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Mastercard donation for girls' education programme in India

Michael Gonsalves

The Co-operative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, the United States-based relief and development organisation, has announced a donation by MasterCard International to complete a six-year girls primary education project in India.

"This project will provide critical equivalent primary education to girls who have never been to school or have dropped out," Kokila Gulati, project manager of CARE's Girls Primary Education Project in India said in a statement on June 24.

The donation was part of MasterCard's ongoing philanthropic mission to serve youth. "MasterCard India is pleased that this commendable initiative is taking place in our market. As a responsible corporation, we believe it is our role to support the youth in endeavours, which will make a difference in the long-term. Our project with CARE is another example of MasterCard's commitment to philanthropic efforts," said Sameer Vakil, vice-president and country manager for MasterCard International India.

This project will enable 3,000 girls from the poorest areas in rural India to have access to primary education, and an estimated 25 per cent of them will move on to mainstream education.

"By learning basic language and math skills, these students will shape a meaningful future for themselves. And for their families, who traditionally have viewed school attendance as unimportant and as hindering girls from carrying out household chores, acceptance requires a huge shift in attitude," Gulati said.

According to her, historically, less than one in three women in India have been able to attend school. This project will support 120 formal equipment education centres serving 300 villages in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, two Indian states with high illiteracy rates.

Although India is known for its technological and engineering talent, there is a gender-based educational divide. The female literacy rate is only 40 per cent (compared to 64 per cent for males), and in some rural areas, the rate for women drops to 12 per cent. The school drop out rates for girls is 57 per cent at the primary stage, 57 per cent at the middle stage and 74 per cent at the high school stage, according to CARE statistics.

"We will target girls in the 6 to 14 age group, will plan school schedules, recruit and train teachers, design curriculum and provide education materials. We involve the community in our education effort to overcome traditional obstacles to girls' education," Gulati explained.

The residential educational camp reaches out to older Indian girls (9 to 14 years old), who have either dropped out of school or never attended. The school taught them important life skills and compressed the basic primary education into a one-year time frame, she added.

The announcement came on the heels of the World Bank report (Engendering Development) which concluded that one of the best ways to fight world hunger and encourage global economic growth was to educate girls and women. This finding mirrors research by CARE and other organisations, the statement said.

A major part of the funding for the program comes from a $1 million grant from the United Kingdom government. In order to access this funding, CARE needed matching grants from private sources, which the MasterCard donation provided.

CARE is one of the world's largest relief and development organisations, with projects in more than 60 countries. CARE's work in India began on March 6, 1950. It now implements projects in nutrition, health care, small-enterprise development and basic and girls' education.

It also provides emergency relief. CARE has 475 people working in nine states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

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