The idea of the literacy program was to offer
basic literacy and numeracy for a few hours a day for girls who did not attend
regular schools. These girls often
stayed at home to help their mothers with domestic chores and the care of
younger siblings. If anyone in the family would be sent to school, it would be
a boy. Mainstream school involved fees, clothing,
school supplies which poor families could not afford for all the children in the family. 
In our literacy program, everything was free. Classes went up to
grade 6 standard. We gave the children
uniforms and provided milk, a bun and sometimes fruit as a snack. Classes were held only in the mornings. The population of the school varied and we
often had children of migrant labourers attending for only short periods of
time. We sometimes also had to admit the
little boys, brothers of girls and sometimes boys from a poor family that were
not attending a regular school. It was
hard to turn them away and to stick to our policy of literacy for girls only.
Paramjit Kaur joined Shakuntala as a teacher in
the 1990’s. She arrived at our ashram
with a one-year old girl, having fled an abusive marriage. Here at our ashram, mother and child
flourished. Other ashrams were not prepared to take in a mother with a child
but they fit right in to our environment.
She and daughter Deepika have lived here now for 20 years. Deepika helped her mother teach at our school
when she grew up and now she herself has graduated from Satya Mitranand Giri
Inter College and teaches fashion design to others at Focus Institute and is
starting up her own fashion design business.
Penny had begun a sewing program at the school. At
the end of graduation she gave away sewing machines to some girls who seemed
likely to use them. Paramjit Kaur raised her daughter at our ashram,
sewing clothes for others as a way of paying for the needs of her growing girl.
Eventually, under Paramjit Kaur’s guidance, we again offered sewing classes in
our literacy program as well so that girls would have a skill for personal use
or as a way of making a supplemental income. 
The
school grew. We organized small outings
for the children in the city and the surrounding areas. The children were creative
and loved to perform skits and dance whenever they had the opportunity. Art classes were sometimes held. 
The children begin their day with meditation , recitation of the Gayatri mantra, the national anthem and some exercises. They learn from an early age that there is both an outer world of things and events and an inner world, a place of peace and joy within themselves to which they can always turn.Not only does this connect them to their traditions but it gives them a life skill to carry through their whole lives. They learn that life is both material and spiritual and attention needs to be given appropriately to both aspects. The children gathered at one of the ghats by the Ganges river
nearby to pay their respects to the sacred river and to enjoy an outing
on its banks. Snacks were provided by a local restaurant as a treat.
We estimate about 2, 500 children have passed through our literacy program over the years, mainly girls from poor families, their brothers and other little boys and many children of migrant labourers.
