Sharmila Bambhaniya, 50, a trustee with Gujarat’s reputed organisations such as Khodaldham and G. T. Sheth school is an unassuming grass-root level worker who is seen to be working hard on something almost 24x7.
Before a few years, she came across three girls who had come to study from villages.
The three girls who were already matrimonially engaged seemed to have tremendous fitness and energy.
Bambhaniya suggested they try for police and surprisingly all three cleared Police exams with flying colours. Bambhaniya realised that village children have tremendous energy and if they are given proper channels they can reach milestones.
She especially saw that village girls had very limited opportunities, but were full of energy and confidence.
In 2020, Bambhaniya started the Popular School and Defence Academy at Tramba Village located on Rajkot-Bhavnagar highway. The objective was to send village children to Army, Police and Forest. Tramba has a population of less than 10,000 and Bambhaniya could not get any students in the first year.
Finally, after much effort, she got 3 to 4 students. She decided that even if there was only one student, she would give her best efforts to train them.
When US-based corporate businessman and philanthropist Mukesh Vasani saw the activities he was thoroughly impressed.
He extended his wholehearted support to the institute. Vasani’s Aimtron Foundation not only provides funding support to the academy, but Vasani himself visits the institute every 3-4 months and ensures to spend considerable time at the academy.
Today the academy has 125 girls and boys. According to Bambhaniya, “Currently, in this residential defence school, we have students from almost all the districts of Gujarat. The school's popularity has also crossed the state's borders, as few students have enrolled even from the nearby state of Rajasthan.
Till now we have sent one student to Delhi Police, two students in Indian Navy and 4 to BSF. Currently, 32 students have cleared the Agniveer Running examination and 28 have cleared the written examination for Forest Services. Soon they will be appearing for the next level examination.”
Bambhaniya says that in fact, Gujarat students have good opportunities in getting into the Army as the Gujarat Battalion gets fewer applications as compared to other states. She got her first spark when a student from a very small village called Garani was selected for the Indian Navy.
Mukesh Vasani has set a target for himself to do whatever it takes to serve the homeland by sending 100 women from her academy to the Indian Army in the next 3 years. Today, Popular Defence is one of its one-of-a-kind defence school in Gujarat, which aptly proves that anything is possible with consistent efforts of few years, even if you are sitting in a small village in a lesser-known corner of the country.
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