A pathshala that goes to the children

The achievement

Garima is nine years old and lives in Navdi village in Mahendragarh district, Haryana. On 22 January 2024 she received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, India’s national honour for children, in the Social Service category — one of 19 children honoured by President Droupadi Murmu at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, and the only one from Haryana that year.

Sakshar Pathshala

The award recognised her initiative, Sakshar Pathshala. Through it, Garima goes to children living in slum settlements — and to their parents — and talks to them about why education matters and how it can change a life. Award coverage credits Sakshar Pathshala with connecting over 1,000 students to education.

Garima is visually impaired — the government’s own award material says so — and she has faced difficulties in her own early schooling. Hindi press reports describe her as a Class 4 student whose father is a teacher, and say she wants to become a teacher herself one day. Her message, as the reports record it, is simple: education is every child’s fundamental right.