Dr Harcharan Singh School for Girls

Dr Harcharan Singh Senior Secondary School for Girls is located in Urapar village in the state of Punjab, India.

It is a government school but has been underfunded for years now; many appeals have been made to the Punjab Govt. but all have been in vain.

The villagers ultimately started funding the running expenses of the school by collecting little amounts of money from the whole village. Even though the funds collected saved the school so far have been extremely inconsistent, some months are easy but other times not so much.

The students in the school as you can read from the school title comprises of girls only. The wealthy families send their kids particularly boys to private schools which are not affordable to the not so well to do families. These girls come from families of daily wagers or poor farmers. It is worth commending the effort these girls make to get a basic education.

The teachers and management are also doing their best to keep the school going, sometimes they even give a portion of their nominal salary to pay for running expenses.

The tuition is fortunately paid by the government, however, running expenses such as transport (two minivans which brings girls from neighboring 15 villages to the school) and maintenance of the premises is not paid for.

Other one-time expenses are also not provided by the Govt. such as construction of new class rooms (the enrollment keeps on increasing but seating capacity is limited) and computers.

The funds collected will go directly to the school management to use according to their needs. It will help fund both running expenses, paying for transportation, upkeep of premises and one time expenses of constructing new classrooms and getting new computers. The funds are needed as soon as possible to keep the school running smoothly.

If you are wondering why I am interested in raising the money for this Govt. school, it is my ancestral village and the school is named after my grandfather. I grew up in a city, but have visited my village regularly since childhood. My grandfather, Dr. Harcharan Singh, was a famous and pioneer playwright of Punjabi literature, so the Government named the school in his name. That's the emotional attachment. 

I was studying in New York and visited the village after a few years. Seeing the deteriorating financial condition of the school and personally interacting with the students and faculty determined me to find funds to keep the school sufficiently funded and run smoothly.

I will post updates (photos and videos) on how the money is being spent at the school. Any one can visit the school themselves to see the progress that the money collected will make. Below is a link to the map with the exact location of the school.

https://goo.gl/maps/17BkYybymaH2