Transforming Lives through Education
GMV was founded by a University of Utah Chemistry professor, Dr. Narayani Singh, after he saw all of the women on the University of Utah campus—students, teachers, and administrators—and recalled that in his home village of Ganga Pur, in India, there were no opportunities for girls to receive an education beyond fifth grade. The school opened in 1990 in a single building, erected on land Dr. Singh’s family owned, with 120 girls in grades 6-11. The girls were not ready to be in those grades, but they worked hard and soon caught up. Local parents were not eager to send their daughters to school at first, because they needed their help in the fields, but they quickly saw the benefits of educating girls and now wholeheartedly support the school.
Today, the school has 3,000 students, from kindergarten through graduate school. Almost all girls who start school at GMV graduate from high school and almost 50% go on to get a college degree. An education gives a girl the chance to have a future and realize her own hopes and dreams. Her life will be better. With an education, a girl is far less likely to live in poverty. She will provide better healthcare and nutrition for her children, and she will be more likely to see that her children are educated, thus passing on the benefits of education to future generations.
