Transform lives in India and Canada through healthcare and education.
CRA Charity Number 139033807RR0001
Milestones:
Real impact, real people
Canada India Education Society has been on a mission to change lives through healthcare and education since 1991. Learn more about what we’ve accomplished among Indians in the Punjab, thanks to your support, our Founder, Barj Dhahan and his friends and colleagues.
Our hallmark endeavours
Guru Nanak Mission Hospital
Beginning as a small, 40-bed hospital in rural Punjab, this charitable hospital now has the capacity to hold 200 beds, and serves several thousand patients yearly. It offers both in-patient and out-patient services, as well as community outreach programs.
Guru Nanak College of Nursing
CIES’s efforts to advance the status of women in India is done largely through a nurse-training school in rural Punjab. It serves to create financially independent graduates, while bringing health care advancement to rural Indian populations.
Guru Nanak Mission Public School
This elementary and secondary school provides access to education for rural populations in Punjab. Its school busses transport children to the school from roughly 140 villages. CIES’s support makes its fees affordable, or free, for families.
Stories of impact
Meet Kamlesh and Meenu: the mother-daughter duo who defied norms to fight for a girl’s education
When Meenu was a baby, her mother Kamlesh admired her beauty. One day, words welled up inside her: “My life is messed up. I don’t want to mess up my girl’s life.” She resolved that her daughter would go to school. She had no education, and no formal skills. With only her hands to give, she laboured 6 days a week, 12 hours a day to support her family and educate her daughter.
Meet Reena: the working widow determined to improve her daughter’s future
Born in 1981, Reena grew up in a rural, Punjabi village. Her family is part of the “landless poor,” classified by the government of India as “Other Backward Class” (OBC). Without charitable help, there would be no way for her daughter to advance beyond high school – even with a full-time, hard-working mother to support her.