AIM (All India Movement) For Seva is a service organization in India, founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in the year 2000 with a primary focus of making education and healthcare accessible to children in rural areas. It is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. AIM for Seva is funded entirely by public and private donations.
Contents
The organization’s overseas operations are present in the United States, Canada and Australia. The group's overall "aim" is to close the cultural, social and economic divide between urban and rural areas in India.
Free Student Homes (Chatralayas)
The core initiative of AIM for Seva, the free student home or Chatralayas concept is a means to create an educational and homely environment for disadvantaged children to live, learn, and grow. Children are offered educational opportunities apart from a clean environment to stay, nutritious food, value based education, extracurricular activities and much more. Education regarding healthy living and ‘eco-learning’ or understanding how to be environmentally aware are also aspects of the experience. Many student homes are located near other academic institutions, primary, secondary, and higher education to ensure that students can access to continuing studies. One of the goals of the organization is to build a student home in every rural district in India or roughly 600 student homes. Since 2001, more than 100 homes have been built.
Healthcare
It has also expanded its scope of aid through the opening of free health centers.
Other
Other initiatives include Art for Development, renewable energy, theatre for development and distance learning
Impact
A list of Indian states with Free Student Homes & the number of students in each are: Andhra Pradesh (368), Gujarat (346), Haryana (41), Himachal Pradesh (35), Karnataka (763), Kerala (88), Madhya Pradesh (439), Maharashtra (287), Orissa (20), Puducherry (unknown), Rajasthan (25), Tamil Nadu (686), Telangana (175) and Uttar Pradesh (69).