UAE | Education

On track to raise funds for uneducated children

Most teenagers in the UAE are accustomed to reading their favourite magazines, cyber-surfing and spending hours in school or doing their homework.

  • By Sanya Nayeem, Community Journalist
  • Published: 23:49 September 8, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Nikhil ran from the Gateway of India to the Haji Ali Mosque in Mumbai.
  • Image Credit: Supplied Picture
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Dubai: Most teenagers in the UAE are accustomed to reading their favourite magazines, cyber-surfing and spending hours in school or doing their homework.

So when 16-year-old Nikhil Kalyanpur discovered that around 130 million children around the world do not have access to even the most basic education, it did not rest easy on his conscience.

With September 8, on Monday, serving as an annual reminder in the form of International Literacy Day, the urgent need for education is ringing alarm bells worldwide.

The Dubai American Academy (DAA) pupil said: "Thanks to globalisation, the internet, books, and television, we have access to so much information. But for illiterate people, it must be a completely different world. This realisation shook me."

With the aim of raising funds for uneducated children in his homeland, Nikhil took his love of track and cross-country running to a whole new level with his 13-kilometre marathon from the Gateway of India to the Haji Ali Mosque in Mumbai, India.

For Nikhil, it was essential to find a place that did not just focus on collecting funds, but rather encouraged volunteers to work at the grassroots level to make a difference.

Call it serendipity, or call it fate, he found what he was looking for when he read about Pratham, a non-profit organisation that started in the slums of India in 1994 and expanded to develop a tremendously successful nationwide literacy campaign.

Nikhil said: "It mattered to me that the money people spent went straight to those in need, and when I knew Pratham was capable of doing so, I was with them a 100 per cent." With a budget of $9 million (Dh33 million) in 2007, Pratham grows by 20 to 30 per cent annually.

According to Hari Padmanaphan, a volunteer at Pratham's Dubai chapter, 92 per cent of the funds reach their final endpoint, with only eight per cent used in administrative costs.

Padmanaphan said the organisation first established why children were out of school, and then pioneered ways to turn the situation around. He said: "In most rural areas, children find it difficult to commute to schools, and if their teachers treat them harshly, they are more likely to drop out and work in farms or with their parents."

Pratham dealt with the situation by selecting teachers from within each community to teach children. Hari said: "By using the methodology of phonetics to teach children, Pratham actually innovated a technique to teach them how to read in just around six weeks."

With a focus on arithmetic and basic reading and writing, the organisation has made a difference to more than a million children in a span of 14 years.

But it was not an easy journey, according to Rukmini Banerji, research director at Pratham. She said: "Obstacles are part of any endeavour. I find that mobilising people is easy as compared to generating higher thinking and tapping into the capabilities of people. The real challenge is to build leadership, innovate and inspire."

Nikhil said: "I ran for Pratham because I really believe in its cause. I hope more people my age know that they can make a real difference and rise up to do their bit for the world."

How do you plan to mark the International Literacy Day? Do you think the problem of illiteracy is being tackled effectively? How can more people be educated? Tell us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the form bellow to send your comments.

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