Again, note how the entire caste issue is so underplayed. I suspect that is the reason for KNB's success in dissolving caste differences among its students. Nor is there is any particular distinction on religious grounds. Thankfully, these children are generally free of the petty and divisive distinctions that are drilled these days into millions of Indian heads.

KNB aims for a high-quality education for all its 450 students. Whoever they are.

And when I visit the school, I can see easily how well they are achieving that. The classrooms are bright and airy. The library is filled with stimulating books. The teachers are proud to show off the work of their students. They talk of such a cliche as "job satisfaction" with feeling, as if it truly means something to them; which it must, because salaries here are a third or a fourth of comparable government positions. The students are curious, enthusiastic -- even alive, in ways other schools have forgotten. Girls and boys mingle freely, sharing a healthy informality.

As for academics: KNB has now sent four batches to the 10th standard SSC examinations. Every single student has passed. That 100 per cent record is unique in Satara district. Parents are told that their children will get a fine education at KNB, but will almost certainly not be toppers at the SSC exam. Even so, it is by far the most sought-after school in the area.

Of course, all this success has not come without certain strictly observed guidelines. Though government-recognized, KNB does not take a grant from the government. Girls and boys are admitted in about equal numbers. An admitted student's sibling will also be admitted, but only one -- a sturdy hint to parents that two children are enough. Teachers are not allowed to take outside tuition classes, the practice that is destroying so many other schools. Classes are small: the last SSC batch had 24 students. Even with the small classes, Standards 1 through 4 are allotted two teachers per class.

Two other features of KNB are worth mentioning.

First, there is a concerted effort to make the student body a fair cross-section of the Phaltan community. Nearly 60 per cent of the students belong to backward classes; admission policies work to ensure this. Compare this to other government-aided private schools in the district: one study found that only about 23 per cent of their students are BC. (That is, even though these schools operate on public money, they would rather ignore the educational needs of the greater, and needier, part of the community).

Second, at Rs 60 a month, KNB fees are low. Even so, about a fifth of the students attend for free (and their books, uniforms, class trips and midday meals are also free). While raising fees makes financial sense and some parents could certainly afford such an increase, consider this from a 1996 report by the principal: "By raising fees, we would be in danger of alienating those lower middle-class people who are the backbone of our school and give it its distinctive character."

A truly astonishing sentence. How many other schools acquire a "distinctive character" from their poor students? How many other school principals aim to be distinct in this way?

And that character may explain why some of KNB's most outstanding students -- not necessarily in terms of their exam results -- come from poor families. I met two.

Wasim Maner is the son of a tailor (Maners are traditionally BCs, bangle-sellers). He was an active member of the school's Nature Club, and has kept up that interest after graduating from KNB in 1997. Today, he is a paid research assistant in an ongoing study of wolves in the area: one of my happiest recent moments was chatting with Wasim about a favourite book: Peter Steinhart's The Company of Wolves. Wasim returns often to KNB, and is a popular face there, often taking students bird-watching.

There is something deeply moving in what he once wrote about what the Nature Club meant to him:

'It changed my life. When I was small I was an angry boy. I was very short-tempered too. ... [W]hen I joined the Nature Club, I felt something was wrong with me and I started to change myself. ... I wanted to become a simple man. If I become a simple man, then I do not need many things. Really, nature education is good and important. It releases us from bad habits and bad companions. Nature gives a turn to our life and makes us good persons.'

Prakash Anbhule is from a poor Maratha family; his father is a watchman. Prakash's first school was a local municipal school. On his first day in the dingy classroom there, the teacher ordered him to go back outside and ask for permission to enter. He remembers indiscriminate beatings every day. Naturally, Prakash began skipping school, sitting under a tree and composing poetry in his head. He reached the second standard without knowing how to read and write.

He then came to KNB. Two years after graduating, he remains what the principal describes as the best poet the school has produced. An accomplished computer operator, Prakash did most of the layout work for the 1999 issue of the school's Marathi magazine, Navnit. He has come a very long way from asking permission to enter a dank room in a municipal school.

So how did KNB come to be? By the vision and drive of its founder and principal: Maxine Berntsen, once of Escanaba, Michigan, USA. Maxine-maushi, as Phaltan kids call her, came to India in the early 1960s and stayed, except for the few years she spent in the US completing her PhD. After a long struggle with suspicious and apathetic officials, she became an Indian citizen in 1978. She is now a renowned educator and a respected Marathi scholar.

And she runs a damned fine school. If it took a woman born outside India to inspire a KNB, that speaks most of all of her profound compassion for and understanding of India.

Especially today -- yes, especially today -- there are many of us who might take note.

Excerpts from 'A Chance to Dream', a Pragat Shikshan Sanstha leaflet:

The Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan is run by the Pragat Shikshan Sanstha in Phaltan. It has functioned since 1978 and was registered in 1984. PSS also runs Apli Shala ('Our School'), pre-primary and supplementary classes for children in a Dalit area of Phaltan; and Educational Outreach, a programme designed to help improve the quality of instruction in local government schools.

You can help by:

• sponsoring a child (Rs 3000 a year)
• contributing to the endowment fund
• contributing for general expenses.

When sending a donation to either of the US organizations mentioned above, please indicate clearly that it is earmarked for the Pragat Shikshan Sanstha, Phaltan. Please also send PSS a note, giving the date and amount of the donation, the organization through which it was sent, and your name, address, and phone and fax numbers.

Dilip D'Souza