Anugriha Charitable Trust is a trust headquartered in the village of Arasavanangkadu, Tamil Nadu. For nearly three decades, the trust has worked towards the goal for quality, universal education. The trust was started by Aruna and Raghavan in 1994.
Through our extensive research and experience in the field, we have developed the QuadSeek pedagogy; a holistic method that works towards improving and educating the self. In the pursuit of this goal, we operate a middle school- Shikshayatan; in addition to 40+ educational social projects in the district.
Shikshayatan is a totally free school- we collect no fees whatsoever for tuition, uniforms, materials and even field trips.
more than 7000 books in Tamil and English, as well as in Hindi, French, German and Spanish. A mixture of fiction and non-fiction for all ages
Our classrooms are divided by subject. They are all computer and TV-enabled with their own materials, activities and class libraries
We have separate laboratories for every discipline- from Math to physics, chemistry, geography, history, Tamil and English with all the materials needed up to the secondary school elvel
We are a democratic school- with student-elected committees that manage our everyday functioning. We also run specialised clubs through the winter and spring where children sign up.
We have a well stocked art room named Oriole, a dance and music space called Anandha, a stage named Lalitkala, our gathering space Ensemble and so on to build self-expression in art, dance, music, and language
Over the last thirty years, we have several spaces that have come up in our campus- as colourful, joyful and fun as they are vital to child development and growth. We have a large play park, our very own mini-mountain, a sensory garden named Sentire, a temple for Vidya Ganapathy and even our own Anugriha Railways!
Anugriha Charitable Trust has been extremely fortunate to gain the help of our local communities, donors, volunteers and people across the country and globe who have become part of our journey to enrich the lives of children with education.
We have a strange concept on how to raise funds. We apply to our school deity, Sri Vidyaganapathy. He moves the donors. Of course, we do personally appeal too. Our major donors are:
Dr Y K Hamied
Mr M K Hamied
WestWind Association
Primrose Lycee
Kapadias
Advanis
We have had Germans who taught German, French and Spanish; English who led the children to the joy of art; a German climber who took a group to the Himalayas; a German who designed and created the sensory garden; a dancer who taught the basics of ballet; a martial art expert; a BBC producer; a swimming instructor; a performing Carnatic musician who still does on-line classes; management consultants who taught team work through tasks set; performing artists who teach Bharatanatyam on-line; an artist... The list is endless.
Volunteers are always welcome. We encourage volunteers who are ready to spend at least six months to a year, as it takes time to adjust to the non-formal atmosphere yet quite firm boundaries and unbelievably lovable children. As for what a volunteer would like to do, well, it depends on the volunteer.
We have two flats for volunteers-in-residence. The family accommodation is a one bedroom-hall-kitchen with a bath. The dorm has 3 rooms, a kitchen and two baths. All are fully furnished and comfortable.