| Friends of Tribals Society | |
|---|---|
India | |
| Information | |
| Established | 1989 |
TheFriends of Tribals Society (FTS), or Vanbandhu Parishad, is a volunteer organization formed in 1989 with the goal of improving literacy and health among theAdivasi, rural tribal people inIndia. The society operates one-teacher schools in the villages, led by trained members of the local community.[1]
The FTS is associated with theEkal Vidyalaya Foundation, which is active in fundraising abroad.[2]FTS operates Ekal Vidyalayas inAssam,Orissa,Bihar,Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh,Maharashtra andKarnataka, while its sister organizationBharat Lok Shiksha Parishad (BLSP) operates inUttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh,Haryana,Punjab andJammu and Kashmir.[3]
The schools (Ekal Vidyalyas) are led by a local person who is trained as a teacher. The curriculum is mainly basic literacy in the language of the state, but also introduces concepts ofHinduism, even in areas where that is not the main religion.[4]An Ekal Vidyalaya teacher was killed byNaxalites for ignoring their directive not to teachHindu culture.[5]As of July 2003, the FTS was operating 6,966 schools with 222,775 students.[4]By July 2007, the FTS and the Ekal Vidyalaya was operating over 23,000 schools.[6]The FTS had the goal of operating 30,000 schools by 2011.[7]The target was achieved and surpassed by March 2010 itself reaching 34,000 schools with 10,30,290 students.[citation needed]