Puja has Down’s Syndrome. In 2012 when Rajan found her she was twelve years old, sitting alone, in a corner of a Chaukaghat railway station community shanty house. She’d never learnt to speak and no one in her family bothered trying to talk to her. “I wonder why Puja has lived this long,” her mother more…
News Articles
Let’s keep him coming to school!
This motivated child of Buddha’s Smile School, studying in Class 1, is so excited to come to school everyday! This week, he overslept and almost missed the school bus. But no worries! He so didn’t want to miss school, he ran to get on the bus and came to school without his clothes on! Help more…
BSS student enters National Cadet Corps
Getting ahead in India when you are from a family of beggars and of the untouchable caste is a major achievement. Growing up in a slum with alcoholics, little food and shelter and probably a daily beating or two can either make or break a child. Buddha’s Smile School, in Varanasi, India has produced many more…
Priyanka, the girl who loves school
You wouldn’t think it, but most BSS children look forward to going to school each day. Priyanka, who has been a student at BSS since 2006 and is now 14 yrs old and studying in class 5, is no exception. In 2013 Priyanka had to drop-out of school for two years because her mother was more…
Children who are forced to beg
Varanasi is a colorful but impoverished metropolis overflowing with cultural significance yet haunted by the many hundreds of thousands of untouchable children. Children who are forced to beg, living their lives in poverty, ignorance and abuse. Buddha’s Smile School (BSS), founded and directed by teacher Rajan Kaur, feeds, educates and nurtures 350 of Varanasi’s untouchable more…
Video – thank you, Thomas Lebec.
Buddha’s Smile School ( école pour les enfants… by yavanamire Thank you, Thomas Lebec, for allowing us to use your wonderful video. Thomas was at BSS last year and has produced a timeless eleven minute video of Buddha’s Smile School and Varanasi. Worth a watch.
Sarnath Cafe Remodel
Sarnath Cafe & Saini Guest House, a social enterprise owned and operated by the Saini family and located next to BSS, was renovated last year for three months and re-opened in August. While the menu remains the same, the restaurant and kitchen underwent extensive upgrades. As a socially focused business, the profits from the restaurant more…
Living with stigma in India
‘The higher-caste students tell us that we smell bad,’ one girl said. Another added: ‘The ridicule we face prevents us from coming to school and sitting with higher-caste children.’ These girls from the hamlet of Khalispur, near the city of Varanasi, belong to the Mushara or ‘rat catcher’ community of eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Despite more…
Reaching the marginalized
Education systems in many of the world’s poorest countries are now experiencing the aftershock of the global economic downturn. The 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, released on 19 January, argues that the crisis could create a lost generation of children whose life chances will have been irreparably damaged by a failure to protect more…