Dr Ambedkar School, (5th Cross Road, Bangalore, India.) is a government school with over 200 pupils from 6 to 16 years. The children at the Dr Ambedkar school are from underprivileged families. To give this some context, the school lunch may be the main meal for some children that day and for some, the school uniform is the first new clothes they will have worn. Free and compulsory education is a fundamental right for children between the ages of 6 and 14 in India. However, although 90%+ now attend primary school, there remains a shortage of resources, resulting in a challenge in providing the basic infrastructure required.

The cost of replacing the desks is around £3,000. Sharon and I have donated an initial £1,000 to start the ball rolling and are hoping to raise as much as we can so as to replace as many desks as possible.

Causeway Technologies (my employer) has an office in Bangalore and provides significant funds to support the Dr Ambedkar School. This includes funding uniforms, an English teacher and a cleaner. Causeway also supports a maternity unit at a nearby clinic. Following a visit Sharon and I made to Bangalore in March 2017, it was clear that the school desks were badly in need of replacing. With a few exceptions, the desks being used today were provided many years ago as discarded furniture from other schools. These desks are now well past their useful life, are rusting and have many nasty sharp edges and broken benches. The children, as hopefully the picture shows, could not be more keen to learn and are grateful for every opportunity that this school provides.

These desks are just one part of their school life, but they really will make a big difference and be fully appreciated by the children and staff alike.

The money will be used to purchase 50 new 4-seater desk sets to re-equip the classrooms. These are fabricated locally and can be made available quickly - so your support will rapidly reach these children.