During our childhood, we were often told by elders that school life is the best time of our lives. Back then, while sitting in our classrooms wearing our uniforms, we didn’t realize our privilege. In retrospect, now we consider ourselves lucky to have that enriching school experience because millions of children from underserved communities in our country still don’t have that privilege.
Even though there are 14.9 lakh schools in our country, 3.2 crore kids in India have never been to school. In addition to that, 3 crore kids didn’t have a way to attend online classes during the pandemic. These are children living in the remotest areas of our country. They lack proper roads, basic transport, internet connectivity, and financial means to be able to either attend school or attend online classes.
How do we solve this problem and make sure that every child in India, irrespective of gender, geography and financial status, gets an equal opportunity & access to education?
BYJU’S, an Indian Edtech company, envisions a solution with a simple idea – free online and offline access to quality study content to underprivileged children.
The idea behind this initiative is to make education equitable and accessible to children dealing with all kinds of adversities. With the help of 110+ NGO partners, children with access to the internet are being given streaming licenses and those with no network will be provided with offline licenses.
The vision is commendable, “The school comes to the child, when the vice-versa can’t happen.” The initiative named, Education For All is already doing an excellent job to ensure that this vision is turned into reality.
In one year alone, the initiative has empowered as many as 3.4 million kids living in 26 states of our country. With the help of NGOs who have come onboard, BYJU’S aims to extend the same opportunity to 10 million children by 2025.
In our country, there are kids who walk several miles through a desert under the scorching heat or travel on a boat for hours just to attend school. Their childhood isn’t that of wonder but of struggle, and it shouldn’t have to be so.
In a heartwarming film by BYJU’S, we get a glimpse of the power of modern education through the beautiful smiles of children from Uri to Kutch to the Sundarbans to Alupuzzah:
Poet W.B. Yeats famously said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” We wish Education For All can ignite the fire of success in every underserved child of our country.