Society for the Integrated Development of the Himalayas
SIDH School
Mussouri, Uttaranchal, India

SIDH school was started by a couple, who came to the Himalayas in the 1980's. There was a need for schools because there were not yet government schools there. A few years after starting village schools, they asked the parents for feedback. The parents said the result of education had had an overall negative effect. Their children no longer valued the village life, wanted to leave to get jobs though they could not get them and did not have skills for a livelihood. So, they have changed their educational strategy to emphasize both academics and life skills, based on the Ghandian concept of education. Now, government schools have come an the schools originally started by SIDH are now running independently. On site, they have programs for village children to come for 6-day stays during which they sing, play music, and learn traditional crafts. Next year, they will start a program to expose urban high school graduates to sustainable careers and lifestyles.
There, I met a graduate student from Cornell, who has worked with SIDH for ten years. Her project examines the recent formation of Uttaranchal state and the various educational methods used there ranging from SIDH schools, other village schools, and government schools.
I also met Raj Kananai, who is starting a program to bring Indians raised in the US to Indai and introduce them to a range of social organizations and causes here. Check out his blog and recent post on Coca-Cola.