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Blogs2023-06-11T07:14:29-07:00

ILP’s Journey

It was the year 1989 and we had an impressive visitor from India. The handout for his talk, spoke about the need for action. The speaker was none other than Dr. Parameshwara Rao. Dr. Rao had a simple yet powerful message. He said – if we don’t do anything, by year 2000, every second illiterate in the world will be an Indian! This stirred up a bunch of us and we felt something needed to be done. This led to the formation of ILP in 1990, registered as a non-profit in Chicago, United States. As a first step, we decided to support Dr. Rao’s own organization BCT. Supporting BCT, gave ILP the right background and experience to support many literacy and education projects across India.

Start a new chapter

INTRODUCTION

A chapter usually starts with 3 to 4 people who believe in the cause of literacy, and usually like to start something and be part of a growing organization. You can send out a summary about ILP to friends, mailing lists inviting people to join the volunteer team.

Usually, the first set of people will need to allocate at least 2 hrs a week to meet (preferably

Learning through play

When you enter the primary school in Mandiralvalasa village in Vizianagaram district, you will be greeted with a hearty ‘Good morning’ from a group of 1st Grade and 2nd Grade children sitting in one shared classroom. The most surprising part of this interaction is the confidence in those smiling faces.

Schooling: Enroll and Retain children in preschools and schools

The education scenario in India has seen rapid progress over the last two decades in addressing the diverse challenges. Enrollment in primary schools has increased to around 96% and school infrastructure has also improved, but there are still significant challenges in enrollment for vulnerable communities.Our projects focus on vulnerable communities who face challenges with universal coverage, out of school children, poor attendance and retention. Some of these communities live in deep rural areas and are primitive tribal groups , socially disadvantaged communities such as scheduled castes, linguistic minority communities and migrant populations.

Learning: Enable learning in innovative ways

70% of children in India attend government schools predominantly in rural areas. Many children attending government schools are first generation learners. Their families are not equipped to guide their education at home (78% of rural adults have less than 5th grade literacy). As a result, teachers become the only source of guidance, thus putting extra burden on the already over-burdened teachers.

Earning: Empower students with career pathways

Education plays an important role in preparing students for successful and productive careers and to make positive contributions to society. The education system must provide the information, skills and confidence required for students to have productive careers. Our student-centric Career Guidance and Pathways program equips them with detailed information about variious careers, and enables them to effectively compete for jobs in the industry.

Creating Real Models

In remote rural villages, children have few real/role models to look up to. Praislin, a young girl from Thirunindravur, Tamil Nadu, was forced to drop her educational aspirations as her father, the sole provider in the family, battled health issues. She was passionate about the English language and wanted to become an English professor.

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