FACT Academy, Bihar India

In Bihar, India outside the city of Forbesganj is FACT Academy a BTCV Partner School.   This community is rural and represented the low end of the average for the already low literacy rate of the state of Bihar.  In fact Bihar has the lowest literacy of any state in India. Students in the public school system are subject to the "cast system" where students of "lower casts"  can be denied access to attendance or harassment by others.  Teachers in the public school system are often paid late or not paid their total salary each month and this causes apathy towards work ethic.  These are really big problems!   Local community activists who have partnered with BTCV in order to create a sustainable total campus solution for this community.   Step one was proving that the parents would support the school financially so temporary bamboo classrooms were built and enrollment was opened.  Upon proving that the community would sustain the school community activists connected BTCV to the project and together made a plan for a total campus solution.  This plan included building out brick classrooms and offices for the students and staff.  Additionally the plan included teacher housing on site.  By providing teacher housing the school was able to attract better teachers and greatly offset their income requirement.  The school also has a Hindi language library and a full playground.  To learn more about FACT Academy or any of the other partner projects in India contact us at [email protected]

Changer Chat

Click to see this great Changer Chat by BTCV leader Linda Karl focused on the India project.