Incredible India
S.S. KAVITHA
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Every child has the right to education, but worldwide approximately 130 million children do not go to school.
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Photo: G. Moorthy
INTERACTION: The project focuses on education.
When the 12-member self-help group women said that they saved the life of some six-year-old children from death at the hands of their parents, Leonore, a teacher from the Netherlands, had goose bumps.
Ms. Leonore has accompanied students from various parts of the Netherlands as part of an eight-day visit to India including a six-day visit to various slums and villages in Madurai and Dindigul districts, and interacted with Indian students focussing on HIV/AIDS and educational scenario in India.
All kinds of children
Every child has the right to education, but worldwide approximately 130 million children do not go to school. They are poor, handicapped, refugee children, orphans, working children, street children, girls and victims of AIDS, said Frits Kruiswyk of Edukans Foundation, the Netherlands, that had organised the trip to India.
The Foundation would support educational projects in favour of underprivileged children and youngsters in developing countries. It is also aimed at realising the objective by fundraising, publicity and all other legal means, he said.
The Foundation project funding focuses on projects in the field of education, on accessibility, quality and relevance of basic education especially for the underprivileged children who lack the knowledge and life skills to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.
As many as 51 students, in the age group of 14 to 18 years, from 45 high and higher secondary schools, have come down to India to see what is actually happening here in the educational field. They would disseminate the gathered information to other students, said Mr. Kruiswyk.
Pointing out to HIV/AIDS as one of the key challenges threatening the development progress in many parts of the world, Mr. Kruiswyk said that education is the only weapon to combat the damage caused by the virus to society.
"The Indian venture is more like a drop of oil on water and it would spread from participants to students in their respective schools, their parents and relatives who support in the endeavour of providing education to all," she said.
We need to work together — the non-governmental and voluntary organisations — the Government and the local people should join hands and start working from the grassroots level and move up on the ladder of development, they said and added that it would be better to help one another in what we are good at it; and we are good at education.
"It is impossible to learn about India in eight days; we need at least eight years to learn a bit about the country," said Mr. Kruiswyk.
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