Conservative society, shortage of schooling facilities hamper quality of education in this Haryana district. Read this very relevant story which recently featured in LiveMint.com

Mewati women’s education an uphill struggle

The New York Times recently carried an article on adolescent girls struggling to stay in school in India.Now read the follow up article to this where IIMPACT is mentioned as one of the “large charities that focus on education and/or girls in India”:
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/how-to-help-durga-and-girls-like-her/#more-30812

“Many of the local people didn’t like the idea of giving girls opportunity. They felt threatened. They didn’t want girls going out of the house. They thought that we were there to corrupt them . . . We always think that these [obstacles] are exaggerated but they are not.”

Read the full story

Reader’s Digest article says that IIMPACT “…..is changing the lives of thousands of little girls – and the very fabric of rural India.”November 2, 2011The Reader’s Digest November 2011 issue covers IIMPACT under its Heroes series. The 4-page article says that IIMPACT “…..is changing the lives of thousands of little girls – and the very fabric of rural India.”

A new report by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education calls for a global policy agenda that focuses on access to quality education and learning for all children and youth in the developing world, especially poor girls who are often left behind and remain at a disadvantage. The report, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, estimates that 65 low- and middle-income countries are losing approximately $92 billion per year by failing to educate girls to the same standards as boys, and a 12 percent reduction in world poverty could be achieved if all students in low-income countries obtain basic reading skills in school.

Read the report:
http://www.brookings.edu/media/Files/rc/reports/2011/0609_global_compact/0609_global_compact.pdf

We, as IIMPACT, are very proud that Harish Hande is one of the two Indians to win the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2011.

Harish’s organisation Selco Solar Light in Bangalore was responsible in helping IIMPACT find a unique solar solution to power laptops and computers donated to us by various organizations. As teaching aids, these laptops were of no use in our Learning Centres in far-flung villages with no access to electricity. Selco helped us to design, create and install a one-of-a-kind solution using a DC-to-DC convertor specially made for this purpose. This helped IIMPACT substantially lower our investment in this project as well as arrive at a beneficial, practical and workable solution.

Courtesy Selco and Harish, a large number of IIMPACT’s girls have directly benefitted. The “solar powered laptop” occupies a pride of place in our Learning Centres and is fully maintained locally by the girl’s parents who were trained by Selco for this purpose.

We wish Harish all success in his future endeavours. Three cheers for him !