About – Paathshala Trust

A Paathshala for Underprivileged children

Paathshala (= ‘school’ in Hindi) Trust was founded in 2019 and incorporated in 1956 under Public Trust Act.

Paathshala trust is a Jaipur-based NGO working on child rights and sustainable development goals. Paathshala Trust was founded by International Children peace prize winner ‘Om Prakash‘ with his wife ‘Mohini‘ and alumni of AIESEC ‘Pritam Singh‘ with the vision of creating a society where no child is denied access to education and forced to work in exploitative jobs that are often underpaid and in dangerous conditions. Whether it’s giving a good education or ensuring that poor children have a better life. Paathshala Trust caters to the specific requirements of children, providing them with a good start, opportunities to learn, and safety from violence.

Paathshala is a non-profit organisation founded in 2019 and incorporated under the Public Trust Act of 1956. Om Prakash Gujar, a former child labourer, an International Children’s Peace 2006 awardee, and a Bachpan Bachao Andolan alumni, and his colleagues began their fight to abolish child labour by focusing on out-of-school children near Poornima University in Jaipur. They chose to follow in the footsteps of their mentor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, who gave Om Prakash a new lease on life by releasing him from child labour.

Our Founder

Together, we are creating a better Future.

Om Prakash Gurjar is an Indian children’s rights activist and recipient of the 2006 International Children’s Peace Prize.

Om Prakash grew up in a small, rural village in India. When he was only 5 years old he was forced to work on a farm. Om Prakash his father was indebted to his landlord, that is why Om Prakash and his whole family were forced to work on his land. Om Prakash received only two meals a day and got beaten on a regular basis – even for little mistakes. Because Om Prakash was forced to work, he couldn’t further his education.

When Om Prakash was 8 years old, he was saved by the organization of Kailash Satyarthi, winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. This organization, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, also started to teach Om Prakash about children’s rights. Om Prakash got to go back to school and he learned to play and to celebrate his birthday for the first time in his life.

At 12 years old, Om Prakash started fighting for the Right to Education and Right to an Identity. In 2006 he was awarded the International children’s peace prize. Supported by the KidsRights Care and Study fund, Om Prakash was able to get his Bachelor & master.

KidsRights empowers Om Prakash to be a strong changemaker for the education of children and the rights of child laborers. Om Prakash is continuously very active for the children in his surroundings. In 2013 Om Prakash noticed that many girls and boys who live in the neighborhood around the university received poor quality education. That is why he started his own organization together with two friends, Paatshala & later register it in 2019 under public trust act.

OUR TEAM

We have a dedicated team of professionals from a wide range of backgrounds working together to address issues in the education and child health space across India. If you are interested in volunteering or internships, please reach out to us at info@paathshala.org.

Omprakash Gurjar

Founder
Children’s Right Activist

Ms. Mohini Sharma

Co-Founder
Head of Girls Education Program

Mr. Pritam Singh

Project Manager
Head of Management

Dr. Eva Straus

Partner
European Advisor

We achieved the following impacts in 2021-22 with your help

Here is a snapshot of our reach, presence, and impact

Children Impacted
Overall

In School
(between the ages of 6-18 yrs)

Children Immunized
(under the age of 1 yr)

Free From Malnutrition
(under the age of 5 yrs),

Rescued
(from child labour, child marriage & child trafficking)

Paathshala Trust

Education is key to development in the society. In Indian context it becomes more critical where more than 1.3 billion people are living. Right to Primary Education is a fundamental right in India. It guarantees that each and every child in India will get Free-education up to the primary level. In India, child labour has also been banned for the improvement in literacy rate and to make sure that children do not work in difficult and risky conditions. Despite these improvements, keeping children in school through graduation is still an issue and dropout rates continue to be high. Nationally 29 percent of children drop out before completing five years of primary school, and 43 percent before finishing upper primary school. High school completion is only 42 percent. This lands India among the top five nations for out-of-school children of primary school age, with 1.4 million 6 to 11-year olds not attending school.

A total of 152 million children – 64 million girls and 88 million boys – are estimated to be in child labour globally, accounting for almost one in ten of all children worldwide.

According to data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1 million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls.

Despite rates of child labour declining over the last few years, children are still being used in some severe forms of child labour such as bonded labour, child soldiers and trafficking.

"Educating kids, Transforming India's future."

Vision

‘Paathshala’ envisions a society that is Child Fridley, free of child exploitation and having access to quality and meaningful education at no cost.

Mission

‘Paathshala’ will be working to end child exploitation in and around the communities it will be working; will design a roadmap to educate children to unleash their fullest potential and help them to earn a dignified livelihood of his or her choice.