New hope for India’s street children
The primary school for 150 under-privileged children, in the National Capital Region of Delhi, will help discourage child labour and teach its pupils about the evils of drugs, crime, gambling and similar activities.
The G4S School is one of five projects, in different parts of the world, that are receiving G4S corporate financial support over a six-year period as part of the Group’s global “giving back to the community” philosophy.
The project highlights the disparity that exists between the rich and the poor in a country that is experiencing phenomenal commercial growth. Whilst affluent families can afford good education for their children, the priority for those living in slums is employment, even though this means sending their youngest members out to work rather than to school.
G4S believes education is the right of every child, irrespective of its family’s financial status. Working in collaboration with the Hope Foundation, a non-governmental organisation which helps disadvantaged children, G4S will not only build the school but also provide books, uniforms and other amenities and pay the teaching staff’s salaries.
Since it will be in a slum area which is prone to diseases, G4S School will provide proper medical facilities for all children, as well as regular check-ups by visiting medical practitioners.
This exciting project will also include a computer lab so that the pupils will be well equipped to cope with life outside the deprived area in which they have been brought up.
“This is a small contribution to support the biggest ‘Literacy Mission’ of the nation to shape a better future for the street children,” comments G4S NAMESA (North Africa, Middle East and South Asia) regional marketing director Rehana Qureshi.
“We intend to create an environment not just to provide education but a place to give the right direction to the children. Amidst the secular riots happening all over India, it is important to provide education about all the religions. We will celebrate festivals like Diwali, Holi, Eid and Gurpurab to imbibe secular values in children.
“Our motive is to persuade rag pickers and street children to attend school and one of the incentives is to provide them with mid-day meals and recreational activities. The food will be cooked in the school under strict supervision of the administration team.”
A senior G4S executive will also pay regular visits to the school to spend time with the students. The company will also organise seminars for parents on various topics relating to family life, as well as offering training on specific subjects linked to child behaviour.
Not only will the environment in which the children are taught be clean and tidy but it will also be environmentally friendly. The project will benefit from solar energy, proper drainage systems and purified drinking water produced by reverse osmosis systems.
For the hundreds of students who will pass through its doors, once completed early in 2009, the new G4S School will provide far more than education. It will be the chance of a lifetime to escape from the squalor of their childhood and build for themselves a bright new future.
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New hope for India’s street children
