Because potential has no postcode. Free coaching for underprivileged students across three villages in Darbhanga and Madhubani, preparing for Bihar government exams.
Udaan is the work we are proudest of, and the reason ShivHari Academy exists inside a charitable trust rather than a company. The word means "flight" in Hindi. We chose it because the students we met were already ready to fly — they were only missing a runway.
Across Darbhanga and Madhubani, aspirants for Bihar's government examinations are many, but coaching is scarce and, for most families here, unaffordable. These are students from low-income and economically weaker section backgrounds who want to compete for BPSC, SSC, Railway Recruitment Board and other state-level posts, and who have every bit of the hunger and discipline the exams demand — and none of the access. Under the Shivhari Dharma Foundation Trust's social mission, we decided to change that in the most direct way we could: teach them, for free, with no fees and no conditions.
And we went to them. Through April and May 2025 we ran sessions in three places — Village Hati and Sarisab-Pahi in Madhubani district, and Darbhanga town for students from the surrounding areas. The classes were held in community spaces, close to where the students actually live, and covered the real syllabus these exams demand: general knowledge, current affairs, reasoning, mathematics and general science. Akshay Narayan and the Trust team travelled to the villages rather than asking students to somehow find their way to a city. That direction of travel matters. It is the difference between charity handed down and access handed over.
We want to be precise about what this is and is not. It is not charity in the pitying sense — the students who came were serious, hardworking and sharp. It is access: the runway that a fee-charging coalition of coaching centres had never bothered to lay in these districts. This is exactly what separates ShivHari Academy from a commercial coaching centre, and it is the clearest expression of the Trust's registered charitable purpose.
Udaan is not finished. The Trust has committed to continuing and expanding the programme — more villages, more sessions, more students given the one thing they were always missing. Because potential has no postcode, and a student deserves a chance to compete regardless of where they were born or what their family earns.
