Subhash Chandra is the Chairman of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India, a charitable trust that initiates, supports and runs non-formal one teacher schools all over the country. The movement aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India by 2011.

Subhash Chandra is the Chairman of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India, a charitable trust that initiates, supports and runs non-formal one teacher schools (known as Ekal Vidyalayas) all over the country. The movement aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India by 2011.

Chandra takes special pride in being associated with the movement. His inspirational talks and guidance have given a big boost to the movement in India and abroad, motivating people to join in the cause. He has been continuously contributing in the strategic growth plan of the movement and in networking the corporate world with the movement.

Currently, there are 18,255 Ekal Vidyalayas working to educate and empower children in rural and tribal India. These schools are spread across remote tribal areas. Ekal Vidyalaya's non-formal education programme is customized to meet the needs of rural and tribal children. The children are taught in their native language and later in either the state or national language. The classes are scheduled to meet the needs of the village children and are often adapted depending on the season and harvest schedule. The school curriculum is tailored to teach the children basic literacy and life skills to help them develop self-confidence and succeed in rural occupations or pursue higher education, if they choose.

The curriculum imparts basic education till class III/ IV in an informal atmosphere. The schools are run for three hours every day and the timings are as per the local needs. There are no school buildings – the schools are run under a tree or a small hut offered by the local people.

Under the dynamic leadership of Chandra, there has been rapid growth in the number of schools being run and in the other programmes of the Ekal movement. From 14,178 schools in 2004, there were 16,086 schools in 2005 and 18,255 schools to date. More than 5,46,750 students attend these schools.

Ekal is in the process of adding another 4,000 schools before the end of 2006. The target is to reach 37,000 villages by end 2007; 68,000 villages by end 2009 and 100,000 villages by 2011.

Apart from basic education, Ekal has also added health education, development education and empowerment education. There are around 6,500 villages under the Health Education scheme and 2,500 villages under the Development Education scheme. Chandra has visited many of the villages where the schools are run, including in remote areas. He has got a feel of the life there and seen the impact the Ekal Education has made in the life of the tribal brethren.

He has also attended the training programmes where the trainers are trained and interacted with the volunteers and teachers.

Under the Global expansion programme, Chandra was present at the inaugural ceremony of the Hong Kong chapter earlier this year. On the inaugural day itself, the movement received a commitment of support for more than 2,500 schools.