Vidya Vanam

Free residential-style school teaching Irula tribal children near Coimbatore in their own language and culture

EducationTribal Welfare

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Vidya Vanam was started in 2007 by educator Prema Rangachary, operating as a unit of the Bhuvana Foundation, in the village of Anaikatti at the foothills of the Nilgiris near Coimbatore. It was founded to serve the Irula tribal community and other underprivileged children in the area, who otherwise had little access to schooling that respected their language and culture. The school began with about 40 students and has grown to serve several hundred, built around a philosophy of teaching tribal children to value their own heritage rather than treating mainstream schooling as something that requires leaving that identity behind. Vidya Vanam is free of cost to its students and combines regular academic curriculum with local ecological and cultural knowledge.

Anaikatti, Coimbatore, Tamil NaduSince 2007