History

A SMALL DECISION MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

After teaching for many years in over-crowded government schools, Asha Pandey becomes frustrated with the schools' strict and unimaginative curriculum. She sees that children are not learning effectively. And for the most part, instructors and administrators experience a terrible disconnection with their students.

At government-run schools education is free but the parents have to pay for the uniform and school supplies. Desperately poor families are often forced to forego educating their children. Asha Pandey decides that she wants to remove this financial obstacle, and provides the necessary supplies herself. Besides that classes in government school are very big, often more than 100.

In July 1996 Asha founds Little Stars School with the help and financial support of Chicca Fioretto from Italy, Babaji from Sonoma Ashram in California, Ingrid Jacobson, a Swiss lady Ana and Dale from Australia. Asha approaches the children who live in her own neighborhood.

With the financial help of Ana, Chicca organizes that 24 children from Dasashwamedh Ghat can come by rickshaw. The new school starts on the roof of Asha’s parents’ house in Assi with 35 children and 3 volunteers. Besides Asha there are Uma Pandey and Manisha Upadhyay.

The children’s parents

The children in the neighborhood are eager, but their parents hesitant. Most parents are not educated themselves, and don’t see education as a priority. Even more important, the families need the money the children make at their afternoon jobs. The parents don’t object if the school does not interfere with the children's job.

The children's parents typically drive cycle rickshaws, wash dishes, clean clothes, cook or clean for others, or sweep the streets. Most of these families came to Varanasi from West Bengal, Bihar, or from nearby villages, penniless and searching for work. Like most poor and migrant workers, they settled in the undeveloped areas of town.

The children

The children work from a very early age, picking up trash in front of stores, begging, working at road side stalls selling tea or tobacco, pushing food carts, or labor as domestic servants in wealthier homes. Every member of these families is expected to contribute to the resources, even if this is only a few rupees a day.

Word of Little Stars spreads

Slowly, word of Little Stars spreads among the people of Varanasi's poor neighborhoods. And each day, more children show up. When the school year ends in May'97 there are 70 children attending. The rooftop can no longer fit them all in. For the next school year three rooms and a rooftop are rented in Nagwa Chungi.

At this crucial stage, ASHA, a NGO which is dedicated to supporting alternative education in India, steps in. With this help the school moves to a larger space, and begins to pay teachers who previously had been volunteering. It is possible to purchase more school supplies, and significantly, to provide nutritious food for the children on a daily basis.

In 1999, two and a half years since its founding, Little Stars teaches 120 children in seven classes. The children are between 4-14 years of age and impressively for these days, almost half are girls. They come mostly from three impoverished neighborhoods in Varanasi; Assi, Nagwa, and Dasashwamedh. The first two are near the school; children from Dasashwamedh are brought by rickshaw.

The classes are divided not by age, but by ability.

There are seven classes: preschool, and beginning and intermediate, and class 1, 2 and 3. Reading, writing and math are the main subjects taught, although the teachers integrate geography, history, and science into the curriculum. At the end of the day a nutritious meal, usually of chana masala (chick peas with onion and chilies) and/or a piece of seasonal fruit is served to ensure that the children receive at least one good meal a day.

The school provides uniforms for the children for both hot and colder seasons, so that the children have new clothes twice a year. What's more, if a child becomes sick, money from the ASHA grant can pay for doctor's visits and medicine so that children do not miss school or become more seriously ill due to lack of resources.

Hand-picked

The teachers are hand-picked by Mrs. Pandey. She wants educators who understand the special needs and circumstances of the students while appreciating their strengths and talents. In 1998 there are seven teachers employed at the school. Both during the school year and during breaks, the teachers take turns visiting the students' neighborhoods so that they can interact with parents who are unable to come to the school personally. The parents and children are thus networked with the teachers; everyone feels a sense of belonging to a responsible and progressive community.

Little Stars’ own school building

In 1999 Asha Pandey is able to purchase land and starts to build a school. The land and building are funded by a collective of ASHA Chapters across the United States, a successful fund raiser Reema Datta and Baba Harihar Ramji (Babaji) from Sonama Ashram, in California. In January 2001 the school moves into the partially completed building.

Little Stars School gains a FCRA clearance. This is a condition needed by the government of India in order to receive foreign donations.

The girls hostel

In 2004 a hostel has been established in the same building. With the financial support of the Agro family from Italy a dormitory, bathroom and kitchen has been build on the 3rd floor of the new school. The hostel starts with 5 girls.

Benares Schoolfund Foundation

In November 2004 Asha meets a Dutch lady, Conny van Staalen-van Leeuwen. Conny and her Benares Schoolfund Foundation (Stichting Benares Schoolfonds www.benaresschool.nl) already support two fee free schools and the Foundation is able to do more. Conny has heard exciting stories about a young and determined lady who is managing a fee free school for poor families with more than 400 students. When Conny is back in Holland, the Foundation decides to support LSS.

Every year in November Conny and some members of the Benares Schoolfund Foundation (Stichting Benares Schoolfonds) visit Varanasi and talk about the sustainability, quality and future plans of the school. Conny also meets the parents of the day students whom the fund is supporting. The foundation is now a major and very loyal participant amongst the many supporters of LSS, as The Berger and Gupta Foundation both from America and the many, many other private persons who now form the group of Friends of Little Stars School all over the world.

Adding grade 9 and 10

In 2007 the staff of LSS feels the need for students to have the opportunity to include grade 9 and 10 of High School. In government schools the classes are very big, and the fee for books, stationary and uniform is beyond the reach of very poor families. Besides that, this kind of students only has real opportunities in small classes (about 30) with the personal attention of the teacher. In 2008 the school adds grade 9. Not any fee free school in Varanasi is going beyond class 5.

Renovations and Expansion

Little Stars School now has 550 students. The building already needs some renovations and is to some extent overcrowded. In 2008 again Conny van Staalen-van Leeuwen and Pierre Satijn, a Dutch volunteer, found the Benares Bouwfonds (Benares Buildingfund Foundation). This fund is specially for renovation and building activities. In 2009 a private Dutch heritage donates all the money needed for the renovations. The demand for education at LSS is growing and growing. One solution is very costly but worth trying; an expansion for class 6 – 12(!), with a small playground, a computer lab, science labs and a library. The third floor of the present building will become the living and recreation area for the hostel girls.

With the help of Indian donators and the Benares Buildingfund Foundation it is possible to buy a small plot nearby in 2008. And in 2010 the building of the expansion gradually starts with the demolition of a small brick shed. An entire floor can be built thanks to the Festa “Bambini di Bagnolo x Bambini di Benares” organized by Consolata d’Isola from Italy.

In the school year 2011-2012 the basement and ground floor will already be used as classrooms for the time being. Besides that, when it is very hot, the hostel girls can sleep in the cool basement.

A unique fee free quality education

The aim is to add another floor each year. After finishing, the new building will have 5 floors, a warden, staff and vice-principle room and seventeen (17) classrooms. Little Stars School is unique in Varanasi; a fee free quality education for the underprivileged from pre-nursery thru grade 12.

In our dreams, after school time the building can be used as a social service centre. There can be community meetings, computer classes, lessons in English and Hindi for adults and perhaps class 9 and 10 for adults. Dreams have always to be dreamt.

(With thanks to Ingrid Jacobson)