Date:06/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/06/stories/2006040612500200.htm

New Delhi

For the kids of a lesser god

Madhur Tankha

A WORTHY CAUSE: Sanjana Kapoor, Kunal Kapur and Rabbi Shergil lending their support to "Shiksha", a campaign for education to poor kids, in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: S. Subramanium

NEW DELHI: It may be a small step but one that will do a world of good to the children of a lesser god. Shiksha, a Procter and Gamble campaign, is aimed at helping underprivileged children across the country achieve their right to education. To this noble initiative, Child Rights and You (CRY) and Sony Entertainment Television have also extended their support.

As the campaign enters its second year now, theatre person Sanjana Kapoor, Bollywood actor Kunal Kapur and musician Rabbi Shergill have appealed to consumers to support Shiksha by buying Procter and Gamble products during April, May and June and enable unlettered children to receive quality education.

"For children, quality education is one of the most important rights, a key that helps unlock their full potential. In India on an average there are less than three teachers per primary school. They have to manage classes from the first to the fifth each day. This kind of education is hardly conducive to real learning and development. The purpose of education is to open young minds to the shared knowledge and wisdom of humanity. Shiksha enables each one of us to lead a few children on the path of education and let us ask ourselves what we intend for all the country's children?" said Kunal at a press conference here on Wednesday.

Sanjana said the underlying aim of the campaign was to increase consciousness of consumers so that they know which brand was socially conscious. Even though our economy was rising by leaps and bounds, it was shocking to see the alarming statistics as far as education was concerned, she added.

Stating that children pay the highest price for all our failures as a nation, CRY general manager Amita Puri said: "When Indians died in the tsunami disaster we rightly treated it as a national calamity. We were outraged as a society when we see murderers getting away scot-free. Don't the 100 million children who do not get education deserve at least as much attention and action? For almost six decades we have treated our kids as objects of sympathy and concern rather than as citizens."