Corporate Responsibility

In the beginning

Schooling children from nursery to Class 12, the Dayawanti Punj Model School was founded by SNP Punj in 2003, in Sitamarhi, a pilgrimage place in rural Uttar Pradesh.

Initially the school’s aim was to support the girl child in this very disadvantaged area, encouraging parents to educate their girls, usually for the first generation. The challenge to change local perceptions about this issue has presented numerous difficulties and it has taken time and perseverance by our on-ground team to gain the trust of parents and community leaders. The school has now grown to over 1,300 students and extended its remit to include boys. Over time it has become a centre of educational excellence for the region.

Creating future leaders

The school’s academic record is very high with 100% of Class 10 students passing their CBSE board examinations in the first division in 2010 and going on to study engineering, medicine and IT at university.

However, our ambition is not only to support academic excellence. We are committed to creating well-rounded, capable young citizens with the potential to become future leaders of industry, business or government.

To this end, English is the language of instruction and children are given access to high quality facilities for both academic and extra-curricular activities - including an IT lab with 25 computers and high-speed internet, 4 fully equipped science labs, an interactive science centre, a 4,000 capacity indoor hall for sports and performances, a swimming pool, and a vocational training centre besides, numerous opportunities to take part in debates, sports, and poetry competitions at a national level.

Looking to the future

Over the last decade, the school has supported an entirely new generation of educated young people able to share their learnings with families and siblings and a create a domino effect of learning throughout Sitamarhi.

Further we have seen the effects of the school in inspiring a broader culture of education throughout the whole area.

It’s our ambition to replicate this model to create a network of equivalent centres of excellence in different parts of the country. We are currently working on a feasibility study to execute this plan.

Assisted learning – sponsorship and scholarship

Every child has the potential to reach great heights; this is something we believe wholeheartedly. In order to support gifted children from poor families, we provide sponsorships and scholarships designed to enable school attendance. It is not only fees that pose a barrier to these children attending school - additional issues compound their difficulties, such as lack of electricity at home, poor nutrition, frequent sickness, and lack of sanitation. To counter these issues we sponsor the cost of fees, books and uniforms and also provide free boarding to those who live far from school or are at a particularly critical academic juncture. In addition we have developed a comprehensive village development programme to holistically tackle many of the interrelated social and economic issues facing our students.

More information

For more information on the school, visit the school’s website.
To find out how to sponsor a child to attend Dayawanti Punj Model School see our sponsorship information.