Education for underprivileged

‘Right time for forging partnerships’

IN order to make education accessible to underprivileged children in the country, G4S, an international security solutions group, has announced the setting up of a school in Pappankala, West Delhi. The school will soon be offering education, free of cost, to 300 children aged one to 10. From July this year, it will help those who do not have the necessary means to study.

The school will offer education, uniforms and transportation to children from slum areas in and around the West Delhi region, informed David Hudson, regional president (North Africa, Middle East and South Asia), G4S. The Hope Foundation will look after the school's management. There are many schools and schemes that the Indian government also runs to provide education to such children. However, the problem lies in convincing such families to send their wards to school

According to Hudson, "India as a country has now started giving great value to education. Our experience with such efforts in different cities has shown that people from deprived sections now demand education and this is the right time for the private sector to operate with the government." To further this public-private partnership model, the government, in order to streamline underprivileged sections, has also tied-up with G4S to train 1,75,000 scavengers in security services. The company will now train the same for a period of three months.

"The efforts are targeted at not just training or teaching but towards changing the psychology of a class that has remained backward for centuries. Our experience in training people from the underprivileged section has shown that once they complete such programmes they emerge with different personalities altogether. Hence, even if the school will provide education till class V, we are hoping that it would give them the boost they require," stated Hudson.

The company will also sponsor the training of two children from the country to participate in the 2012 Olympics. One is a tribal archer from Bihar and another a shooter from Hyderabad.

Sunil Sharma

Moderator

Dil Se Desi Group