2022 – Present
In 2022, the Clearwater Analytics’ Noida team came to Rataul — and leading them was someone who had made this drive before. Anurag Singh had first found his way to Salma Public School as a Headstrong volunteer, now also Chairman of the Chirag Foundation. He returned now with a different designation, the same conviction, and fifteen-odd years of resolve.
What Clearwater brought was not just resources but rhythm. Classrooms were plastered, painted and brightened, windows opened in once dark and dingy rooms to bring the light in, and fans and lights installed. Every year on late President Dr. Abdul Kalam’s birthday, children took the stage at Science Day — presenting working models they have built themselves, brimming with the kind of confidence that surprises everyone perhaps themselves too. Sports Day fills the school grounds with energy, medals, trophies and parents cheering from the sidelines. Khushi Ka Ek Din has become something the women of Rataul village look forward to — a full day built entirely for them, of joy and music and celebration. Children travel to Delhi on educational tours, seeing the capital for the first time. They climb walls and zip-line at outdoor adventure camps. And every year, without exception, each child receives a stationery kit at the start of term.
In return, the volunteers from CWA have found what the previous generations of steady line of visitors had found — that Rataul gives back more than it receives, an opportunity to look at the world from the eyes of village children, eyes with hope and expectation.
Clearwater has brought in partner organisations Pratham Education Foundation and Lotus Petal Foundation to ensure the school has long-term access to expertise in education pedagogy and digital infrastructure.
---
Three partners. Fifteen-odd years. One school in one village — where the children of daily-wagers, vegetable sellers, carpenters, electricians - learn Mathematics, English and Science, and go home with trophies, certificates, and the knowledge that people beyond this village believe in their potential.