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About Us

Established in the year 1989 at Kolkata, Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) is a non – government and voluntary organisation committed towards upliftment of the underprivileged rural and tribal masses in India. It is providing five-fold education namely Functional Literacy, Health Care / Arogya, Development Education / Gramothan, Empowerment, Ethics & Value Education / Sanskar. Our activities have been acknowledged with the prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize 2017 handed over by the former President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind along with the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi at a glittering function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 26th February 2019.

FTS is a non-profit organisation having its headquarters at Kolkata and it is having 36 Chapters in 35 places. The Organisation is dedicated to the upliftment of tribals. FTS runs One Teacher School (OTS) or Ekal Vidyalaya, which imparts non- formal primary education to children between 4 and 10 years of age. An OTS typically comprises of 25 – 30 children of classes I to III.

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Become a Volunteer!

The tribal children, who mostly reside in remote villages, would not be able to access schools in distant towns. On the other hand, opening up schools in rural areas would have lead to different kind of challenges. like getting teachers with the right educational qualifications.

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What We Have Achieved

Our activities have been acknowledged with the prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize 2017 handed over by the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind along with the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi. As on October, 2024

  • 35Years
  • 37Chapters
  • 43393Ekal Vidyalaya
  • 1152756Students

Testimonials

“The Ekal Abhiyan Trust helps 2.2 million children, among them the participation of girl child is more than 52 percent of the presently rolled out children – with the access to education. Many of its initiatives benefit tribal communities; all of its initiatives are a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and his vision”

Shri Ramnath Kovind Former President of India

Education is strong means to empowerment and Ekal Abhiyan Trust is working in remote areas, so that children from tribal families get the opportunity to study. The role in furthering women empowerment is laudatory. Congratulations to them for the Gandhi Peace Prize, 2017.

Shri Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India

The little episode with boys and girls from an Ekal School gives you one little message, learning even arithmetic has to blend with lot of joy, dancing and singing and doing other things.

Smt Nirmala Sitharaman Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Govt of India

“I visited a village in Andhra Pradesh where I was invited to visit a One Teacher School- One Teacher taking class up to 5 to 10 students. I went there at 7 ‘0 Clock in the evening and it was a full moon night, the teachers got all the students outside with a blackboard and started explaining about the moon and the significance of the full moon…this is Creative Education, Creative Classroom, Creative Teacher and Creative Environment. This is the type of environment we should create”.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Former President of India

The Union Health Minister appreciates EKAL for successfully tackling Corona Pandemic.

Dr Harshavardhan Union Health Minister

Since its inception I came to know about good work FTS is doing in tribal area. All of us have to do some daan & the greatest daan is Vidyadaan that is something which makes a life of a person meaningful and purposeful. I am so happy that FTS like a banyan tree is spreading its leaves far wide and lakhs of underprivileged children are having the benefit of education.

Late Dr (Smt) Prema Pandurang Spiritual Personality, Founder & President of Samskriti

I am associated with FTS from its inception. Ekal Vidyalaya is lighting a lamp to curb the curse of illiteracy from thousands of tribal children across India. This is the highest form of service to nation in my opinion.

Sri Sajjan Bhajanka Chairman Century Plyboard India

Such a huge organization serving more than 55,000 villages across India. The work FTS is doing is unique and needs to be supported. It’s about a way of life improving the quality of life for our future generation and clearly education is extremely important. Ekal Vidyalaya is a brilliant institution and they are doing such a great work. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also recognized this institution. We are extremely proud of our association and we are definitely going to make it a long run.

Sri Siddharth Jain Director Inox Group

I have been participating in what work FTS is doing and I wish that everyone should participate in helping them to do what they have sought themselves to achieve.

Sri Kishore Biyani Founder & CEO Future Group

FTS is doing very humane service. First of all, it is dealing with tribals and adivasis who till now have been segregated from the main stream of Country. If India has to progress then we have to bring them into our main stream. If you believe that it is important that India grows then people have to take part in growth stories and education is the only mean for this growth.

Sri Ajay Parimal Chairperson Piramal Group & Shivram Group

“I went for a Vanyatra in the Gumla Village of Jharkhand initially as a donor. I was so happy to see the children studying in FTS Schools with such concentration, dedication and was impressed with the work that FTS is doing. My association with FTS became deeper, I also served as the National President of FTS and now as a Patron”.

Sri Sajan Kumar Bansal Managing Director of Skipper Limited

I am thankful to Ekal Parivar for giving me this opportunity to do some good Karma of giving back to the society. It is my duty to do this as this is the same society which made me what I am & continues to love & respect me. I am humbled by Ekal accepting me in its Parivaar

Sri Nitish Bharadwaj Actor

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