Global Citizen India commitments to benefit 4,25,000 school students in Maharashtra
Sanitation NGO Yuva Unstoppable to refurbish sanitation and drinking water facilities in 1,000 Maharashtra schools by December 2017; positively impacting 4 lakh students
Education technology start-up ConnectEd to expand smart classroom programme to impact up to 25,000 students
Mumbai, 14 November 2016: Commitments made under the banner of Global Citizen India, the youth-driven movement to push our leaders to commit to positive change on water and sanitation, education and gender equality, will positively impact close to 4.5 lakh school students in Maharashtra over the next year.
Yuva Unstoppable, the NGO that works to construct sanitation and drinking water facilities in disadvantaged rural areas and municipal schools, has received commitments from corporates including Dishman Pharma, Bodal Chemicals, Hitachi, ONGC, Cairn India, and Rajiv Group, to improve accessibility to hygienic sanitation and adequate drinking water facilities for 1,000 schools in Maharashtra by December 2017. These commitments, made under the Shuruaat Hoon Main banner of Global Citizen India, have the potential to positively impact 4 lakh students in Maharashtra.
ConnectEd Technologies, the edutech start-up that works to bring smart classrooms to rural schools, is going to expand its reach to bring 25,000 Maharashtrian students the advantage of learning in a smart classroom because of commitments made by corporates in the Global Citizen India movement.
Bhavya Bishnoi, Global Citizen India spokesperson said: “Global Citizen India is a movement that raises the youth voice on the biggest issues that face India and the world today. In our first year we are focusing on bringing together youth with leaders from across private industry, government, and non-governmental, community and religious organisations to amplify their voice and hold these leaders accountable to their commitments on water and sanitation, education and gender equality. The commitments made by Yuva Unstoppable, ConnectEd and their corporate partners today will positively impact more than 4 lakh students across Maharashtra. This is just the start and we look forward to continuing our work with more commitments at the Festival on 19 November and to holding our leaders to account to make sure that this change happens.”
There are 11 lakh government schools in India and only 47 percent have separate toilet facilities for female students which leads to attendance issues, and worse to school drop-out issues among girls. In the 400 schools where Yuva Unstoppable has already built facilities, the impact has been transformational. Attendance has gone up by 60 percent, the sickness ratio has decreased and girl child admissions into schools have increased. Yuva Unstoppable builds toilets on UNICEF parameters, and its work includes: complete sanitation for boys and girls; clean drinking water; separate hand-washing areas; separate dish-washing areas; mid-day meal areas; educational illustrations on sanitation issues and two years of complete maintenance of facilities. Each toilet built and the maintenance that goes with it has an equivalent value of INR 6 lakh.
Parth Vasavada, Vice-President of Yuva Unstoppable, said: “YUVA Unstoppable is honored to associate with Global Citizen India. Since we work for the cause of Youth mobilization, sanitation and clean water facilities we see a great synergy between Global Citizen India and Yuva Unstoppable. Yuva Unstoppable has mobilised 1.2 lakh young volunteers and committed to make a difference in lives of 4 lakh children by upgrading infrastructure in more than 400 government schools. By joining hands with Global Citizen India, I am sure our speed will increase and we will be able to provide these facilities in 1000+ schools across Maharashtra by December 2017.”
Arpit Vyas, Managing Director/CFO of Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Limited which has adopted 100 municipal schools to be transformed by December 2017, said: “I am truly thrilled by the work Global Citizen India is doing and I am extremely proud to work with Yuva Unstoppable in the upliftment of underprivileged children. It is inspiring to have Global Citizen India bring together young people, corporates, governments, NGOs and communities to catalyze the movement to make India a better country and drive ahead on the journey to achieve the SDGs.”
ConnectEd and the Education Department of Maharashtra’s EkShiksha campaign is an initiative aimed at bringing about a collaboration between socially-responsible corporates, NGOs, school trusts and educators, to make world-class education accessible to all students, particularly those in rural areas. Its simple learning technology package is centered around a dust and damage-resistant and solar-charged projection device and multilingual content tailor-made for students in Maharashtra adhering to board curriculum and in the language of instruction.
Lehar Tawde, Co-Founder, ConnectEd Technologies, said: “As the focus of our rural education system moves from ensuring student enrolment and retention to proving quality education, it becomes imperative for India to make effective use of edtech solutions. However, there is a clear need for tailor-made edtech solutions. By partnering with Global Citizen India we hope to mobilize key stakeholders to support our edtech innovations that are specifically designed to improve learning environment and understanding levels in India’s rural classrooms. We are especially honoured to be supported by Global Citizen India as we’re a youth-driven organisation and this association will help attention to our efforts and the general need for edtech innovations to alleviate India’s rural education system.”
Govindan S., Head – CSR, VP & EA to CMD’s Secretariat, DHFL, which sponsors ConnectEd’s Palghar project said: “In a country as vast, diverse and complex as India, it is imperative for us to rely on edtech innovation to impart quality education to rural audiences. Naturally, we are happy to see the young team at ConnectEd Technologies join hands with Global Citizen India in its Ek Shiksha campaign with the Maharashtra Government. Under the ShuruaatHoonMain banner we have committed to transform another 60 classrooms this year. Global Citizen is widely followed and reputed platform, and we hope the visibility generated by this association prompts more corporates to support the Ek Shiksha campaign.”
