Underprivileged Children in our Schools Achieve Superior Learning Outcomes

Board Exams Pass Rate

– Source: MHRD 2018 publication, Govt of India, Data includes Central, State and Open Boards, Data collated for Class 10 and Class 12, Manav Kalyan Trust data

  • 80% students in Class 12 achieved distinctions (>75%)
  • Class 12 topper in our school scored 95%

% of Students that Attend College

– Source: MHRD 2018 publication, Govt of India, Manav Kalyan Trust data

Children from our schools are now teachers, journalists, entrepreneurs, banking professionals, marketing professionals.

In their own words

  • Name of student: Navraj Singh
  • Class: 10
  • Ambition: Join the Indian Police Service
  • Name of student: Manjit Kaur
  • Class: 10
  • Ambition: Join the Indian Army

Stories that have moved us

Pushpa: A Story in Self-motivation

In Class 8 at Manav Kalyan Vidya Mandir, Pushpa (name changed) was confidently anchoring the school’s Annual Function in front of 250 people. Pushpa is from an economically weaker strata of our society. She is fiercely ambitious, has no visible mentors and speaks perfect English.

Impressed by her confidence, we asked her secret of success. “Self-motivation”, she replied. But we weren’t satisfied and wanted to know more. And then she said, “My father is a driver and my parents cannot read or write. They don’t have the means to motivate me. My dream is to join the Indian Administrative Services.”

Now, this is a common dream in India and we wouldn’t have made much of it. But she continued, “I visualize myself serving our Prime Minster. I take newspaper photographs of the Prime Minister and paste my photograph on the team of officers surrounding him. One day, I will come back to my school as the Chief Guest of the Annual Function.”

Fast-forward a few years, Pushpa achieved 87% in her Board exams and is preparing for competitive college entrance exams. During COVID-19, she was struggling to prepare as her family could not afford access to a computer for digital education. On hearing this, the school stepped in and donated a computer to her. A small gesture, but a giant step to keep the fire alive. Meanwhile, her aspirations have only become stronger. In her own words, “Now it is my turn to work even harder and become an IAS officer.”

Ritu: Overcoming gender discrimination

Indian families can often subject their own children to gender discrimination. These feelings of being unwanted and deprived of equal opportunities, can leave deep scars on a child’s mind. But not for Ritu (name changed) from a small town in India. This is her story.

Ritu’s birth was met with stunned silence. “My grandparents desperately wanted a boy. The elders did not want me, and they did not want me to go to school,” she said. Ritu grew up living in abject poverty. Her father is a street vendor selling food from a cart, barely making minimum wage. The adversity and tragedy did not end there. “A pressure cooker exploded in our kitchen. My mother suffered severe body burns.” she said, crying softly. “Everything we had went to pay for her medical treatment.”

When nothing seemed to be going right, there was a  ray of hope. Ritu enrolled at our school, Manav Kalyan Vidya Mandir. Hard-working and resilient by nature, she would wake up to study at 5am, often working late into the night. The dedication paid off – she scored an exemplary 84% in English in Class 12 Board exams. The school provided her with the support system to excel in other areas as well. Ritu was featured in a newspaper article when she bagged the 2nd prize in a district yoga competition. She says that her proudest moment was sharing the newspaper article with her grandparents.

Ritu’s story does not end there. With no money to pay for college, the school stepped in to sponsor her college education. 3 years ago, Ritu became an entrepreneur and started her very own English language training academy. The academy prepares aspirants for standardized English language tests like IELTS and TOEFL that are required for studying overseas. Not only has this determined girl lifted her family from poverty, she has also created employment! “I am who I am because of my school, Manav Kalyan Vidya Mandir. I was taught to dream big here,” she says.