Multiple deprivations are widespread in rural India. Literacy levels remain stubbornly low, albeit gradually improving. Caste, class, religion, gender, age and disability all impact on access to education, participation and successful completion. The education of girls remains problematic given the higher value attached to sons, especially in rural communities; their frequent confinement to the home on reaching puberty; the cost of dowries (despite being outlawed); trafficking of adolescent girls and/or early marriage. The education of tribal communities and other scheduled castes in rural communities, despite principles of free education and equality of access, are inhibited by poor facilities and availability of provision; by economic circumstances and past family experiences and histories. Against a cultural and familial history of poverty, illiteracy, child labour, early marriage, increased abandonment of the elderly and extensive and entrenched patterns of discrimination, one NGO has developed a holistic and integrated approach to supporting some of the most disadvantaged groups in a poor rural area in West Bengal. This approach appears to fundamentally change, for the better, the life chances, educational outcomes and economic prospects of the target communities. While there can be no direct transfer of strategies between the two countries this paper will explore possible explanations for such success and what lessons, if any, might be learnt by educationalists working towards widening successful participation in education in England. (Contains 1 figure.)