Week one: My visit back to Bhuj

By Bhasker Solanki
Rushey Mead Foundation

The group from Leicester are touched with the welcome from the village

After a long and tiring journey from the UK we arrived in Bhuj and went straight to Rushey Mead School in Nagor.

The local community gathered to give us a great reception including live music played by the village elders and each of us were presented with a garland made by the students of the school.

The whole of the Rushey Mead School turned out onto the street to welcome us as well as people from the village who were dressed colourfully which made us feel very humble.

This was only the first couple of hours.

Students in Bhuj have more respect towards the school building - there was no graffiti on the walls or desks Valisa Mistry, Student from Rushey Mead School, Leicester

During the first week, several visits took place to other schools including a primary, secondary and a boarding school.

We were amazed by the vast differences between the Indian education system and the education system in the UK.

We had several conversations with the students who described the intensity of the curriculum.

They also have longer school days then in the UK (08:00-17:00); shorter breaks and students often travel up to 15k on bicycles or other modes of transport to get to school.

Valisa Mistry one of the Leicester's Rushey Mead School student was impressed with the condition of the school.

"Students in Bhuj have more respect towards the school building, there was no graffiti on the walls or desks.

"And there was no chewing gum stuck under the tables."

The daily routine for student in India is different, consisting of waking up early, this can vary from anything from 05:00 to 06:00.

Once at school they start the school day by sitting down to say a group prayer.

Regardless of religion all students participate in the prayer, there were several students that were from a Muslim background.

Bhasker was pleased to see some of the girls carrying on their studies

It gave me enormous satisfaction to see the girls who passed their exams last year and have carried on their further education.

I met one of the girls Uori over three years ago when she was still at primary school and she told me she was not interested in secondary education.

I had a chat with her outside the school and after spending three years at the Rushey Mead School in Nagor, she not only passed the exams last year, but she has gone into further education.

Question & answer

By the end of the week, we had met students from various schools and had many questions, therefore, a question and answer session was organised with the students.

They asked questions about life in the UK and life at school.

They seemed stunned by the busy lifestyle and the amount of freedom that young people in the west have, especially the relationships between girls and boys.

There are different attitudes between the villages near Bhuj.

Some villages don't allow girls and boys to have friendships with each other, and some do, but relationships that haven't been arranged by parents are strictly forbidden.

Some youngsters get engaged at the age of 14 or 15.

Leicester teacher finds out what life is like in the in the classroom

The Rushey Mead Foundation based in Leicester provides students with the opportunity to gain an education allowing them to pursue future career goals.

Many students in Nagor were ambitious and wanted to be doctors, engineers and one wanted to be a teacher.

The outstanding achievement of the student reflects the work that the foundation does. Within three years the exam pass rate have gone from 28% to 100%.

We left Bhuj after a huge send off from the village who laid on dinner and a village folk dance. We then travelled round Gujarat for the rest of the trip.