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RICHEST JOIN BILL GATES: For Literacy Drive in India
WORLD — By MainStreetMantra Desk on October 19, 2009 at 3:43 am
RAY OF HOPE MILLIONS
Some of India’s richest men have joined forces with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to launch an ambitious campaign to teach 100 million illiterate Indian slum children to read by the end of 2010.
The task force, which includes British-based billionaire Gopichand Hinduja, are expected to lead a fundraising appeal for the campaign at the glitzy Indian Summer Garden Party in Chelsea this weekend.
Its supporters include film director Meera Sya and television comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar. Also on board are Indian billionaires Aditya Birla, Keshub Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, and Dell, the owners of IT giants Google.
Many of them have pledged millions of pounds to the campaign, which is being waged by Pratham, India’s largest and most successful charity. The Gates Foundation has donated $9 million, via the Hewlett Foundation, while Google has given a further $2 million.
Their money will fund intensive courses in which the children of poor labourers will be taught how to read and write Hindi for one hour per day for six weeks, by which time they will be able to read stories unaided.
At Kotla Village in East Delhi yesterday, Pratham teacher Manju was reading twelve pre-school children a story to prepare them to learn the Hindi alphabet.
Their parents could not afford the books and uniforms they need for government schools, but even if they could, there are simply not enough school places.
Suman Pandey, Pratham’s local co-ordinator, said the group was aiming to teach five million children to read in Delhi alone in the next 18 months. “We have around 42 hours to teach them to read. There’s no homework, it’s simple rote learning, with 20 children per class,” she said.
Since it began its work in 1999, the charity has taught 33 million children basic literacy, several of whom have gone on to university and become community teachers themselves.
Gopichand Hinduja, who is leading the fund-raising appeal, last night told The Daily Telegraph that he hoped the campaign would take poor Indians from the slums and develop them into leaders.
“Indians are all over the world in important positions and it’s because of education,” he said.
Tags: children, literacy, microsoft, Slum, Slumdog
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11 Comments
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