Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning
A springboard for tribal aspirations — building human and social capital through equitable, holistic and culturally rooted education.
Value-based, holistic education that nurtures the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual development of Indigenous Tribal children — while strengthening educational continuity, informed career choices and meaningful participation in their communities.
Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning
Started in 1988 with 28 students and recognised by the Government of Karnataka in 1990, VTCL has grown into a school serving 587 students from tribal communities across more than 60 forest-fringe hamlets and neighbouring areas of H.D. Kote.
Read more about VTCL
VTCL's journey is closely linked with SVYM's own evolution in tribal development. What began as an informal school responding to the simple need for access to education has progressively become a platform for holistic learning, cultural identity, family participation, continuing education and aspiration.
To provide value-based, holistic and equitable education that builds the human and social capital of Indigenous Tribal children; supports their physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual development; reduces educational discontinuity and dropout; and prepares young people for higher education, informed career choices and meaningful contributions to their communities.
From access to aspiration — an evolving tribal education institution
VTCL began in 1988 as an informal school with 28 students and was recognised by the Government of Karnataka in 1990. Located at Hosahalli on the forest fringes of H.D. Kote, the institution initially focused on the fundamental barriers that kept tribal children away from school — admission, nutrition, attendance and retention.
Over the decades, the school has moved beyond access alone. Its focus today is the holistic development of children, educational continuity beyond Grade X, informed career pathways and creating an environment where tribal students can grow in confidence without losing connection with their families, communities and cultural identity.
Education aligned with SVYM's development vision
SVYM views education as an expansion of human capability rather than only the acquisition of marks or certificates. VTCL therefore combines academic learning with dignity, identity, practical capability, family participation and continuity of opportunity.
Building human & social capital
Learning seeks to strengthen knowledge, confidence, character, skills, relationships and the ability of young people to shape their own futures.
Culturally rooted learning
Traditional songs, dances, local knowledge and community identity are woven into school life so that education expands possibilities without disconnecting children from their roots.
Family and community partnership
Parents and community members are engaged as partners in attendance, learning continuity, school development and planning for higher education.
Continuity beyond Grade X
Career guidance, scholarships, the Parents' Saving Scheme and institutional linkages help students transition from school to PU, diploma and other higher-education pathways.
What makes VTCL distinctive
- Serves predominantly Scheduled Tribe students, including forest-based communities such as Jenu Kuruba, Betta/Kadu Kuruba, Yarava and Soliga; Jenu Kuruba is recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
- Provides a non-residential learning pathway from Montessori to Grade V and fully residential education from Grades VI to X.
- Uses open 'Kuteera' classrooms and a forest-fringe campus to create a learning environment that is familiar, contextual and close to nature.
- Integrates Introduction to Basic Technology, ICT, agriculture, arts, sports and practical life skills alongside the formal curriculum.
- Strengthens cultural identity through traditional songs, dances and local knowledge within everyday learning.
- Links school completion with continuing education through career guidance, scholarship support, the Parents' Saving Scheme and academic partnerships.
- Increasing participation of girls — 51% of students in 2025–26 — reflects growing parental confidence in the school and in girls' education.
- Hosts the Viveka Chethana initiative for academically meritorious girls from underserved communities, creating pathways towards higher aspirations.
- VTCL is also the institution underlying SVYM's ZCZP bond on the Social Stock Exchange, connecting measurable education outcomes with new forms of development finance.
- Campus development continues alongside educational growth, including additional Kuteera classrooms, strengthened boundary safety and an upcoming girls' hostel for 192 students.
A living platform for equitable education and tribal development
VTCL has value beyond the students enrolled in the school. It offers a field setting for understanding how educational access, cultural context, residential schooling, family participation, nutrition, life skills and post-school transitions can come together in tribal education.
Education practitioners
Explore how experiential, practical and value-based learning can coexist with formal academic expectations.
Tribal & social-sector practitioners
Understand a long-term model that links access, retention, identity, family engagement and aspiration.
Policy, CSR & philanthropy
See how measurable education outcomes, infrastructure, community participation and social finance can reinforce one another.
Students, interns & researchers
Engage with a real-world setting for learning about equitable education, first-generation learners and community-centred development.
For SVYM, VTCL is therefore not simply a school. It is a long-running experiment in making education equitable, contextually relevant and capable of expanding the choices available to young people and their communities.
VTCL can also be experienced as a learning site. Educators, students, researchers, development practitioners, CSR teams and other interested groups can plan a visit to the Hosahalli campus to understand the school, its learning environment and its connection with the communities it serves. The Visit Us form helps the SVYM team coordinate the visit and make the engagement more meaningful.
VTCL at a glance
A current snapshot of VTCL, together with recent school and continuing-education outcomes.
Growing access to education
VTCL's student strength has grown substantially over the reported years — from 344 students in 2018–19 to 587 in 2025–26. The trend reflects sustained efforts to improve access, retention and parental confidence in education.
COVID-19 years are omitted where the historical annual-report series did not report student-strength data.
2018–19
2019–20
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25
2025–26
COVID-19 years are omitted where the historical annual-report series did not report student-strength data.
Building Human & Social Capital
Education that expands capabilities, confidence, relationships and choices for students and families.
Family-Centred Approach
Parents are engaged as partners in attendance, learning, aspiration and continuing education.
Community-Centred Partnership
The school grows with the aspirations, participation and cultural identity of the communities it serves.
Learning rooted in context, identity and experience
VTCL combines formal education with practical skills, culture, sports, nature and everyday responsibility — helping students learn not only for examinations, but for life.
- Introduction to Basic Technology (IBT) and practical life skills
- ICT-enabled learning and academic support
- Agriculture, arts and sports integrated into school life
- Traditional tribal songs, dances and cultural expression
- Residential learning from Grades VI to X
- Nutrition, health, discipline and shared responsibility as part of daily life
More than a classroom
Kuteera Learning Spaces
Open, welcoming classrooms create a familiar environment close to nature while accommodating the school's growing student strength.
Practical Learning
IBT enables students to work with their hands, solve everyday problems and build useful capabilities alongside academic learning.
Culture & Identity
Tribal songs, dance and cultural practices are valued within school life, allowing children to learn while remaining connected to their identity.
Residential Continuity
Residential education for Grades VI–X reduces barriers of distance and creates continuity for students from dispersed forest-fringe hamlets.
Parents as Partners
Regular engagement, career discussions and the Parents' Saving Scheme strengthen shared responsibility for a child's education.
Pathways Beyond School
Career guidance, scholarships and institutional partnerships help students translate school completion into higher education and future opportunity.
Academic learning with opportunities to discover talent
SSLC pass rate
84 of 85 Grade X students successfully cleared the Board examinations.
Pratibha Karanji prizes
Students earned recognition at Cluster and Taluk levels across cultural and talent competitions.
District Kabaddi selections
Five boys and five girls were selected to represent the district, with four advancing to divisional level.
NCC national camp participants
Students participated in the National-level Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat camp in Hassan District.
AISSEE aspirants
Students appeared for the All India Sainik School Entrance Examination.
NJSES participants
Students participated in the National Junior Science Examination Scheme 2025.
From finishing school to continuing the journey
For VTCL, Grade X is not the finish line. The larger goal is to help young people continue learning, make informed choices and move towards futures that once may have seemed beyond reach.
VTCL's Continuing Education Programme now supports 159 students — 91 girls and 68 boys — compared with 43 students in 2022–23.
In 2025–26, 81 of the 84 students who successfully passed SSLC enrolled in higher education. The transition is supported through continuing-education scholarships, career guidance, institutional linkages and regular follow-up as students move into PU, diploma, degree, technical and vocational pathways.
The programme increasingly works with the family as well as the student. Parents are encouraged to plan and save for education through the Parents' Saving Scheme; alumni and other role models help students see what is possible; and long-standing partners such as Titan Company Limited have supported the journey as aspirations within the community have evolved.
The change is therefore not only in enrolment numbers. It is also visible in the growing expectation among students and families that education can and should continue beyond school — strengthening confidence, choices and the human and social capital of the community.
From access to aspiration
Girls at VTCL
Girls constitute slightly more than half of the student body in 2025–26, reflecting growing family confidence in girls' education.
Viveka Chethana students
A batch of academically meritorious girls from underserved communities is being nurtured at the VTCL campus to expand their educational possibilities.
Girls' hostel capacity
The upcoming hostel is being developed to expand safe residential education and support future enrolment of girls.
Education that grows with the community
Students come from more than 60 tribal hamlets and neighbouring areas, representing multiple Scheduled Tribe communities including forest-based tribal groups.
For many families, VTCL is part of a generational shift in educational access. The school's approach therefore seeks to engage parents not simply as beneficiaries, but as partners whose participation, expectations and decisions shape children's educational journeys.
Cultural expression remains visible in everyday school life — reinforcing the idea that education should open new doors while respecting identity and community knowledge.
Infrastructure that supports learning, safety and growth
Educational quality depends on the environment in which children learn, live and grow.
- A strengthened compound wall improves student safety on a campus sharing boundaries with forest areas.
- Four additional Kuteera classrooms have expanded learning space as enrolment grows.
- An upcoming girls' hostel is planned to accommodate 192 students.
- Campus improvements complement academic, residential and co-scholastic development rather than being treated as separate investments.
When opportunity opens the next door
Venkatesh — from a forest-fringe village to engineering
Venkatesh, from the Beda community, joined VTCL for high school after studying in a Kannada-medium Government school. After passing Grade X with distinction, scholarship support through the Viveka Scholar Program enabled him to continue Science at Viveka Pre-University College.
He went on to score 90% in II PUC and secured admission to Mechanical Engineering at R.V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru. His journey is an example of what VTCL seeks to make possible: not a predetermined destination for every child, but the confidence, continuity and opportunity to choose a path that might once have seemed distant.
Connecting education outcomes with social finance
VTCL is also the institution underlying SVYM's Zero Coupon Zero Principal bond on India's Social Stock Exchange — linking long-term education outcomes with transparent social investment.
Issue size
Funding committed towards holistic education at VTCL.
Students engaged
The five-year project supports students through secondary and senior-secondary education or equivalent pathways.
Project period
The project focuses on enrolment, gender parity, learning outcomes, career choices and community participation.
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Your support helps make holistic education, residential care, nutrition, learning opportunities and continuing education accessible to children studying at Viveka Tribal Centre for Learning.