Freedom Through Education (FTE)

After 50 years of independence, 60 Million Indian children had never, ever been to school. Illiteracy is a self-fulfilling curse that perpetuates the chain of poverty, degradation and child labour. To reach out to this group of underprivileged children, we proposed in 1998 to provide basic infrastructure for primary education in rural India, reaching out to about one million children over a period of 5 years. We believe that true freedom for an individual comes only through education.

Keeping the millions of underprivileged children in mind, we declared our Long Term National Project as "Freedom through Education". We believe that true freedom for an individual comes only through EDUCATION.

We have taken several initiatives under this National Project "FREEDOM THROUGH EDUCATION" like Building Programme for Primary Schools, providing infrastructure, provision of educational accessories, Health Care, Vocational and Individual Child Related Programmes in schools adopted by Tables across the country.

In the last 5 years, Round Tables in India have really put in a lot of effort to provide infrastructure in schools. Over 505 projects at a cost of over Rs.420 Million have been completed during this period.

3 State Governments played a significant role in supporting our efforts of "Freedom through Education", the Government of Andhra Pradesh, which has contributed over Rs.30 Million through the "Janmabhoomi" Scheme, the Government of Tamil Nadu which has contributed over Rs.10 Million through the "Namakku Naamae" Scheme and the Government of Karnataka under the "Project Paatashaala" Initiative.

In our efforts to promote "Freedom through Education", we had one partner, who came forward to join hands with us. "Pratham", an organisation promoted by ICICI joined hands with Bombay South Round Table No.26 to raise Rs.3 Million for their primary education projects. Today, we have a long-term arrangement with "Pratham" in several parts of India.

Our efforts on "Freedom through Education" reached out across frontiers in International territory. Tablers of Round Table Netherlands were so impressed with the work we have been doing and they decided to adopt our National Project "Freedom through Education" as their National Project also.

The Dutch-India initiative started in the year 1999 and today over 30 school buildings have been completed under this initiative.

The Dutch-India initiative is going to be a long-term arrangement of financial support from the Dutch Tables to Round Table India's initiative on "Freedom through Education".

Round Table India performed its National duty when it collected and handed over a sum of Rs.5.1 Million to the Prime Minister towards the Kargil Fund.

During the earthquake in Latur in 1993, Tablers of Round Table India moved Relief Material within 24 hours to the earthquake hit villages. We also constructed a Community Welfare Centre in Latur as a relief measure.

Round Table India worked very hard in Orissa during the Cyclone Relief Work in 1999-2000. "Operation Sadhbhavana" launched by us saw the construction of 4 Schools at a cost of Rs.2 Million directly by the Tables in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

Round Table India also tied up with NOVIB of Netherlands and Centre for Youth Social Development to construct 15 schools at a cost of Rs.13 Million all over Orissa.

The recent Gujarat Earthquake was another moment, when Round Table India was present in full strength to support the victims of the earthquake. We moved materials to Gujarat from all over India and helped them with immediate relief. We have also collected over Rs.24 Million towards construction of 20 school buildings in Kutch and Surendarnagar Districts of Gujarat. Wipro has contributed a sum of Rs.8 Million towards this initiative.

Round Table India released Braille Dictionaries in Tamil and Marathi languages and distributed the same to several blind institutions. We received accolades from blind people and institutions for this stupendous effort of our association.

The investment in projects is growing every year and the per-capita expenditure on projects of Round Table India is Rs.40,000/- per annum, possibly the highest amongst all service organisation in India.

Round Table India will continue its fight against illiteracy. We will be delighted if you decide to associate with us in our efforts to promote infrastructure in schools. We can together reach out to the underprivileged children of this country, who deserve a better quality of education.

Corporates and individuals can join hands with us by providing financial support for our Infrastructure Development Projects in schools under "Freedom through Education". You can also support us by procuring our Greeting Cards in large quantities and help us raise funds for "Freedom through Education".

We assure you that every Rupee so raised by us will be well spent on the project. We will also contribute a substantial amount financially to the project, apart from our direct involvement in its completion. We promise you a rewarding experience.

It is a new freedom movement calling for the entire nation to rise to the challenge and take a stand against illiteracy and its tight grip on generations of Indians. We believe that we can do something to give every Indian a chance, for we have over 60 million children in the age group of 3 - 10, who need to be given basic education. They are our future citizens! They are our country's future!!

Round Table India invites you to join hands with us in the struggle against illiteracy and to give them "Freedom through Education".

We can together set the prisoners free.