Qazipur School
Chris Walter, the co-founder of Barakat, began working in Bhadohi in 1992. It had always been his dream to start a school which would provide free and quality education to children in Bhadohi. Walter and his business partners in India, Zaid-Alam Carpets, teamed up for this project, and Barakat provided the funding while Zaid-Alam Carpets donated land for the construction of a new school building.
In 2004, construction on the school began, so Barakat began its classes in a rented building in Oazipur. In June 2009, the school building was completed, and welcomed its first cohort of students the following August. The school serves students through 4th grade and will add one class each year until the school contains grades 1-8. There are 214 students, 102 of which are female.
Care & Fair Barakat School
Care & Fair Barakat School began with one man’s vision of starting a school in his village of Samhai, Laxmanpatti in the Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh. In 1982, Mr. Kant Lal, the current principal of the school, and his wife, who is now teaching in the Women’s Empowerment Program, started a small school under the trees. They named the school Grameen Shishu Vidya Mandir, or, 'Temple of Knowledge for Village Children'. Enthusiastic about to seeing a school built for their children, the villagers contributed money and land. By 1996 the school had become a small three-room building, which is now used for the Women’s Empowerment Program.
However, financial problems plagued the school until the arrival of Care & Fair, a German-based child-welfare organization. Care & Fair took over management of the existing school in 1998-99 and began constructing a new school building. In 2000, construction was halted because of a shortage of funds, and Barakat stepped in with support. By August of 2002, the new building was complete, and Care & Fair Barakat School was born.
Care & Fair Barakat School currently serves students from 1st to 8th grade, and has 346 students, 174 of which are female. The school also has a large playground for students to enjoy outside of classroom time and serves well for the morning prayer service and special celebrations on national holidays like August 15 (Independence Day) and January 26 (Republic Day).
The children learn English, Hindi, Sanskrit, math, science, agriculture, history, geography, civics, art, environmental science, home science and physical training.
Teachers at the Care & Fair Barakat school receive refresher training sessions during summer vacation in May and June. Training content includes language, math and teaching methods.