Children of Hope School
Located in a slum neighborhood of Jaipur, India, Children of Hope is a christian-based school providing a nutritious meal each day and educating young people ages 3-19 in basic curriculum like reading, writing and math. Though their native language is Hindi, teaching the children English and introducing them to technology is an important part of their daily activities.
Children of Hope was started in 2013 by Ravi Pahadiya who had a strong desire to help his country’s neediest people. Ravi gave up a very successful career working for Reebok Corp. to dedicate his life to these young people. Beginning under a small tent along side a garbage-filled road with just a few children sitting on the ground, Children of Hope now has 120-150 children attending classes on a regular basis. In 2015 the school moved to a one-room facility where the students were fed and attended classes separated by small room dividers. With the continue support of our sponsors, Children of Hope moved into a newly-constructed building in 2023 that, while still in the slum neighborhood, was large enough to provide individual classrooms for learning during the school day.
Begun in early 2024, a new program called Empowering India’s Youth now provides training for students, who have completed Standard 10, and other young people in the slum community in preparing to enter the job market in India. Instruction on writing resume’s, interviewing techniques, and interest-based skills enhancement are enabling the enrollees to find life-changing work opportunities in the community.
From a small tarp-covered spot along side a busy Jaipur street with Ravi teaching young students, Children of Hope School has grown into a State-accredited learning facility with eight full-time teachers and a total staff of 13. What a testament to Ravi’s leadership and the support of people who want to “give back” to others in need!
