Good morning friends. We all know that English is the international language which we must all know. There will be a new project that will teach poor kids to talk in English.
Imagine walking down a street and the young girl selling flowers round the corner
Rattling off names like a florist on Times Square.
Imagine, there’s no kid who didn’t know English. That’s a world not too far away in Apnu Amdavad.
First, it was Teach India, a movement that began the empowerment of underprivileged children through education. Now, Times Foundation has partnered city-based NGO, Yuva Unstoppable, to reach English to every child across weaker sections of society.
English Unstoppable — an ambitious, three-month-long project to make underprivileged children read and write English — will be launched in Ahmedabad and Mumbai simultaneously on November 16, with a huge support from the corporate world. India Inc has agreed to send its employees to teach English at municipal schools in the two cities for two hours every week.
“The inspiration is Teach India. Now, we wish to take the initiative forward by focusing on teaching English. We have found a large number of kids dropping out as English suddenly becomes compulsory later in school. The motive is to reduce drop-out rate, build confidence and create a bigger English-speaking population to make India competitive in the long run. We will also impart basic literacy and values,” says Amitabh Shah, founder of Yuva Unstoppable, a partner NGO for Teach India.
As many as 10 corporate have pledged support to the cause in Ahmedabad, including HDFC Bank, HDFC Standard Life, Reliance Communication, Vodafone, Adani Wilmar, Vadilal, Motif, Troika, Evosys and Azure. In Mumbai, the project is supported by HDFC Bank and Nicholas Piramal and more are expected to join.
The campaign, which will go on till February 15, will target sixth and seventh graders in 40 municipal schools in Ahmedabad and many more in Mumbai. While the Ahmedabad Municipal School Board will provide the infrastructure, Calorx Foundation will develop content for the campaign. Calorx, also a Teach India partner, has been spearheading teaching of English by volunteers in government-run schools.
The Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) is the execution partner; with 10 MBA students helping out execute English Unstoppable on the ground. - The Times of India
