The school is today managed by Anu Shiksha Seva Society supported by the Anu Shiksha Seva Trust (ASSET). Members of ASSET, who are ardent followers of Swamiji explain how the patron saint convinced them to start the school, He said, “If you start the school for rural children I am with you, otherwise also I am with you.” It is this unconditional love, which Swamiji imbues that truly became the foundation of the school. And true to his assurance, right from choosing the name of the school to adding various facilities and infrastructure, his help has been pouring ceaselessly and his ever soothing presence felt endlessly by the ASSET and community members. A member recalls, “The only instruction Swamiji ever gave to us was that before we start serving people, we must cultivate genuine respect in our minds and nurture true love in our hearts for the ones we serve.” And this is the sole guiding motto of the ASSET – “LOVE RESPECT SERVE.”

Starting with just KG classes in a single room and a member’s home serving as the hostel, the school has now flourished into a fine institution with two double storied buildings, housing two hostels, accomodations for teachers, guest accomodations and also boasts of Anusaran – the Apna academic building with state of art facilities which is solar powered. Now it holds classes up-till 8th standard following CBSE syllabus.

The school enjoys lavish support from the local community, with many local members on its advisory board. The school also receives the patronage of many organizations and well wishers like the NG Bhattacharjee Memorial Trust of Nabadal, the Indian Army, Print Media houses of the region, Border Roads Organization, Arunachal Pradesh Police, Indo Tibetian Border Police, Central Reserve Police Force, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Oil India Limited, the Indian Oil etc.

The educators in this school are well aware that being in tribal communities, they must bear a critical awareness about what is passed off in the name of “education”. Spiritual master Lord Sri Sri Kulavadhuta Satpurananda feels that “Education comes loaded with certain cultural values of the mainstream that subtly yet strongly undermines one’s way of life. It sometimes makes the learners feel inferior in their own skin and lose confidence in their own culture.

Thus education to many, as we see, becomes a passport to flee from one’s own identity into the lure of false “modernity”. The country is full of such cultural misfits”. Guiding the school management thus Sri Sri Kulavadhuta Satpurananda appreciated the school saying, “Apna Vidya Bhavan is the manasputra of Swami Anubhavananda, an egg of divine service hatched and getting into form under the wings of teacher fathers and mothers. It is really an asset of ASSET.”

The spiritual master further guides, What we must tap from our education system is the knowledge and the scientific temperament it inculcates. What we would like to retain, in all its originality, is our strongly rooted heritage and natural simplicity. This is our education programme.

Tomorrow’s generation must be “strengthened” to guard their heritage, not “empowered” to abandon them. We favour simplicity rather than smartness, wholesomeness rather than perfection”.

The answer that the school found to this conundrum is vocational training that encourages children ‘to be fit to fit everywhere’. Tribal way of life is about connecting with nature and mother earth. Hence the school focuses on teaching the children vocations like farming, cultivation and other unique tribal skills like traditional knitting, weaving in addition to electrical wiring, plumbing, solar electrification etc. Such training will certainly do a great good to the socio-economic structure of the community. It will help produce skilled human resource and reduce the number of frustrated youth in a meaningless rat-race to get white-collared jobs.

The officers of the Indian Army are amongst the distinguished friends that the Apnes, children of the Apna Vidya Bhavan can boast of. Ever since 2003, when the school was introduced to the Lohit Brigade ( now Walong Brigade ) by Mrs Shraddha Prakash and Brig Ajai Prakash, the Army has taken a keen loving interest in the growth of the school and has recognized the relevance of a grounded educational institution such as this. It is worth mentioning here that the Army which is tasked with the responsibility of counter-balancing anti-social elements rampant in the area, always finds time for welfare activities. The Army has contributed by constructing classrooms for the school. They also regularly participate in every occasion of joy and celebration in the school.

Leaders from the print media in Arunachal and Assam like The Arunachal Times, Echo of Arunachal, Arunachal Front, Dawnlit Post, Eastern Sentinel and The Far Eastern Review have rendered great encouragement and support to the school. Sri Ranjit Sinha ( Arunachal Times ), Sri Jarpum Gamlin & Ms Kenter Joya Riba of the Eastern Sentinel, Sri Arindam Das ( Times Now ), Sri Ripunjoy Das ( The Far Eastern Review and now with the North East Live ), Sri Pradeep Kumar, Late Ravindranji and Sri Tapan Das are senior journalists who have taken keen interest all these years to care for and connect with the Apnes. They have heartily supported the educational and social efforts of the school by dedicating prestigious space in their papers regularly.

Moreover, the school is also featured in many illustrious books like ‘The North-East Trilogy’ by renowned photo-journalists Dipti Bhalla and Kunal Verma and ‘Wakro-The Land of Mishmis and Oranges’ by traveller Seema Bhatt on behalf of Purvidiscovery.

The APNES have a unique way of remembering their well-wishers. All their school and hostel buildings and each of their school-meets and social ventures are named after one of their beloved patrons and well-wishers. The first day of the academic session on the 13th June every year is celebrated as Anudin in gratitude to our founder patron Swami Anu.

Apna Parent’s Day the “Meeta Meet” on 28th January is named in honour of Ms Meeta Bardalai. The “Vineeta games and sports meet” held on 30th November is named in honour of Mr Manoj & Ms Vineeta Jalan. The Jalans are corporate leaders from Assam who always take care to introduce the humble rural educational effort to leaders and well wishers, winning us friends from all over the world.

The visitors and friends who come to meet the Apnes are welcomed at the “Manjeet gate”, constructed in gratitude to the Indian Army and Print Media houses and named in honouring Ms Ritu & Brig Manjeet Mehta, both very close to Apne hearts. The Apnes break for the summer holidays observing the last sessions day as Apurba Diwas in remembering the kindness of Maj Gen A K Bardalai, VSM an inspiring and distinguished military leader of the Indian Army. The school greets our leaders, friends and patrons on important occasions through the Ajai Cards crafted in affectionately remembering Ms Shraddha Prakash and Brig Ajai Prakash.

A Planning Commission team led by Dr Syeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission of India recorded their appreciation in 2008 saying, “It has been a unique experience to see a well run school in an aesthetic surrounding. It needs to be used as an example and replicated across the country. Kudos for the dedication and initiative.”

The school also has partnerships with many other social and educational causes collaborating actively with institutions and organisations rendering in the region.

The school also spearheads an activity under which the students take up eco-friendly practices like segregation & control of waste and avenue tree plantation in the locality. The Apnes are implementing the RoBin Clean and Green campaign by ASSET under which trees are planted and maintained. The campaign is started in gratitude to Ms Deepa and Deven Singh of Ever Assam Tea, Laipuli and named in honouring Mr Robin Hibu, IPS, Jt CP, Delhi Police and Mr Binod Saharia, corporate leader from Dibrugarh. Ms Pradnya Ambre and Maj Gen Ashok Ambre, GOC, 2 Mountain Division of the Indian Army formally dedicated the RoBin clean and green campaign on 10th August 2013. The school also engages in other voluntary services like medical camps and environmental activities of the ASSET, shouldering various social responsibilities.

Coming to know of the low female literacy rate in the area, the Apna Vidya Bhavan has successfully championed the cause of girl’s education. The school is providing free education to children who are mostly girls. The Apnes received great partners in the 82 Mountain Brigade and the 2 Mountain Division of the Indian Army, both sponsoring free education of girl students. Sri R.S. Joshi, Smt Jija Madhavan Hari Singh, IPS (Retd), former DGP Karnataka, Sri Jayanto Choudhury, IPS, former DG NSG, Ms Rupa Chauhan, Lt Gen Sanjeev Chauhan, AVSM, YSM, Ms Vidya Rajiv, Maj Gen Rajeev Narayanan, Sri Prasanta Borkakoty, RCE, OIL, Duliajan, IGP Isaac Pertin, IPS, Sri Tapi Gao, Sri Vidya Sagar Tiwari, Maj Gen Dheerendra S Kushwah, AVSM, SM, Dr Rakesh Tyagi, Agra, Smt Nikhar & Sri Nimish Sharma, Sri Bharat Jeetendra Desai, Vadodara, Dr Neha Bahl, Bangaluru, Smt Savita Nagananda, Sri Shyam Jaisingh, Sat Bhavana Trust, Mumbai, Art Mantram, Banglore, Sri Prakash Yeshwant Khandekar, Nagpur, Ms Nivedita Khandekar, New Delhi, Dr Arindom Borthakur, Tinsukia, Sri Saurav Chaliha, Guwahati, Sri Tushar Shukla, Sri Santosh Agarwal, Sri Padam Chand, Sri Anil Banka, Mr Binod Saharia, Smt Deepa Agarwal and many friends pitch in to support the cause.

The school also implements the Geeta Katoch Vidya Prakalp of the Beena Ghose Roy Scheme of the ASSET under which free education is offered to girls child in need of care. The Apna Vidya Bhavan further implements the Ghanshyam Singh Katoch Prakalp of the Beena Ghose Roy Scheme of the ASSET in offering free education to our boys. Geeta Girls’ Education Campaign (GEC) has been launched by the ASSET to further strengthen promotion of girls’ education. The scheme under which book gifts are extended to school libraries and leaders in campaigning for girls’ education is named in honour of Ms Geeta Katoch and Lt Gen G S Katoch, PVSM, AVSM, VSM. The Apnes and all in the ASSET were delighted when Ms Pradnya Ambre and Maj Gen Ashok Ambre, PVSM, AVSM, SM dedicated the GEC in the service of the society. Currently ASSET has chosen the North East Trilogy by Dipti Bhalla & Kunal Verma and beautiful country, STORIES FROM ANOTHER INDIA by Dr Syeda Hameed & Gunjan Veda for the campaign.

Since the school believes in continuous self-assessment and updation, it holds regular Teacher’s Orientation Programs (TOP) for which teachers of other schools are also invited. The DPS Varanasi, Mr K K Rao, former Principal Delhi Public School, Duliajan, Mr M N Chaturvedi a renowned mathematician, Sri Satyanarayanan Mundayoor, educationist cum social activist, Ms Anjali Dave & Revathi Shankar, both from Strategies and Solutions, Vadodara Nabanita Deshmukh and Bapu Deshmukh have been volunteering their services for the numerous TOPs organized so far. The school also receives the services of voluntary teachers as guest faculty from other parts of the country regularly.

Under the canopy of Swamiji’s blessings and loving nourishment of motivated teachers and hostel staff, the children here are well taken care of. Free from the burden of meaningless academic rote, every child is allowed here to bloom at her own pace, taking her own time. Here you have a school that only cares about nurturing good human beings rather than smart ones, guiding and grooming them to value humanity above everything else.

Thanks to the kindness of Smt Deepa and Sri Deven Singh of Laipuli, the school has a grand auditorium with state-of-the art indoor sporting facility.

Sat Bhavana Trust, Mumbai has literally taken us from darkness to light by gifting the school its own Apna power house with 2 generators. Wakro area, due to its long monsoon spells and closeness to the dense Kamlang forest reserve, is perennially hassled by erratic power supplies. At such times the gift of electricity is the most valuable for children and their caretakers. The Bharat Petroleum Corporation joined his holiness Anu Swamiji in providing 15 KW Solar Power plants under the initiative of Sri Chinmay Panth.

Maiyya Shanta and Sumati Girls’ Hostels are well furnished homes for the Apnes, built by members of the ASSET with kind assistance of Smt Savita Nagananda and pujya Swami Anu. A new hostel by Swamiji has also been completed in 2022 to accomodate more children. The school has a dining hall and a kitchen equipped with steam cooking range.

The Samvit Grounds named in honouring saint Brahmaleen Swami Sri Samvit Somgiri will be housing the Tatong Padung football field, Ajai volley ball court and a basket ball court. The Sajeev-82 outdoor gym in the Sriram Tamhan Parisar, named in honouring the 82 Mountain Brigade and Brig Sajeev Katarya, SM was inaugurated by Anu Swamiji on 9th March 2022 in the presence of Ms Cheshta Singh, IFS, Sri Ankit Singh, IPS, SP Lohit and Col Sushil Rana, CO, 7 Sikh representing the GOC, 2 Mountain Division of the Indian Army.

All these projects have been carried out upon Swamiji’s recommendations and his blessings permeate and multiply their splendour.