A Humble Beginning

Assam Development Initiative (ADI) was established by Mr. Hiren Sarma together with his friend Mr. Biswadip Barooah in 2009. The Trust was registered in Guwahati in 2016 (Registered No. 3440). Until 2017/2018, ADI was primarily engaged in managing and operating four (4) primary level schools in the rural areas in and around Guwahati. The schools were established by Shanti Sadhana Ashram (SSA) earlier and were managed by them with financial support from ASHA, USA. Due to certain disagreements between SSA and ASHA, the latter decided to cut down their financial assistance in 2009 when ADI intervened and took over the management and operation of the schools. Since Mr. Sarma was in the USA, he started to establish the liaison between ASHA and the schools.

In 2018, ADI initiated a major project called “Value based Education (VbE) & Child Development” in some Government and Private schools in Assam with the objective of inculcating a value-based approach in learning encompassing all the stakeholders of a school (School Management, Principal and the Teachers including staffs, Parents, and the community). Currently, the project is in various stages of implementation in five (5) schools in Assam.

Unfortunately, progress slowed down substantially in 2019-2020, mainly due to the pandemic. Financial support received from Oil India Ltd., Noida, New Delhi for initiation of the project was also exhausting towards the end of 2021.