The Essar Foundation, in partnership with the Government of Gujarat, commemorated the Shala Pravesh Utsav, from June 14-16, 2012, across 40 village schools of Lalpur and Khambhaliya blocks of Jamnagar district. The idea behind the initiative was to encourage an increasing number of children, especially girls (many of whom are not encouraged to attain primary education) to enroll in schools.
One of the biggest challenges the Indian education system faces today is the high rate of school drop-outs. Due to limited or no access to a comprehensive education, in addition to cultural values, many children are unable to complete their education. Essar Foundation, as part of its education programme, strives to overcome this obstacle and provide quality education to every child – both in rural and urban areas.
As part of the Utsav, a total of 1,500 school kits were distributed to first-time school entrants across all the schools in the two blocks. Apart from the distribution of school kits, the Foundation also felicitated the senior-most teachers in each of the schools, and awarded certificates to the top three rank holders of the previous academic year.
The event saw the active participation of government officials, as well as that of employees from Essar. The programme ended with a plantation drive in the schools.
