Mukane Adivasi Boarding School

Ganeshpuri, India, is a small rural village located in the Thane District of Maharashtra State, about 75 kilometers north of Mumbai. While Mumbai is India’s financial and commercial hub, the area in and around Ganeshpuri is home to some of the poorest of the poor—the Adivasi, India’s tribal groups.

A major Adivasi tribe in the Ganeshpuri area is the Katkari. Over 90% of the Katkari families live below the poverty line while 80% are landless and totally dependent on wage labor for their livelihood. Exploitation by brick contractors, harassment by police and negligence by the government have left scant means for the Katkari people to survive and prosper in an unequal world.

An area of great need for these tribes is education of their children. In 2001 the literacy rate for the entire country of India was 52.2% while the literary rate for the Adivasi tribes was 29.6%. Female literacy among the tribes was a stunningly low 18.2%. Among the Katkaris, most of the children are uneducated due to poverty, lack of a supporting atmosphere, and annual migration to work in brick kilns.

Because the needs of these people are so great, relatively small efforts can bring about significant changes. 

In 2006, TMA “adopted” a residential school for Katkari children run by the Sai Prasad Adivasi Seva Mandal Vasind. Without this residential school, most of the Adivasi children in the area would have no hope of schooling. On a monthly basis TMA sent money to help buy food for the children and a well for the school. We were able to continue our donations, due to generous donors, until the Indian Government finally began supporting the school in 2008. We are currently considering other ways that we can help this school.