History
History of Bapagrama Educational Center
The Bapagrama Educational Center, located in Bangalore, India, was established in 1949 by Saraswathi Natarajan, a highly respected advocate for the downtrodden and exploited. When Saraswathi and her husband, Dr. C. V. Natarajan, met with Gandhi, he suggested that she start a girls’ school, known originally as Harijan Kanya Vidyalaya, and work with Thakkar
Educational Praxis
"The world is our classroom"
Bapa, a coworker of Gandhi. The school has a long tradition of social service and community organizing. Named after Thakkar Bapa, the school was established to serve the poor in the nearby villages. Thakkar Bapa was committed to freeing the Dalit, indeed all, communities from caste oppression.
Saraswathi's efforts are still alive today because of the efforts of Dr. Janaki Natarajan, Asiya Saraswathi, Bapagrama teachers, and community activists in the Bangalore area. The international group Educational Praxis, based in Vermont, as well as all those who have traveled to Bapagrama, are at the core of support for the Educational Center. The school is coeducational, anti-caste and secular. There are approximately 400 students; 70 percent are from "scheduled castes," as are 50 percent of the teachers. Scheduled castes are those defined in the Affirmative Action policy of the Indian Constitution.The school is free, and students walk to it from nearby villages.
For most of the students this is an opportunity to study beyond primary level, in a school with a unique curriculum. The school offers a curriculum integrating literacy, agriculture, science, appropriate technology, math, sustainable development, community organizing, arts and social sciences. The school is accredited by the
state of Karnataka, and is partially aided by the state, with the rest of its support coming from donations.