Overview

In August 1936, Mahatma Gandhi wrote in the newspaper Harijan "India lives in her villages, not in her cities". This statement holds true even today. While India is poised to become one of the youngest nations in the world with great economic potential, its villages, rural areas and tribal communities remain impoverished and unempowered. For countries such as India, it is critical that each child - particularly outside of cities - be educated such that they can effectively contribute to the nation and the world.

The Challenge . Key issues
Young Population

541 million or 49% of the total population is below the age of 18 120 million or 11% of the total population is below the age of 5
While a young population can be an advantage provided it has access to quality education, else it be an issue for the future
19% of the world's children reside in India

Large Illiterate Population

Literary rates in urban and rural India is 65% of which women's literacy rate is only 54%
The lowest women's literacy rates are in Bihar (34%), and Jharkhand (39%)

Child Marriage

55% of girls below the age of 18 are married off in India, in Jharkhand it is 61% - lack of education is the prime driver
One of the outcomes of an early marriage is that % of infants born with low birthweight (< 2,500 gms or 5.5 lbs) is 30%

Child Labor

14% of the children in the age of 5-14 are engaged in child labor
Rural and Tribal people migrate to the cities to get out of poverty taking with them their children who get engaged in hard labor

Basic Hygiene

Rural population using improved drinking water is 83%
Rural population having access to adequate sanitation facilities is 22%

Background to Tribal and Slum Welfare

Free and compulsory education to all children up to the age fourteen is the constitutional commitment in India, however this remains a distant dream The common issues facing a typical government school is that either the teacher does not show up or the quality of teaching is so poor which results in over 40% of drop-outs of primary school children Even for those who do have access to school, a child's participation is affected by the economic capacity of their parents. The average annual cost of education per child is $250, which is out of reach for many. Considering the average family has 4 children, parents would have to earn approximately $1000 a year for education alone. This falls far outside of the $800 annual income of the average family. Lack of education is creating deep social and economic impacts to the rural and tribal populations in India which comprise 70% of India's over One Billion population