Hello
All,
Association for India's
Development (AID), volunteer movement committed to promoting sustainable,
equitable and just development, is organizing a talk on Primary Education in India,
in Manhattan on
Saturday, July 19th @ 4:30 PM.
According
to India's 2007 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), out of an estimated
140 million primary school children in the 6-14 years age group, 50% cannot read simple words or do simple arithmetic.
Since
1997, AID India, through its Eureka Child initiative, has focused on
creating innovative interventions in the area of Education. Recognizing AID's
pioneering work, the Government of Tamil Nadu selected AID, in 2006, to train
its teachers and improve the quality of Education. In a short 6 month span, the
Eureka Child Initiative reached out to 7300
schools and 450,000 children. In six months there was 30% improvement in reading skills.
Please
join us on July 19th as we learn
more about this commendable initiative and the impact it is making in the
lives of thousands of children in India.
Details
regarding the talk
Date: Saturday, July 19th
Time: 4:30- 6 pm
Location: Manhattan (exact address to be confirmed by Tuesday, July 15th)
Speakers: Ravi Kuchimanchi (Founder of AID), Vijay
Magnani (Project Coordinator in the US
for Eureka
Child Initiative)
Cost: Free and open to all
Agenda:
4:30
PM - 4:45 PM - Coffee
4:45
PM - 5:15 PM - Beginning of AID and Eureka by Ravi Kuchimanchi
5:15
PM - 6:00 PM - Eureka
Child Initiative by Vijay Manghnani
After
the talk, we will be hosting a small dinner from 7-8.30 pm. This dinner is
open to all and will be a unique opportunity to speak to Ravi Kuchimanchi, the
Founder of AID, about his experience and learnings of doing development work
in India.
It will also be a time to learn more AID and its other work in the areas of
livelihoods, natural resources, health, women's empowerment and social
justice.
The
location of the dinner will be 25
W 132nd St, Apt #6D, New York, NY 10037.
Background
of Speakers
Ravi Kuchimanchi, Founder of AID: While a Graduate student at University of Maryland Ravi founded AID, in 1991,
with the vision "problems are interconnected, so must be the
solution." Ravi has a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Indian
Institute of Technology, Mumbai and a PhD in Physics from University of Maryland.
In 1998, after his postdoctoral work in theoretical particle physics, Ravi
returned to India
with his wife Aravinda, to work with the poor and underprivileged. Demand for
alternate energy in the Narmada river valley in western India, led Ravi
to forge a collaboration that electrified 12 hamlets of the tribal village Bilgaon
(this inspired the Bollywood film Swades). Recently, Ravi has been interested
in Indian democracy's latest achievement -- the Right to Information (RTI) Act,
that gives citizens of India access to government documents and increases
transparency, and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which
promises 100 days of work to all rural families at an annual budget of $3
billion.
We look forward
to having you join us on Saturday, July 19th. Please RSVP if
you plan to attend the talk and/or the dinner.
If
you have any questions regarding AID or this event, please contact:
Subbu
– 551 998 2886 - subbu.loganathan@db.com
Rishabh – 609 206 0785 - rishabh.mehreja@bms.com
Priyanka – 609 933 1135 – priyanka1@gmail.com
Best,
Association
of India's
Development
*AID
is registered with the US Federal Government as a non-profit charitable
corporation under category 501(C)(3). Its federal Tax-ID is 04-3652609.
For
more information on the organization, please visit: www.aidindia.org
For
more information on the Eureka Child Project, please visit: www.eurekachild.org
