Our Future
The future of our school depends on various factors but the main one is sustainable financing. We realize that in order to carry on our mission we have to develop and adjust to changing conditions. We should not rely only on our sponsors but seek alternative sources of income as well as the ways to save money.
We have already started a project of setting up a paying school for children from more affluent families. The profit from this school is meant to support our Shanti India School activities.
Blue Lotus International Academy
1. The idea
It has become urgent to secure both the present and the future of the Shanti India School which provides quality education to 886 children from the most disadvantaged families in Bodhgaya. Currently this project is vulnerable as it depends solely on benefactors. In order to ensure its sustainability, we have launched the project to build a fee-paying school with all profits going to the non-fee-paying school.
2. The fee-paying school
We have therefore launched the pilot project of this fee-paying school in 2023 and the Blue Lotus International Academy has opened its doors in the old building that the Shanti India School previously occupied. And despite the dilapidated condition of these premises, the reputation of the excellent education we offer has led many parents to enroll their children there. We were only able to accept 350 given the size of the premises and have already generated profits. So, sure that this new project will be able to support the free school of Shanti India, we have therefore set about its realization.
3. The new building
At present, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of all the friends of Shanti India, we have been able to acquire the land and begin the construction. We are currently at the foundations. Our website offers the possibility in accordance with the possibilities of each one to support this wonderful project dedicated to the children of Bodhgaya.
Thank you all for all the help that you have and will be able to give. Any help, however small, is very precious!
We also want to develop in the area of permaculture:
Permaculture cultivation
Permaculture is financially and ecologically sustainable ecosystem model that aims to meet most of people’s needs and to provide food security. We’ve already started to develop our own permaculture cultivations. The crops are used in our guest house kitchen as well as can be sold to generate extra revenue.
Permaculture teaching center
We strongly believe that permaculture fosters abundant and sustainable production and offers a promising path to self-sufficiency, especially with respect to food. That’s why the idea of permaculture should be spread around local farmers. But in order to meet that goal we need to train our teachers (1) at BijaVidyapeeth University, created by Vandana Shiva in the state of Uttarakandh, north east of Dehli, and (2) at Auroville University, which has a permaculture program.
What is permaculture?
Permaculture is based on the long-term observation of natural systems that are viable and sustainable in the absence of human intervention, such as forests.
The founding principles of permaculture stem from this thoughtful observation and aim to recreate natural ecosystems that are ecologically and financially sustainable, where humans work in harmony with nature, as opposed to at the expense of nature.
The three fundamental principles present in most traditional societies are: taking care of land, looking after humans and sharing equitably.
“Ethical principles are mechanisms coming from our cultural evolution that mitigate our instinctive selfishness and allow us to better understand the good and bad consequences of our actions. The more powerful humanity becomes, the more important ethics will be to ensure our long-term biological and cultural survival.
The ethical principles of permaculture are based on research about the ethical foundations of communities and were inspired by peoples who have managed to live in harmony with their environment much longer than current civilizations. This does not mean that we should forget the important teachings of modern times, but to achieve the transition to a sustainable future, we need to embrace values and concepts that are outside of current cultural norms.“
We need your help to achieve this goals!
Tomorrow’s world will be what we make of it, and we need to start building it today.
We can choose to make it a better world, and it’s on each of us to give this change its best chances.
Thank you for your interest in this project, in which we pour our heart, and for your help in its realization!