Literacy Focus – August 2017 issue
Skilling widows
Rotary India Literacy Mission has joined hands with The Loomba Foundation to provide necessary literacy and livelihood skills to 30,000 widows in India to enable them to live a life of dignity, and also send 2,000 of their children, who have dropped out of school, back to school.
This project will primarily be executed through global grants of The Rotary Foundation. The Chief Advisor of RILM and the Trustee Chair of The Rotary Foundation Kalyan Banerjee signed the agreement with The Loomba Foundation at London on June 23. This project is the beginning of a beautiful journey that will help the widows re-write their own future.
The first phase of the project will be executed in the States of Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Rotary Districts/Clubs from these States will apply for a global grant to implement it and work with the skill training partners to identify the beneficiaries. Post training all beneficiaries will either be provided with a job opportunity or supported to start their own small-scale business.
100 Happy Schools by Bangalore Rotary
RC Bangalore, D 3190, celebrated the 100th year of The Rotary Foundation by creating 100 Happy Schools. Their priority was to build a ‘better world, one student at a time’ focussing on skills and continuous improvement in the education sector. Government schools in the vicinity of Bengaluru were identified and given a fresh makeover to attract more children from underdeveloped areas to get better educational opportunity. The project was officially inaugurated at MAF Rotary Government Primary school at Harokethanahalli on November 27, 2016.
“Creating Happy Schools is indeed a panacea to the rural literacy scenario. The malady of dropouts is as concerning as not enrolling in the schooling system,” says the Club President Ranga Rao, adding “since Karnataka has one of the highest number of children enrolled in schools, a lot of work needs to be done.” The club spent an average Rs 4 lakh per school and impacted over one lakh people. The club maintains a strong Corporate-Rotary partnership. Nearly 70 per cent of the total funds was raised internally through the generosity of the members and balance 30 per cent came from corporates, friends and well-wishers of the community. In the second stage, the club plans to train teachers to stay motivated and energise children. The third stage would be to create model schools.
Happy at ‘Rotary Happy School’
Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera, D 3170, transformed a government primary and middle school in Valpoi, Panaji into a ‘Rotary Happy School.’ It was inaugurated by the State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and DG Vinaykumar Pai Raikar.
The club provided desks and benches, hand-washing station, writing boards, water purifier and gender-specific toilet blocks, painted the entire school and repaired the electrical fittings. The club also provided two e-learning projectors through DDF at Agarwada and Chandel.
