Bhagwanti Saraswati Vidya Mandir

Saraswati Sishu Mandir are a group of schools run by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. “Saraswati” is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and other creative arts. The birth place of Saraswati Shishu Mandir is in Pakkibagh, Gorakhpur - a district of Uttar Pradesh in India. In 1952, late Nanaji Deshmukh and a group of RSS activists planned to educate children about Hindutva (the nationalistic Hindu

way of life) and opened the first school in Gorakhpur. Prior to this, Gita school was established at Kurukshetra in the year 1946 by Shri Guruji, M.S. Golwalker. The education style in these schools is a blend of ancient Indian education style as prescribed in the Vedas, nationalistic Hindu pride, and contemporary subjects taught in the local language. They address the teacher as aacharya (teacher). The day starts with plenty of prayers to goddess Saraswati in Sanskrit and Hindi. Other patriotic songs and didactic motivational stories are also recited. As on 2010, about 17,000 schools have been instituted across India. All state-level committees are affiliated to the Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan educational system, headquartered in Delhi.