‘Education is the basis for development of consciousness and reconstruction of society’ - Mahatma Gandhi
Planet Hope stands up for the rights of underprivileged children, such as child workers, street children and other kids at the bottom of society. These children have a poor economic outlook and the fact that they have a casteless (dalit) or tribal background reinforces this. Our central focus lies on the universal right to education: thé key to break the vicious circle of poverty, underdevelopment and poorly paid work.
School and work
We help young children, such as the kids in the Planet Hope home, to go to primary school and we want to make sure they do not drop out. Teenagers are stimulated to follow an education or learn a profession, in the future in our own Planet Hope Learning Centre. This gives them the opportunity to get a diploma and will prepare them for a career in society.
Solid foundation
Most of the times it is necessary to give them a solid foundation, before we can work on their (educational) development. This solid foundation consists of medical help, psychological guidance, a healthy diet and even housing.
Around the child
The family situation of the child plays a crucial role in the child’s growth. Therefore Planet Hope supports social programs in the direct surroundings of the child. This can vary from educating parents on hiv/aids, alcohol addiction and women’s rights to stimulating micro-entrepeneuring.
Exchange of know-how and experience
Planet Hope stimulates the exchange of knowledge and know how in all of the mentioned areas between governments, non-governmental organisations, corporations and institutions in the Netherlands as well as India. We do this via exchange programs and internships.
Education in India
Education is a fundamental right for children and one of the millennium goals to fight poverty and inequality. The objective for 2015 is to have all children, anywhere in the world, to go to school. The Indian government has made great progress the last decade. The number of children that is not attending school has dropped from 25 million to 8,1 million in 2009. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 is a new milestone. This law, effective since 1 April 2010, guarantees every child between 6 and 14 the right to free basic education. Access however does not mean that good quality education is automatically being given when it comes to schooling. Mostly public schools suffer from a lack of good quality. Also the high percentage of dropouts, mostly among girls and socially underprivileged groups such as tribals and dalits, remains to be a point of continuous attention. The RTE Act furthermore does not have any arrangements for children past the age of 14. Access to higher education thus also remains one of the challenges to be addressed.
