Bringing children from backward areas or underprivileged backgrounds into the fold of mainstream education has been one of our constant endeavours. It is with this purpose that Surrendra Paul Gramodaya Vidyalaya was started. Incorporated in 1991 and named in memory of our late chairman, Surrendra Paul, this school was instituted in partnership with the Deendayal Research Institute, an NGO that has worked in the last two decades towards the development of Chitrakoot region under the guidance of late Nanaji Deshmukh. Their efforts have led to a transformation in the poverty-ridden region of Chitrakoot, once identified as "the most backward district" by the Planning Commission. Against this backdrop, Surrendra Paul Gramodaya Vidyalaya is a comprehensive education institution and has played a key role in the development of literacy in Chitrakoot and the adjacent villages in Madhya Pradesh.

In 2010 Apeejay Trust decided to extend its support to Deendayal Research Institute for taking forward this literacy mission and creating many more interventions in the region. In an effort to encourage school attendance and create an interest in studies, the school added many unique features and facilities like 4 school buses to ferry children from their homes in remote villages, well–equipped mobile Labs that went close to the children´s homes and provided hands-on learning opportunities, vocational training for children of classes IX- XII and a National Open School centre, for students who could not join full-time classes. Apeejay Trust will continue to extend funds to the NGO so that their Literacy Mission in the region goes from strength to strength.

"When we started in 1991-92, there was no education facility here and the Surrendra Paul Gramodaya Vidyalaya, with the help of Apeejay Surrendra Group, has helped to bridge this gap remarkably. With classes from pre-primary to the 12th standard, designed in such a way that each child gets dedicated attention from the teachers, the Surrendra Paul Gramodaya Vidyalaya has made qualitative education a possibility in an area where parents are too poor to afford education."
Bharat Pathak, the General Secretary, Deendayal Research Institute