Strengthening India with Support my School Campaign

When I see children on street selling something, polishing shoes or begging instead of going to school, I become extremely sad. I know their family’s financial condition isn’t good and they need to work. But getting basic education is extremely important. There are large number of Government Schools providing free education and mid-day meals but we all know good these schools are. Poor Sanitation facilities, unhygienic food and drinking water, poor infrastructure and not to forget, lazy and lethargic government employees are the major drawbacks of Government schools.

In urban areas we find less amount of problems regarding schools and most the children are taking their primary and secondary education. But, when we look at the statistics, we find a large portion of children refrain from getting education in rural areas. Reason for this is the poor and unwelcoming environment of schools.

Looking at all these problems faced by children while getting education, Support my School Campaign was initiated by Coca Cola, NDTV and some other NGOs.

‘Support My School’ is a public private partnership to empower underprivileged sections of society by providing the necessary water and sanitation facilities along with the basic infrastructure required in any school. It is a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) initiative about which I talked earlier. You can read that post here. It aims to improve basic amenities in government schools like separate toilets for boys and girls and access to water.

The Campaign is also committed to developing the overall infrastructure like playground and a clean environment to encourage a holistic learning environment. The Schools revitalized under the campaign have served as model schools in several districts and have led to enhanced community engagement and higher emphasis on attendance and enrolment.

Coca-Cola India & NDTV has launched ‘Support My School’ in association with the UN-Habitat, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in 2011. This campaign has been instrumental in focusing public attention on the state of affairs in rural schools in India. Since its launch, several partners such as Plan India, Worldvision India, SRF Foundation and others have joined and strengthen the campaign.

Support my School have taken up Mission 1000 that is to revitalise 1000 schools in the country. Out of 1000 schools, 600 have already revitalized and work in another 200 schools is in progress. This campaign has given access to better sanitation, water, playing and other facilities to approximately 200,000 children. Enrolment figure has gone up in various schools after the launch of this campaign.

Panchayat, District Education Officers, Local elected officials, Teachers, Parents and Community members across the county have also engaged in this activity. Business leaders, celebrities and various stakeholders have visited the schools and encouraged the children to follow their dreams.

I feel it is a great initiative to improve education sector and increase the amount of enrolment of students. With this Support My School Campaign, children will now be able to gain education in a clean, hygienic environment. This campaign also encourage children to study and dream a better future. All this in turn will give India a healthy and educated future.

What you think about Support my School Campaign? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.