Pratham Education Foundation

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Pratham 3:54:00 PM

Pratham Education Foundation Partners with Citi to Pilot Youth Skilling and Employability Program

Unique education entrepreneur development model targets rural youth

Pratham Education Foundation and Citi have come together to pilot an ‘Education Entrepreneur Development’ program that, in one year, will build job skills for 5,400 youth in the rural and urban areas of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The Education Entrepreneur Development program is supported by Citi Foundation as part of its focus on youth, education and livelihoods. The grant will equip 120 ‘Education Entrepreneurs’ - individuals from rural areas with good communication skills and an entrepreneurial inclination – to deliver Pratham’s Foundation Course for Employment, to young women and men in their villages and communities.

(L-R) Dr. Madhav Chavan, Co Founder & CEO, Pratham Education Foundation; Mr. Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Healthcare Ltd. and Mr. Pramit Jhaveri, CEO, Citi India, with the certificate of partnership between Citi and Pratham Education Foundation.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Friends of Pratham

Pratham 5:16:00 PM

Alliance for Science

By Ashutosh Upadhyay, Pratham Science Programme

Pratham Science Programme (PSP) has started working with other organisations under its mission 'Alliance for Science' to popularise science education in primary and secondary schools. A 4-day long workshop was organised at Science Resource Center, Village- Kulethi, Dist- Champawat in Uttarakhand, in June. This center is established by a local NGO - Himalaya Water Service Tatha Vikas Avam Paryavaran Sanrakshan Samiti (HIMVATS) to assist science education in six nearby schools.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Friends of Pratham

Pratham 2:27:00 PM

International Literacy Day Celebration in Assam

Pratham Education Foundation in Assam celebrated International Literacy Day on the 8th September, 2012. Children from over 33 villages of Assam came together to participate in the celebration. Pratham team members organized a day filled with activities; story telling sessions, drawing competition, and story writing sessions.

The children gathered around in a circle during the story telling session listening keenly to the

stories narrated by the village elders. In some venues after the story telling, the children were asked to write their understanding of what they had heard. While some wrote stories of their own and some drew their own inferences.

A drawing competition was also organised and the children were given themes by the team members to express through drawings. All the children drew beautifully and each of these were later displayed. The Pratham team initiated a signature campaign in various districts of Assam, by taking signatures of people who supported the importance of education in a child’s life. Those who didn’t know how to write were helped by the Pratham team to do so.

The occasion saw a great participation and response from the children. Almost 1000 children from

33 villages were present on the day. The day brought smiles on the faces of the children and those surrounding them, include us, the Pratham team.

Please visit the facebook link below for more pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.386432934759163.79376.100001773797656&type=3&l=a5f6743300

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Voices of Pratham

Pratham 10:20:00 PM

Education - Is it Equal for All?

by Richa Maheshwari

Education - a privilege of the elite or a fundamental right of the masses? Ancient India allowed only for a selected few to be educated - the Bhramins - holders of knowledge. The system has been severely criticized by us modern folks but have things really changed? Yes, we no longer blatantly discriminate based on caste; instead we have identified more subtle ways of doing the same!

The state of public schooling in India is down in the pits. If one hopes to learn any academics, one must be prepared to shell out enough to pay a private school fee. Typically, the better the school the higher the fee. If we consider the state of higher education around the world, we find little difference. The more highly regarded the university and the course, the fatter the course fee. Often students are unable to enroll in the course of their choice simply because they are unable to afford it. More often, they are not able to pursue the career of their choice, worrying instead about repaying bank loans.

Why is it that in our highly developed, technologically advanced society, we are still unable to provide for an inclusive education system? Why are we still so discriminating in who receives access to quality education? Why is such a fundamental institution being run like a business?

Why does education continue to remain a privilege of the elite?

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Friends of Pratham

Pratham BC Walkathon!

Pratham 4:48:00 PM

Walkathon

To support the on-going effort to help educate children in need, Pratham BC Foundation hosted its 8th Annual Walk-for-Words 5km Family Walkathon in Central Park, Burnaby, British Columbia on September 8th (International Literacy Day). We thank them for this wonderful initiative!

It is because of our supporters around the world, like Pratham BC and their efforts and initiatives, that we are able to continue our work in India.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Voices of Pratham

Pratham 1:20:00 PM

What does Literacy mean to me?

By Boban Varghese Paul

If literacy of the written word doesn't translate to compassion and love for fellow beings, there is no point. Literacy should be a tool to understanding the greater perspectives in life. It should enable one to break through social barriers and identities that create cracks in society. A person always seeks to be identified as being part of a larger group. For example, a Keralite always says he is one and so does a Bengali but if these identities create insurmountable barriers in society, they shouldn't exist. Unfortunately, these societal identities are inevitable. Yet, the written word must help one move beyond such latent and virtual distinctions. Yes, such identities can be surmounted without being literate, but the likelihood of this increases with literacy especially when one deals with a large number of people.

Somebody once said, "Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them." How true for one can sit in any corner of the world and read about Gandhi's experiments with truth. One is exposed to a plethora of people and emotions through books. This teaches one how to deal with different people and situations and emotions. This creates a human being with character and wisdom, sensitive to one's surroundings. If books are the different movies running in a multiplex, literacy is the eyes that enable you to see and understand.