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About Us

Pokhrama
foundation

No child too far. No community too remote.

We commit ourselves to difficult areas with few opportunities or quality institutions. In such places we create excellent institutions which are vehicles of real change. We work extra hard to make opportunity available to those most-in-need and most systemically disadvantaged. Pokhrama Foundation stands for equity and excellence in remote, rural India.

Where We Work

In 2016 we started working in India, in the state of Bihar, in district Lakhisarai. Within the district, the villages we primarily work in are Pokhrama, Musehri, Ghospur, Alinagar and Uren.

Lakhisarai, and the villages forming part of it, are amongst the most developmentally challenged places in India. Whether it is per-capita income, literacy rates or malnourishment in children, Lakhisarai lags far behind national averages, and even further behind averages of large urban areas in India such as Delhi. Additionally, gender and caste discrimination are also entrenched features of society in the area.

Niti Ayog report, 2020 and Unicef report, India/ Bihar 2020

In this area of many disadvantages Pokhrama Foundation runs a high-quality school for children; a Learning Center for the hardest to reach out-of-school kids; women and girl led leadership and community service initiatives; and an environmentally sustainable community in a place where no such initiative exists.

Our Story

Ajay, Garima, Gyan, Nishtha, Niraj, Swati and Yogesh, individuals from different professional fields, banded by ties of friendship and family, got together to start the Pokhrama Foundation in 2016. Coalescing around Ajay, who is from Pokhrama, the group has one thing in common: the education our parents often painstakingly gave us. Most of us had humble beginnings but it was education that fired our careers and our lives. With this understanding we began our journey of service, with Pokhrama, in Distt. Lakhisarai, Bihar. We gave ourselves the name Pokhrama Foundation.

Pokhrama Foundation started work in the field of education in Pokhrama in 2016 onwards. Our journey since has been exhilarating and moving and we have gone from giving scholarships to study in the “best” schools of the area (2016-2019), to running a school of our own from temporary premises (2019 onwards), to now moving into a sustainable 7 acres full-fledged campus. We have spread our wings wider and started a Learning Center to bring out-of-school children from in and around Pokhrama into schools. We have also initiated children led community outreach initiatives.

Timeline

2016

Overwhelming response from the community for education for kids
Scholarship test conducted- 357 students came
27 kids admitted to the ‘best’ school of the area

2019

Pokhrama Foundation Academy (PFA) started from temporary premises
48 kids, 4 teachers and two assistant teachers
Started to initiate programs beyond education
Remedial classes started

2022

Learing Center started
PF moved to the seven acres campus
Nearly 200 students, 12 teachers, 2 consultants and 2 assistant teachers
For the past couple of years along with working on education, we work on gender issues, create leaders and develop a sustainable/ net zero campus
Remedial classes continue

Our Leadership Team

Our leaders are experts in the public and private sectors. Coming from a diversity of fields—business and finance, social development, education, medicine, law and architecture—our board members and leadership team broaden our vision and help us achieve our goals.