Om Prakash Gandhi

Om Prakash “Gandhi” is the founder of the Gurjar Kanya Gurukul institutions and has given his life to girls’ education in rural Haryana. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of social work, from Haryana ^[1].

A professor who quit

Om Prakash was born on 1 February 1942 in Madhobans village, Yamunanagar district, the son of a small farmer, Ranjit Singh, and Kamia Devi ^[2]. He took a BSc from Agra University and an MSc from Meerut College, and for twenty years taught physics at an agricultural college at Rampur Maniharan in Uttar Pradesh ^[2].

Schools for girls

Wanting to work for women’s education and social reform, he took voluntary retirement in 1983 ^[2]. He chose not to marry so he could give all his time to the cause ^[2]. He went round the area sharing his ideas, and with a few like-minded people formed the Kanya Vidya Pracharini Sabha ^[2]. In 1987 the Sabha opened a primary school, the Gurjar Kanya Vidya Mandir, at Devdhar, a remote village where girls’ schooling was almost unknown; in 1997 it was recognised as a residential senior secondary school ^[2].

In 2015 he opened the Gurjar Kanya Mahavidyalaya, a college for women, and in January 2022 began building a gurukul for boys ^[2]. He raised the money by travelling to remote villages for donations ^[2]. For his dedication, people gave him the name “Gandhi” ^[2].