Revisit & Assessment of Z.P. School Lavhali (Murbad)

Z.P. School Lavhali (Murbad) — The Promise We Returned To

Three years ago, in August 2019, just months before the world would shut its doors, Lakshya Foundation celebrated Independence Day at a school that has never left our memory.

It was Z.P. School Lavhali (Masle Belpada), Taluka Murbad.

We remember that day as if it happened this morning.

We had driven deep into the hills, along a road that kept disappearing into barren bends, as if the village was purposely tucked away from the world. When we finally arrived, the school stood in the center—quiet, worn, and wounded. Yet, in front of it, the children shouted patriotic slogans with glowing pride, singing in rhythm, marching with unshaken spirit.

The contrast was jarring:

Their voices were bright.
Their school was not.

Even when the pandemic closed doors and confined us to our homes, Lavhali never left our minds. It sat there like unfinished work, like a promise waiting for us to return. Today, on 25 December 2022, as we write this, we realize we never “discovered” Lavhali in 2022. We simply came back to what our hearts had already chosen.

???? What We First Witnessed in 2019

When Principal Pandurang Shirke and Teacher Charushila Mahajan were transferred to Lavhali in 2019, they seemed to have stepped into a challenge far deeper than academics.

They shared their struggles with us, and we saw it too:

There was no compound wall.
Cows and goats slept in the schoolyard at night. In the morning, the teachers cleaned mud and hoof marks before the children arrived.
The toilet was unusable.
Teachers spent the entire day without relief, waiting to return home.
Plaster fell from the ceiling without warning, turning classrooms into hazards.
Dark rooms blocked learning itself.
Even at noon, children strained to read and write.
And most heartbreaking of all:Children had stopped coming to school.
Not because they lacked interest, but because the school looked like something that had given up on them.

On their first days, the teachers literally ran behind students from home to home, convincing them to return—not to a building, but to dignity.

???? Why 2022 Was Not Discovery, But Return

When lockdowns lifted, many organizations searched for fresh needs and new areas.

We did not.

We went back to Lavhali, because some commitments are not made by strategy—they are made by conscience.

In 2022, our visits were not surveys. They were continuation. They were responsibility.

We found Shirke sir and Mahajan madam still standing strong, still motivating students, still cleaning the ground at sunrise, still teaching in unsafe rooms simply because they refused to abandon their children.

The building remained broken.

But their dedication was unbreakable.

This kind of resilience does not ask for help.

It deserves it.