Barakat in India
CARE & FAIR BARAKAT SCHOOL
Care & Fair Barakat School has a long history going back to one man’s vision of starting a school in his village of Samhai, Laxmanpatti in Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh. In 1982 Mr. Kant Lal, the current principal of the school, and his wife, who was also teaching in the Women’s Empowerment Program, together started a small school in the open under the trees. The school was named Grameen Shishu Vidya Mandir (Temple of Knowledge for Village Children). The villagers contributed money and land so that by 1996 they had constructed a small three room building with a verandah outside. This building is now home to the Women’s Empowerment Program. However, financial problems continued to plague the school and Care & Fair’s arrival on the scene was a welcome relief. Care & Fair took over the existing school in 1998-99 and began construction on a school building. The construction however, came to a standstill for lack of money, and in 2000 Barakat stepped in with support. By August 2002 the new school building was complete and Care & Fair Barakat School came into existence in its new form.
Barakat continued to fund and support the functioning of the school till 2009 when it was handed back to Care & Fair and continues to run under their aegis.
This program was started in 2002 and was located on the Care & Fair Barakat School premises. The original school was located in the building which now houses the Empowerment Program. However, once Barakat provided the funding to complete construction of the school building, these premises began to be used for running special classes for young girls and women. The women who participated in this program varied in age from 16 to 55 years and included single, married and widowed women. They were from high as well as low castes. All the women come from five nearby villages of Samahi Bhatani, Samahi Rajputani, Katebana, Devnathpur and Musi. The women learnt basic literacy and numeracy as well as vocational skills like sewing, embroidery, carpet-weaving and tufting. Women also gain important information regarding safe contraception and birth control practices, as well as knowledge about health and hygiene. The training materials and equipment required for the program were also provided by Barakat.
The program was run by Barakat till 2009 after which it was handed over to Care & Fair India.
BARAKAT QAZIPUR SCHOOL
Barakat also ran the Barakat Qazipur School in the densely populated mohalla of Qazipur in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh from 2004 to 2009. The school catered to the needs of students from JK to 4th Grade.
