THE PROBLEM:
While urban hubs and major cities in Telangana continue to advance, thousands of tribal and rural children across the state remain excluded from even the most basic education. These children often live in isolated thandas and remote villages with no nearby schools, and for many, the idea of attending school means walking miles barefoot through rough terrain, if they go at all.
Without access to classrooms, books, or teachers, they grow up unable to read or write, missing out on the foundation every child deserves. This lack of education leaves them vulnerable to child labour, early marriage, poor health, and deepening poverty. It’s not just an individual tragedy; it’s a collective national challenge.
Education is not a privilege. It is a right. And until every child, no matter where they are born, has access to it, we cannot claim real progress.
THE SOLUTION:
This campaign aims to raise funds for schools supported by the Telangana Chapter of Friends of Tribals Society (FTS), an organisation that works at the grassroots level to ensure every child has access to basic education. The Telangana Chapter began its work in 2007 and has since played a key role in the Ekal Vidyalaya movement.
FTS runs a unique One-Teacher School model, known as Ekal Vidyalaya, which brings education directly to remote villages where formal schools are often unavailable. These schools are simple, low-cost, and effective, making a real difference in the lives of children in underserved communities.
I am running this crowdfunding campaign in partnership with FTS, Telangana Chapter, to support their mission. The Ekal schools run for three hours a day and offer both basic and support education to village children, including those not attending any school and those who need extra help alongside formal schooling. Through this model, FTS not only provides access to education but has also helped reduce dropout rates significantly.
FTS Telangana has 1994 schools with over 49850 children (approx.).
GLIMPSES OF EKAL VIDYALAYAS :
With each school educating 25–30 children for an entire year at just INR 30,000, this model offers a powerful and sustainable solution to one of India’s most pressing challenges.
Help me raise INR 30000 and transform the lives of approximately 25-30 tribal/ rural kids for an entire year.
EKAL’s mission is to eradicate illiteracy from rural areas, particularly amongst tribal people, so that the people here can get access to basic education. These are informal, non-formal schools that operate in the most remote areas of India, reaching where no other school can. FTS also emphasises primary health care, childcare, and self-employment to empower them economically and socially.
When you support the EKAL movement, you are empowering rural India for a truly sustainable change, because EKAL’s mission is to uplift villages by providing and creating awareness of Panchamukhi Shiksha (Five-Dimensional Education model), which consists of:-
When you support the EKAL movement, you are empowering rural India for a truly sustainable change, because EKAL’s mission is to uplift villages by providing and creating awareness of Panchamukhi Shiksha (Five-Dimensional Education), which consists of primary education, healthcare education, village development education, empowerment and cultural education.
Please fund this campaign, and let's together educate these tribal/ rural kids and make this nation progress at the highest level.
THE STORY OF IMPACT:
There are millions of students who are being impacted every year by the EKAL VIDYALAYA initiative. Let's together fund more schools and transform the lives of more tribal/ rural kids like MALLESH.
SCHEDULE AT A TYPICAL SCHOOL:
A wide range of subjects and topics are taught at these schools. All schools typically have a student strength of 25-30 students. This ensures high-quality education and focuses on delivering high impact.
ABOUT ME:
My name is SUHANA BEGAM DUDEKULA. I am 14-years-old and from EuroSchool, Kukatpally, Hyderabad. I am doing this campaign to educate tribal children from remote villages in Telangana.
Millions of tribal children in India grow up without access to even basic education due to the absence of schools in their villages, lack of infrastructure, and limited awareness about the importance of education. These children are often the first generation in their families with the chance to go to school, yet many remain deprived.
To solve this, the NGO Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) runs the Ekal Vidyalaya (One Teacher School) model in remote tribal villages across India. Each school is managed by a single trained teacher and provides basic education in reading, writing, math, science, and values to about 30 children, for 3 hours a day, 6 days a week.
It costs just INR 30000 to run one such school for an entire year, covering the teacher’s cost, study materials, training, and program management. Fund INR 2500 for example, and support the entire school for a month; INR 5000 funds the school for two months, and 15000 for 6 months.
Your support can help a whole village learn, grow, and build a better future.
ABOUT FRIENDS OF TRIBALS SOCIETY:
The Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) is a national-level organisation working towards the holistic development of tribal communities through education, healthcare, and cultural preservation. FTS has been instrumental in establishing Ekal Vidyalayas, single-teacher schools that provide basic education to children in remote and inaccessible areas.
Apart from FTS, six other national organisations of the movement operating in India are Bharat Lok Shiksa Parishad (BLSP), Delhi; Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India (EVFI), Delhi; Arogya Foundation, Mumbai; Gramothan Foundation, Delhi; Shri Hari Satsang Samiti (SHSS), Mumbai; and Ekal Sansthan, Delhi. All these organisations have several chapters all across India. All these organisations work for a common Ekal vision under the umbrella of the Ekal Abhiyan Trust.
The Telangana Chapter of FTS was formed in 2016. Since its inception, the Telangana Chapter has grown significantly. As of today, Friends of Tribals Society has 37 chapters.
LOCATION OF SCHOOLS ACROSS TELANGANA:
TAX BENEFITS:
Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks, as FTS is a registered trust & you can avail of benefits under section 80G of the IT Act.
FEEDBACK THAT YOU GET:
To ensure that there is complete transparency, we shall get a report with the details of how the funds were utilised. This will then be posted in the UPDATES section of the campaign. As soon as we post an update, the platform will send an EMAIL alert to all the funders - i.e. to you. That's transparent, right?
The image below is an example of the FEEDBACK FORMAT that we will share with all my funders.
FAQs
Will we get to know the details of the child who benefitted?
Yes. After the money has been collected, it will be transferred by Fueladream to Friends of Tribal Society (FTS). It will take 2-6 months after that to get details of the beneficiary school with details of the children, their pictures, etc. Once I get this information from the team, I shall upload this to the UPDATES section of this campaign. You will then get an alert and can read details about the beneficiary.
When do I get the receipts?
It takes a week after the campaign is closed for the monies to be transferred. The receipts will start getting processed about 2 to 3 weeks AFTER the campaign is closed and will be sent to you directly.
How can we fund this campaign with a Cheque?
Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd account details are as below:
BANK NAME: HDFC Bank Limited.
BRANCH: Koramangala( Main Branch). City: Bengaluru - 560095.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 50200013106778
IFSC CODE: HDFC0000053
Please draw a cheque in favor of "Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd", and deposit the cheque into the Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank account (any branch across INDIA). After you deposit the cheque, please send an email to prasad@fueladream.com and getintouch@fueladream.com with the following funder information.
1) Name of Funder:
2) Full address with Pin code:
3)Telephone/Mobile no
4) Email ID:
5) PAN of funder:
6) Cheque number:
7) Amount funded:
8) Whose campaign are you funding. (Name of the person OR campaign number/ID):
After the funds are received and the above details are verified, the fund amount will be transferred to the respective campaign. This can take from 1-3 working days.
How does crowdfunding work?
Crowdfunding in India is a relatively new concept and is growing very quickly.
It’s a concept that allows a large number of funders (like you) to fund an idea or cause or event by giving small amounts of money online. Fueladream.com is a crowdfunding platform in India that allows for such pooling of funds. You can fund innovations and ideas on FuelADream and be the first to get these products or make them come true. You can also do a good turn by funding charities and causes through crowdfunding.
