Mobile School for Sundel selling Children at Marina Beach by Chennai Corporation scheme Education for all Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) Photo S. Thanthoni
The Hindu: India still has the largest number of illiterate adults in the world, but has made “rapid advances” in cutting down the numbers of school drop outs, a new UN report on education has said.
The Education For All-Global Monitoring Report, released here on Wednesday finds that out of the total 759 million illiterate adults in the world, India still has the highest number.
“Over half of the illiterate adults live in just four countries: Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan,” the report said, adding the progress has been “painfully slow” and threatens to obstruct the Millennium Development Goals.
It said about 72 million primary school age children and another 71 million adolescents are not at school, and on current trends, 56 million primary school age children will still be out of school in 2015, it said.
UNESCO’s top official Irina Bokova said the world body was apprehensive that the financial crisis would cause governments to scale back funding on education.
“With the world’s largest illiterate population, India has been making progress,” the report said. Read the rest of this entry »
Lisa and Phillip, thank you for supporting our art classes, Pankaj’s Dream! Without you, we would not have been able to continue them. Your gift was a godsend to us, and we are grateful for it!
To our angel Donna Peter, our most heartfelt thank you for your recent extra support that provided blankets to our students and their families. This winter has been especially cold, and your blankets helped to keep the children warm. Thank you for your ongoing support from the bottom of our hearts!
Dear Debbie, thank you for your kind contribution that allowed us to buy warm clothes for Munna, a boy we love dearly, and who desperately needed them. You can see he is so happy to have his warm clothes! Your donation will also allow us to fix Munna’s family’s water pump, bringing water back to their house.
What a surprise. When the teachers visited the Bengali refugee community that collects and sorts garbage, they found lower-kindergartener Kumkum reading a book! When asked where she got it from, Kukum explained how she found it in the garbage she was collecting with her mom. Instead of putting it in with the other paper, Kumkum cleaned it off and put it safely in her bag.
This seemingly small act, done by a small child, shows how deep the changes are in the community. And the book she found looks like it’s in great condition!
Before coming to school, most kids didn’t realize the value of books.
We were given a shock in August when we learned that our 13-year-old middle school student Pankaj had been found dead in a sewer. We learned that Pankaj had witnessed a rape in his community and had been killed because he threatened to speak up about what he saw.
Pankaj was an extraordinary and curious student who loved to draw and dreamt of becoming an artist. A bright and optimistic dreamer, Pankaj said that his plan was to become an artist, makes lots of money by selling his works, and start schools all over the country called Buddha’s Smile School. This spirit will be with all of us.
In honor of Pankaj, BSS started an art class in October called Pankaj’s Dream
“We all group of BSS pray for his soul rest in peace always. Pankaj your sweet memories and love is always memorable in our heart deeply.You are always in our thoughts. Your DREAM will be positively filled by the children of BSS (Your brothers, sisters and friends) We all miss you everyday.”
In honor of Pankaj, BSS started an art class in October called “Pankaj’s Dream” to allow more students to realize their creative powers. We hope that one day many students will become like Pankaj and Pankaj’s soul will feel at peace.
4th grade students learn electronics with BSS Prinicpal Jagdish
- BSS students learn how to swim: Swim India visited BSS this month to teach water safety. In August, they will bring BSS students to the pool!
- 4th and 5th grade students helped out at the Ganga Clean-Up event
- 4th grade students learn electronics: Prinicpal Jagdish is teaching students how to make FM radios and other small gadgets
