Ashram Paryavaran Vidyalaya

For the past seven years, Ashram Paryavaran Vidhyalaya (APV) School has provided holistic and mindful education to the rural poor of Uttarakhand from the Garhwal Hills near Anjanisain. Led by Anand Dwivedi, an educationalist from Pauri who has worked at and studied some of the best educational institutions throughout India, a community of teachers lives and works together to grow and learn through mindfulness.

This community is the heart of APV and the school assembles under the same principles by which the community lives: equality, happiness, inquiry, and mindfulness.

Each school day begins with an assembly where the 115 students gather, practice mindfulness, sing, and perform dramas. Classes are based on practical, experiential learning activities and teacher-student cooperative investigation; everyone teaches and learns together. Trips to the forest are common to both supplement and ground the state and national curriculum standards.

APV is supported by a range of Indian and international volunteers who have supported APV projects from the school’s inception. The APV community is currently focused on expanding the school and spreading the message of Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye, or “knowledge is that which liberates.”