ISM students visit Pandaria village in Lohardaga district. Telegraph picture

Around 40 business management students of ISM Pundag got to see what textbooks call the bottom of the pyramid — rural India first-hand — on a visit to Pandaria village in Lohardaga district.

The daylong trip on Tuesday was part of the Ranchi-based institute’s educational social responsibility.

Cub managers were pleasantly surprised by the hospitality of villagers, but appalled to see their living conditions. The village, with around 350 residents, lacks basics such as drinking water, proper roads, streetlights and schools.

Students donated clothes and stationery to children of the state-run primary school, which has four teachers and 200 students.

On their return, the management students said they wanted to revisit Pandaria and try to solve their problems.

First-year student Atul Tiwary said: “We are planning to work for the development of primary education and horticulture in the village. We’ll also give them tips on how to boost agriculture and apprise them of the benefits of water harvesting.”

Atul added that they would prepare a project report based on their visit in 15 days.

Echoing Atul’s view, participant Shaloo Ojha added: “The villagers are looking forward to change. The children promised us they would regularly attend school. It was a nice experience to enlighten them about higher education, the negative impact of child marriage, MGNREGS and child labour.”

She added that the best part was that despite their daily problems, villagers do pin hope on a better future.

But as of now, reality bites were painful. “There were no benches and desks in the primary school. Children ate midday meals in class. They also walk 5km to reach middle school, which leads to high dropout rates. There’s no power,” said student Abhishek Pandey, promising to visit Pandaria again.

The head of hotel management department at ISM Pankaj Chatterjee said: “We are identifying more villages and plan to revisit Pandaria after Puja vacations to distribute more food and stationery.”

He added that such trips helped students from urban backgrounds gain practical experience about rural India.