Unique slate ritual completes 18 inspiring years

For nearly two decades now, the Vande Mataram Foundation has quietly been nurturing the roots of education in Telangana’s rural government schools, one slate at a time.

- T KARNAKAR REDDY

Since the 2007-08 academic year, the foundation has been organising 'Akshara Abhyasam' ceremonies in 500 government primary schools each year. A traditional ritual that marks the formal initiation of children into education, the ceremony is made special with the distribution of slates to thousands of first time schoolgoers.

The initiative was born out of a simple observation by Vande Mataram Foundation's founder, Takkelapalli Ravindar, who realised that government schools lacked a structured system for conducting Akshara Abhyasam. Determined to fill that gap, he launched the initiative as part of his ambition to strengthen public education in rural areas. The foundation itself was established in 2005 with that goal.