The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (EVF) was established in 1986 by Rakesh Popli, a US-returned Indian nuclear scientist, and his wife Rama Popli, a child education specialist.The couple established the foundation's first single-teacher school in Gumla in Jharkhand (then a part of Bihar).The movement was successful within two years and, in 1989, 60 single-teacher schools were started simultaneously in Dhanbad. By 1995–1996, the foundation was running 1,200 schools in Jharkhand.In the 1990s, global support networks were established. The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India was officially registered in 2000 and the EVF-USA was registered soon after.
As of April 2008, there were more than 23,000 schools run by EVF, including 2,100 schools in the North Eastern states.The number of schools grew to 27,000 in 2010, 34,000 in 2011 and 51,717 in 2013. EVF's goal is to reach 100,000 villages in the India's tribal belt by 2015.
EVF is associated with the Hindu nationalist organisations Vishva Hindu Parishad, which is in turn a member of the Sangh Parivar, the family of organisations run by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) points out that some who have been on the board of trustees of the foundation include B. K. Modi, the founder of ModiCorp, Justice P. N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India; L. M. Singhvi, former High Commissioner for India in the United Kingdom; Abid Hussain, former Indian ambassador to the United States. The foundation was headed in the past by Subhash Chandra, the Chairman of Essel Group and the founder of Zee TV. Hema Malini, Indian actress and danseuse, has served as the global brand ambassador for the Ekal Vidyalaya movement.
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