We have steadily improved over the years. Nearly 10 years ago, 4 children, wanting to move into an English medium school, from a school that had very little English, came to us for being coached in English. Soon we discovere d that there was no way they could do well in their class, unless we coached them in all the subjects. The effort has its genesis in this experience. Over these 10 years the children have improved their record at school with the help of our efforts.

Almost from the first day there was this need of giving something to the children to eat. Many of them were undernourished and lethargic for that reason. Initially the food was prepared at Mr. Swamy’s home. Over time, we employed the village women as cooks. The children now get a complete meal every afternoon and a high-protein snack made of pulses in the evening.

While Mrs. & Mr. Swamy served as voluntary teachers initially and the lessons were handled in no planned manner, the Society has now hired teachers to help us prepare the children and help them excel. Standards of Learning have steadily improved.

We outgrew the idea of teaching and graduated into helping children learn. Learning of learning skills is now an important idea.

Further, we are targeting, the imparting of some skills beyond the classroom. There is something that needs to be done on Etiquettes, debating, public speaking and the art of getting along with people. We are working on these ideas.

There is also something being done on developing the skills of reasoning. We also feel the need to help the children acquire the habit of reading. Further, they should be able to research on any area, using the Internet or the library. Some methods also need to be devised for them to become interested in the world around them and for them to participate in the debates of the day; something about their interest in the dailies and in magazines. This is how we would like to see this idea of preparing these children grow.

One other idea that has taken root is about the children seeing the world outside Purkal. Some years ago we began by taking them to museums and other places of interest in and around Dehardun. Later, we had the opportunity of taking them to New Delhi and then to Punjab and in 2007 to the South of India. These trips have helped the children grow. We are now hoping that these trips will become annual events.

One other idea, which is now taking shape, is that the students should not be abandoned after their 12th Class. We would like to give them short exposure in the world of work post 12th class and then guide them into appropriate professional programmes. We have also successfully set up a small Corpus for the purpose of funding these students and there are now (in 2008) over ten children at the post-twelve stage who are being guided and supported by us in some manner.

The attempt to help some young people who are not part of our mainstream education scheme has also gathered momentum. The first of them joined us in 2003.  We now (2008) have about twenty students who come every day for two hours for a programme that is aimed at helping them learn both spoken English and Computers. The hope is that these young people would be able to access a good job in about two years time. There have been two cases of girls going forward into a professional life, one as a yoga teacher and another as a para-nurse with the help of the Society. These examples of success of a few individuals have brought home to the PYDS Community the importance of imparting a ‘skill’ so that more young people can progress without the necessity of formal schooling over many years. This idea will need to grow in the future.

In 2008 PYDS became a proud member of The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (TGELF) and we began their excellent leadership training curriculum in our centre. Two of our students were selected as part of the programme to visit Singapore and Thailand respectively in the year 2008 for a leadership conference and a cultural exchange. They were the first from their villages to go abroad and proudly represented PYDS and India.

The Society has also been able to help the hygiene of the Community with the construction of 52 Toilets in as many homes situated in the surrounding villages. 300 more are being planned now. Environmental awareness is also a focus. The Society and its students have also been active with a campaign to rid the village area of plastic. Nine Garbage collection pits have been constructed with the help of the local Community and an effort is being made through education to prevent the burning of biomass and plastic waste. Since the children are involved in these efforts in the Community there is a growing awareness among them of Global Warming, of the problems of Pollution and the need for conservation and hygiene.