BENGALURU, India, Feb. 16, 2024 -- In a significant stride towards ensuring equitable access to education, a 40-seater bus was handed over on February 9, 2024, to facilitate transportation of tribal children from remote areas to the Government Higher Secondary School in Gudalur. There are 450+ students enrolled out of which many come from distant, remote and tribal communities like Paniya, Kurumba and Kattunayakan. This initiative stems from a collaboration involving Samatvam Trust, United Ways of Chennai, and Microland Foundation, in association with the District Education Department. The school is at the border of Mudumalai Forest Reserve.

Expressing pride while handing over the school bus, Smt. M Aruna I.A.S, District Collector and District Magistrate of Nilgiris, said, "This occasion marks a monumental step in bridging the gap in access to quality education for tribal children by providing safe, hassle-free transportation facilities. Doorstep pickup ensures no child is left behind in their pursuit of education."

Kalpana Kar, Trustee, Microland Foundation, underscoring their commitment to collaborating in such initiatives stated, "We are honored to support one of the major objectives of the National Education Policy which helps supplement accessibility and help reduce dropout rates. Students from the school were coming from far-off places and had dropped out because of lack of access to transportation. The initiative aims to reach out to all those students coming from distant places thus acting as a bridge between access and aspirations.

Committed social worker Ms. Radhika Shastry, instrumental in identifying the bus, graced the event and motivated the children to actively learn. "This bus represents a gateway to unlock your potential and achieve your dreams. Make the most of this opportunity and strive for educational excellence," she encouraged.

Highlighting this collaborative effort, Meenakshi Ramesh, Chief Executive Director, United Ways of Chennai, said, "We are very proud to have played a small part in enabling this bus to be donated to Sreemadurai Government Higher Secondary School. This bus will help these children who live in hard-to-reach areas and mountainous areas to get to school conveniently and attend a full day and go back home safely. We thank Microland Foundation and Samatvam Trust for their support towards this initiative. We also thank the district administration, the Chief Education Officer of the Nilgiris district for their support."

Geetha R, Chief Education Officer, Department of Education, Nilgiris has been instrumental in providing the necessary support. She quoted that "Access to education is not a privilege but a fundamental right for all students. The government is committed to assisting schools in every possible way to ensure uninterrupted education for every child. This bus will not only enable access to school but will contribute towards a significant milestone of improving attendance in government schools."

The Education Dept. has been generous enough to agree to support with the resources required for vehicle maintenance, operational costs, and driver remuneration, exemplifying a successful public-private partnership. Equipped with modern amenities such as GPS, rear and front camera sensors, CCTV camera, and 7-inch display monitor connected with the sensors, the school bus will traverse remote villages, eradicating distance as a barrier to education. This collaborative endeavor underscores the transformative power of partnerships in fostering inclusive educational opportunities, particularly for marginalized communities.

About Microland Foundation

Microland Foundation is the CSR arm of Microland Limited, an IT services company. The foundation was established in 2016 with a commitment to a paradigm shift in the arenas of Employability, Health, Education, and Environment. In each of these thrust areas, the foundation has identified the intended impacts which are reflective of the needs of the communities they work with. Their projects leverage technology to deepen the impact and are not in silos but intersect with one another. All projects are guided by the principles of Incubation, Ownership, Replicability, and Scalability as an approach to enabling social change.

About Samatvam Trust

"Samatvam" means Equality. This vision of equality animating the makers of modern India, brought together yet another group of like-minded people in early 2020, to form Samatvam Trust. The Samatvam Trust is committed to: equalising access to knowledge across different strata of Indian society. This national goal, spelt out in Article 21A of the Indian Constitution, can be attained only by the provision of quality education, fostering scientific temper. In 1976, India became the first country to include in its Constitution "scientific temper with humanism" as a fundamental duty of all citizens. "It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform."

About United Ways of Chennai

United Way of Chennai (UWC) is a registered society under the Societies Registration Act of Tamil Nadu 1975, in Chennai. UWC is a secular, non-partisan, non-political, non-profit, non-government organization dedicated to improving lives in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Kerala. It identifies and addresses the long-term needs of vulnerable communities by bridging the gap between resourceful corporate entities and the societal issues through impactful interventions and volunteerism. UWC is a part of the United Way Worldwide (UWW).

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Contact:

Sobia Sahar

sobia.sahar@microland.com

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