VIJAYAWADA: Sabari Girijana Vidyasram, a residential kindergarten school affiliated to CBSE, has brought hope to 28 tribal children of the Konda Reddy tribe living at Chintoor in the Alluri Sitarama Raju district.
The school is the brainchild of Dr Srikanth Cherukadu, an expatriate dentist and founder of the Mathrubhumi Society.
During the pandemic, Dr Srikanth learnt about the terrain of the region and how it was hurting the tribal children’s prospects to receive an education. Reaching the tribal area is an uphill task, involving a 45-minute trek on a 4.5-kilometre hilly path. He immediately jumped into action and dialled his friends and requested them to send him a video on the plight of the children.
The doctor said, “When I learnt that no organisation was working for the future of the tribal children, I felt I should do something. I discussed the matter with the Society’s board members, Prerna Cherukadu, Davaluri Lakshman and Penagaluru Neena.”
“After getting permission to provide good education with nutritious food to the children, we started our project in February 2022 and completed the works in four months. The classes commenced from July 1,” Dr Srikanth said.
The 40-year-old dentist was born in Hyderabad and moved to the United States of America, 16 years ago for his education. He lives in San Antonio, Texas and runs his own clinic, Pearl Dentistry. He founded the Mathrubhumi Society and started working toward social causes in India.
“My classmates in school, currently living in the USA, and other close family friends support Mathrubhumi. We initially started as a small group during Covid and donated close to Rs 1 crore for supplying PPE kits and oxygen concentrators in India. Later, we took up the project for the tribal children with Rs 20 lakh and established Sabari Girijana Vidyasram. Now, there are 28 children enrolled and most of them are girls,” Dr Srikanth said with delight.
The dentist added that his brother G Trinadh Kumar, an IFS officer, supported their efforts to establish the private school, which has six rooms: a classroom, a kitchen and a store room, a residential room for the teacher, and separate hostel rooms for boys and girls.
School Coordinator B Narendra said the campus was secured with fencing and is completely powered with solar lights. There are two teachers, one of whom is a B.Ed graduate, a cook and a watchman. All the staff are tribals.
The school gets its daily essentials, including fruits and vegetables, from Bhadrachalam. Mathrubhumi Society spends around Rs 1.25 lakh per month for maintaining the school. Dr Srikanth has also supported the recently inaugurate ST Girls’ College and Hostel in Chintoor.