Hence, the foundation runs the following programs dedicated to bringing education to the illiterate, training to the unemployable and light to the darkness:

YES – Youth Education Services:

Many Himalayan villages and other cities throughout Northern India are oceans of poverty and illiteracy. They exist as they did centuries ago. However, now, basic education and marketable skills are absolute necessities in order to subsist in even the smallest communities. Hence, those who lack this education and training, go to sleep hungry each night.

The YES program encompasses children's schools, women's vocational training programs and an orphanage/gurukul.

The YES program is dedicated to giving these children an alternative to begging and to providing them with the best chance possible to live a life free from destitution.

The YES school currently sponsors 12 children’s schools and junior high/high schools, 13 vocational training and adult education programs, 21 schools in tribal areas and 2 gurukul/orphanages.These schools are located in Swargashram, in Rishikesh, in Rani Pokhri, in Gurgaon (Haryana), in Lucknow, in Orissa and in other areas of the Himalayas.

Parmarth International Schools in Himachal Pradesh

IHRF is also sponsoring and running the Parmarth International School in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. This school is being run by the dedicated Sunil Sharma. It opened on May 15, 2002 and there are currently 103 students studying in Nursery through third class.

Further, we are expanding the schools in Himachal Pradesh to include a Parmarth International School in Baroh, district Kangra (date of opening: April 2004), a Parmarth International School in Baijnath, district Kangra (date of opening: April 2004), and a Parmarth International School in Kullu (date of opening: April 2005).

All schools are English medium, CBSE schools.

Sanskar Vidya Mandir:

In this early education program (run by the YES project, on the premises of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Swargashram, Rishikesh), young children are taught not only the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, but the seeds of honesty, integrity, piety and service are planted in their fertile minds.

The program runs from nursery through 8th grade, with the primary and junior schools in the morning and the nursery/kindergarten children coming in the afternoon. There are 220 children in total.

All classes, uniforms and school supplies are provided free of charge to the children who come from local, poor families.

Parmarth Vidya Mandir:

In memory of dear Sheena Singhal of Michigan, USA, a new school was opened in Rishikesh. The facilities include: children's school, women's vocational training, sewing, arts/handicrafts, yoga, karate, music, dance, and adult education.

Plans are underway to build a computer center here where the local children can learn computer and typing skills which will be a great asset toward their future employability and professional lives.

There are 475 children in the children's school (in the mornings) from 1st – 8th class, and over 1500 women in the afternoons for the vocational training programs.

Prakash Bharati

Youth Education Services (YES) is also operating a third large scale children' s school and vocational training center in Rishikesh. The facilities include: children's school, women's vocational training, sewing and arts/handicrafts. There are currently 330 children coming each morning and 400 girls coming each afternoon for the vocational training.

Parmarth Grahm Vidyalaya:

Through the generosity of Smt. Bina and Shri Chris Stevenson of Australia, IHRF built a junior high/high school in a small, rural village outside of Lucknow. The nearest junior school for boys is 10 km away, and there is no other junior school for girls within a 20 km radius. This project provides education to hundreds of local children who otherwise would have no hope of ever attaining an education past fifth grade.

Parmarth Shiksha Mandir

IHRF – in cooperation with other organizations – is engaged in an effort to bring basic education to rural, tribal India.

These children live in lands that time forgot. Their villages are islands of indigence and stagnation amidst an ocean of economic and technologic growth. They have probably never seen an electric light-bulb, nor heard the sound of a telephone, nor traveled in a car or train. They, of course, can also neither read nor write nor compute simple arithmetic.

Our goal is to bring education to the illiterate, understanding to the bewildered, strength to the weak, means to the poverty-stricken and hope to the down-trodden.

This project is already well underway.