construction work and finalizing a collaboration with a leading paints company. Within a span of months, we had spacious and well ventilated classrooms which led to over 150 students enrolling for IX and X grade education.

However, the benevolence didn’t stop there, the team continued to support the school by conducting exposure visits and motivation programs, enriching the school library and supporting state and national level competitions. With the help of these initiatives our school has successfully scored a record 97% in the SSC board exams this year – earlier the average score was 60 to 65%. In addition, with the renewed infrastructure we are able to receive subsequent approvals and grants for additional classrooms from the Commissioner of Education, Education Department, Govt. of Gujarat.

Today as I stand before our renovated school, I see hope being sowed and this is solely because of the generous help of Cadila, a true education benefactor for the children. We are grateful for the company’s support to rebuild a second home for the children and bless the village with secure education.”