“When I joined as principal of Zilla Parishad School in Pimpalgaon in 2013, children from the community were mostly going to faraway schools for education. Teachers were even waiting to get their transfer orders and shift to other schools.

The school was dead. It seemed hopeless, but I could see so much potential in the place. I started conducting meetings with teachers and parents and it seemed everyone wanted good education at the school but didn’t know how. I knew we just had to work together - and work hard. We started with the infrastructure.

We planted trees and plants, and painted buildings and an E-Learning system was installed. With ACF and the community’s help, we even built a two-story school building. People were buoyed by what they could achieve and we started to do more.

Today, my school is ISO certified and it is among the top 10 schools in the district. Admission and attendance have gone up and both children and teachers look forward to attending school.

This is the best reward I could have hoped for …” - Moreshwar Bonde, Pimpalgaon, Chandrapur, Maharashtra.