TRUTIYA RATNA · OUR STORY
Building dignity through education, one community knowledge centre at a time
At Trutiya Ratna, we believe every individual is entitled to a dignified life — and that dignity begins with the freedom to break free from the shackles of caste, class and gender oppression. Our work exists to build that freedom, one classroom and one community knowledge centre at a time.
Education, for us, is not just literacy. It is the third eye — the ability to see the truth of one’s own condition and question it. Through community knowledge centres, after-school support and youth mentorship, we do more than teach children to read — we build critical consciousness.
Our journey began during the COVID-19 lockdown, when students we had once worked with came to us asking not for books, but for ration — rice, wheat, lentils, sanitary pads — because their parents could no longer arrange even one meal a day. Once that immediate crisis passed, the same students told us they were forgetting everything they had learned in school. That is how our first safe learning space was born, and how we discovered that children across rural Bihar were facing the same gap.
Today, Trutiya Ratna runs community knowledge centres across Aurangabad, Jamui, Jehanabad and Patna, working alongside first-generation learners, young feminists and community educators who share one belief: Dalit and Bahujan children deserve a life of dignity, not charity.
Our journey across Bihar
Where We Opened Our Doors
1
1 JANUARY 2021
Jehanabad
Our journey began here.
2
1 JANUARY 2022
Aurangabad
We expanded our presence.
3
1 JANUARY 2023
Patna
Taking another step forward.
4
14 APRIL 2023
Jamui
Growing together, reaching more communities.
4 districts. 1 mission. Creating spaces for learning, leadership and change.
HOW WE GOT HERE
Our Milestones
2020
The COVID-19 lockdown pushes us into action — we arrange one month’s ration for 80+ homeless families in the slums of Patna, after students we’d worked with reached out for help.
2021
Our journey formally begins — our first community knowledge centre opens in Jehanabad on 1 January, offering a free after-school learning space to children who had fallen behind during the lockdown.
2022
We expand our presence to Aurangabad. Our team raises funds for an electric wheelchair for a staff member with a locomotor disability — our first team member with a disability — who goes on to receive offers from TISS, IIT Gandhinagar and Azim Premji University, and joins APU’s M.A. in Development Studies with our continued mentoring support. A second staff member is admitted to APU’s M.A. in Education, and one of our students receives undergraduate offers from IGNTU, Pondicherry University and the Central University of Hyderabad.
2023
We open centres in Patna (1 January) and Jamui (14 April), bringing our work to four districts of Bihar. The same year, we launch our CUET UG mentoring programme for first-generation learners, delivered online — two students are admitted to central universities through it, the start of the mentoring, application and initial tuition fee support, and laptop and smartphone provision that continues for our students today.
2024
Trutiya Ratna is formally registered as Uppalam Foundation under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. Five more of our students go on to receive admission offers from central universities, including Delhi University, TISS Mumbai, Ambedkar University Delhi and the Central University of Gujarat.
2025
We launch our Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Programme, providing monthly scholarships, exam fees and stationery support to first-generation learners — four first-generation female learners begin receiving Pre-Matric scholarships, and one begins receiving a Post-Matric scholarship.
2026
UPCOMING
On 14 October 2026, we will inaugurate mini community knowledge centres and community libraries in two villages of Arwal district — our first step into a fifth district of Bihar.
Featured in
Recognitions
The Logical Indian
Profiled in “People of Purpose: How Sunita Vishwas Turned Personal Struggles Into a Movement for Educational Equity,” on the founder’s journey and Trutiya Ratna’s work.
The Swaddle
Featured in “How Community Education Collectives Are Challenging Existing And Increasing Educational Inequality.”
Dalit History Month
Featured by Project Mukti during Dalit History Month, amplifying our fundraiser and community work.
1st Ayyankali Conference
Invited by Nalanda Academy for a round table discussion at the conference.
Be part of the journey
Trutiya Ratna runs on community support — through funds, books, time or simply spreading the word.