Gandhi Worldwide has embarked on an ambitious multi-pronged program to help eradicate the scourge of poverty and human degradation. Gandhi said: “Poverty is the worse form of violence,” and must be tackled on all fronts to ensure human rights and human dignity to those who are victims of societal exploitation. Mere passiveness does not affect real change, and for Gandhi’s principal of “non-violence” to be effective, action must be taken.
The Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute is actively working to rescue children from the poorest sections of Indian society: children who are born into a life destined for grueling forced labor, severely unstable family situations, and often in the case of girls—sexual abuse. Under the heroic leadership of Anuradha Bhosale , the GWEI has partnered with NGO, AVANI, and secured five acres of land in the village of Vashi on the outskirts of Kolhapur.
There, an extraordinary initiative is taking root—the Gandhi Center For Learning. This community and school is the result of Arun Gandhi and his late wife, Sunanda’s nearly 30 years of work in India, rescuing and finding homes for hundreds of abandoned children. Now, those five acres are slated to become a transformative environment and refuge for India’s neglected children.
Our Guiding Principles
The fabric of our vision is woven with the threads of three fundamental principles:
SARVODAYA — The founding principle of the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute is Sarvodaya, a term coined by M.K. Gandhi meaning “the welfare of all”. Our vision, therefore, is to create communities that promote self-determination and equality of all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
A WIDE EDUCATION FOCUS — Any education the children we serve have previously received does not prepare them for higher education or for jobs that can lift them out of poverty. Often, they languish at the bottom of the labor pool and, out of frustration, fall into crime. Our solution is to provide educational programs encompassing both practical and vocational training, as well as Gandhian philosophical teachings. Our vision at The Gandhi Center for Learning is to promote economic self-reliance and spiritual uplift in the lives of our students through a comprehensive campus with living quarters, classrooms, laboratories, workshops for various kinds of vocational training, handicraft classes, subsistence farming and a dairy,
A FAMILY’S INVOLVEMENT — Often, education can alienate poor children from their families, as participation in residential programs provides a stark contrast to the poverty and squalor they are accustomed to. Our solution is to involve parents, offering them insight about the necessity of their children’s education, and empowering them to take action to combat domestic violence. The supportive environment at The Gandhi Center for Learning encourages and teaches both parents and community members skills that grant them and the next generation the ability to end the cycle of poverty
