Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute

The Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute (GWEI) has a vision: provide the imperiled children of India with a safe place where they will be housed and fed while they receive training to prepare them for a life outside the prison of poverty.

M.K. Gandhi had a unique concept of holistic education that helped construct and develop a complete human being who should be economically, socially, psychologically and spiritually in harmony with the needs of a society and not simply a cog in the industrial wheel of a nation. Compassion and the welfare of all members of a society – Gandhi called it Sarvodaya – must continue to have a prominent place in society today.

GWEI’s vision, while helping the poor break out of the cycle of poverty, is to incorporate Gandhi’s philosophy of Sarvodaya in order to equip them with compassion and concern for society in general and the need to mould one’s life to play a constructive role in developing a society.

OUR PROPOSED SOLUTION:

1. The Gandhi Center for Learning will first focus on repairing the psychological, emotional, physiological, and social damage afflicting the children with the assistance of professionals from the local community volunteering their expertise.

2. The Gandhi Center for Learning will involve parents. The Gandhian idea of basic education seeks to involve parents and other siblings in the process of vocational training for children. At the new campus in Vashi, parents will learn scientific, organic farming to provide nutrition for their children and learn a trade that could pull them out of poverty.

3. The Gandhi Center for Learning will not only prepare children for the next step in their education, but will train them in a vocation that will keep them out of the brickyards, sweat shops and dangerous factories.

4. For students who demonstrate the aptitude for formal education, the Gandhi Center for Learning will provide a “bridge program” to support their entrance and ongoing success in India’s national education system.

The Gandhi Center for Learning will function as a holistic learning environment for these children. They will live at the Center while receiving basic education, vocational training, emotional counseling, physical care, and recreation time. These resources will allow them to improve their lives and support themselves in modern-day India.

A community of students, teachers, and families will insure each child has access to daily support and encouragement. The Center will allow students to develop interests and relationships. Over time, the children will develop a love of learning and a desire to become socially, emotionally, and intellectually prepared to succeed. Most importantly, they will finally have access to the childhood they deserve.

The Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute takes seriously the words of M.K. Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” and operates not out of pity, but out of empowering compassion.

A MODEL FOR THE WORLD
The Gandhi Center for Learning: Kolhapur Site is committed to developing a viable economic model for community schools that involves both children and parents in education and revitalizes communities. This model, which could be reproduced in other countries, meets all eight Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations for this decade:

 End Poverty and Hunger  Maternal Health
 Universal Education  Combat HIV/AIDS
 Gender Equality  Environmental Sustainability
 Child Health  Global Partnership

The Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute, with the support of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, purchased five acres of land with the intention of building the first Gandhi Center for Learning.

Location & Community Support
Kolhapur is generally one of the more prosperous cities in India, and is within the state of Maharashtra, which boasts the highest GDP per-capita of all states and union territories in all of India as of financial year 2010. Economic trade and growth is highly dependent on farming of cash crops like sugarcane, the metal industry, textiles and mining.

The community of Kolhapur will support the mission of the center in many ways, as they now support Avani. Individuals and organizations donate nutritional supplies, clothing and other personal items. Doctors and nurses come to the facility and provide regular check-ups, and a dentist donates services for the children to have complete dental corrective needs. Other professional individuals volunteer their expertise on weekends such as teaching art classes and counseling the children with psychological needs.

With the significant assistance of a local architecture firm, Amarja Nimbalkar & Associates, the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute is targeting a phased development of the Gandhi Center for Learning – Kolhapur Site.

Schematic Design
The new property will include residential quarters, classrooms, laboratories, vocational training workshops, and subsistence farming and a dairy.