Jeevan Deep Projects
(Bodhgaya District, Bihar, India)
Currently, Kailash Prasad and his Jeevan Deep team serve 10 villages, tucked away in the jungles south of Bodhgaya proper and the site of the Magadh University Campus.
Schools
In each of these, the morning sunrise announces a buzz of activity, when (often very young) mothers bring their children to the shed, or the house, or the banyan tree, where the Jeevan Deep Instructor is already preparing for class. The children will be attending classes until noon, often watched by their most curious mothers, who pick up their own few letters of the alphabet or their own basic pieces of math in the process.
The educational philosophy of the Jeevan Deep team follows the precepts of Anaupacarik Shiksha, i.e. Non-Formal Education, which means that instruction is not obligatory or structured and is learned outside the context of a formal school. Inspired by the example of the educational vision of Rabindranath Tagore, established among other places at Shantiniketan in Bengal, Kailash Prasad, Janardan, Kuleshvar and the others of the team see no obstacle in the lack of school buildings or other means of logistic support – firmly believing that the best kind of education is imparted by a strong and charismatic teacher, and through models, metaphors, songs and plays which are embedded in the cultural and social framework of the students.
Health Care
In order for a society to be able to develop, Jeevan Deep knows very well that basic anemities such as health care need to be taken on first. After all, there is no sense in education if your children can hardly survive. Adressing this, Jeevan Deep runs its own mobile clinic and has friendly agreements with a series of local doctors and day hospitals (such as the one at the Root Institute) in the area, taking care of transporting the local sick to the hospital and paying for the medecine bills.
Village Development
One more basic requirement for an educational program to succeed, is the healthy development of the village community. In this field, Jeevan Deep has sought inspiration in Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan and Gramdan movements – which have enabled non-land-owning communities to acquire land for themselves – thus establishing means to preserve their communities and their community life for the future, and creating an impetus necessary for a deeply-rooted urge to self-improve and develop.
Moreover, from its early years, Jeevan Deep has steadily been helping its villages to improve on their social, agricultural and economic output – through the establishment of water pumps, the digging of reservoirs, the improvement of agricultural techniques, reforestation programs, women’s groups, sewing workshops, and more.