Updated 7 September 2011
The World Federation funded Zainabiya School in Alipur sets the Standard for the Provision of Education in Karnataka State. To find out more please read the article or watch the video.
Karnataka state has a literacy rate of 75.6%; this means over 14 million people in Karnataka are illiterate. The provision of education in Karnataka is further complicated by severe social and religious discrimination. In addition to the poverty, a lack of sufficient healthcare and resources compounds this problem.
The World Federation built the Zainabiya School in Alipur after the tragic hurricane in 1984. Villages such as Alipur had no educational establishments, child labour and subsistence farming was a norm, as people simply had to make ends meet. Since the establishment of the Zainabiya School, children are able to grow up wanting to follow their dreams of a career in medicine, teaching, science, and various other fields.
The World Federation’s objective in the provision of education is to be able to take entire villages out of poverty and into self-sufficiency by creating a generation of skilled individuals who can develop communities such as Alipur and transfer their skills onto further generations and surrounding villages.
Educating girls and putting them through school has always been a key goal of the Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme (ZCSS), and in Alipur the number of girls being educated is very evident; in this way, the Zainabiya School is breaking social conventions that discriminate against women and is also providing an atmosphere where tomorrow's mothers can be successfully educated.
The Zainabiya School in Alipur currently holds 649 students, and provides an education to children from the age of 4 up to the age of 18. One of the testaments to the successes of this school has been the over subscription since it opened.
Masum Somji, Assistant Secretary General for ZCSS at The World Federation said, “The Zainabiya School is a proud achievement for our community and the model used to provide education in villages like Alipur, Kareempur, and Avalkonda have all been successful. We must build on these successes and further our goals by helping the poor sections of the community raise their levels of education and escape the cycle of poverty. We must build more schools in places where the access to educational facilities is scarce. This can only happen with the support of our generous donors.”
To sponsor a child or to make a donation, email zcss@world-federation.org or donate online.
