YOGENDRA BHUSHAN, Founder & Director, Bodh Shiksha Samithi, Jaipur has an egalitarian and altruistic approach to life. He believes quality education is the basic minimum that the state and society owe to children, regardless of social status. His endeavors support this belief.
Bodh Shiksha Samithi was established in 1987 as a not-for-profit organization by Shri Bhushan in association with reputed social activists and eminent educationists. It has no religious or political affiliation. The main objectives of Bodh are: providing quality education to urban deprived children using innovative methods; and involving children, teachers and the community in a creative participatory relationship. Bodh is supported by UNICEF and the Aga Khan Foundation, amongst others.
The core values of Bodh, as articulated by Shri Bhushan and his associates, are: community involvement; culture of equality; human dignity; unity in theory and practice; children’s rights; participatory school governance; and faith in the creativity resident in each person. They earnestly believe that these values can catalyze development of an egalitarian, progressive and enlightened society. A best social practice.
The hallmark achievement of Shri Bhushan has been the creation of a Common School System that aims to blur the differences between formal government schools and the alternative education available through Bodh. Bodh offers alternative education in seven slums of Jaipur as well as forty remote hamlets of rural Rajasthan. The Bodhshalas, the equivalent of primary schools, are set up and supported by the residents of slums and staffed by teachers trained through Bodh. About 20,000 children have received education through Bodhshalas. In reverse, the same decentralization and pedagogy of Bodhshalas is now being transferred by Bodh to government schools in Rajasthan. An innovative practice.
Shri Bhushan is a tireless crusader.
We congratulate Shri Yogendra Bhushan. Our Qimpro Gold Standard 2013 for Education.