The Aviva Great Wall of Education, a book donation drive, presented by Hindustan Times, for the underprivileged children supported by Save the Children India, culminated into a book distribution ceremony on November 16, 2009. Honourable Union Human Resource Development Minister of India, Shri Kapil Sibal, along with Mr TR Ramachandran, CEO & MD, Aviva India and Mr. Sanjoy Narayan, Editor-in-Chief, Hindustan Times presented 92,300 books to Mr. Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children, India. The event was well attended by close to 200 children from select schools across Delhi, who had participated in the donation drive.
As part of Aviva’s Street to School program, the books from the wall will be used to educate thousands of underprivileged children with Save the Children India, a leading independent organisation working to ensure the rights of children in India.
TR Ramachandran, CEO & MD, Aviva India, said, "We are greatly humbled with the astounding success of the ‘Aviva Great Wall of Education’ and are truly grateful to the people of Delhi who offered their undeterred patronage towards this noble cause. This is indeed a significant stepping stone towards building a brighter future for the underprivileged children by helping them into education."
Sanjoy Narayan, Editor-in-Chief, Hindustan Times said, "As a responsible newspaper, we are committed to improving awareness and the level of education in society. The ‘Book Wall’ is an excellent way to reach out to underprivileged children by making books that they would have otherwise not been able to read accessible to them. It also provides an opportunity to more privileged children to do their bit for society."
Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children, said, “This is a great initiative that Aviva has undertaken which will translate into hundreds of children from the most marginalized communities having a chance at education. Providing education to the poorest child from the poorest community is the best way of ensuring that the child has access to life opportunities that she otherwise may not have. People have been calling us every day, publishers, institutions, individuals, offering to give us books. Aviva has indeed triggered a truly noble humanitarian initiative.
The five day donation drive was flagged off on Nov 11, National Education Day by the Honourable Minister of Education(Delhi) Shri Arvinder Singh Lovely. The drive was activated across Delhi and NCR region through drop boxes placed at schools, corporate and residential apartments. Children from 300 schools actively donated their old text books, note books towards the cause. Many individuals have also come forward and donated books for the underprivileged children. Scholastic Publishing House has also come forward in support of the cause by donating 10,000 books towards this initiative.
The ‘Aviva Great Wall of Education’ marks another step by Aviva, towards helping underprivileged children into education. Aviva Life Insurance has partnered with CRY’ (Child Rights and You) and ‘Save the Children’ to facilitate education (including other related factors that could prevent a child from attending school) for over 50,000 children by 2012 under the Street to School initiative. In the first year, Aviva will be reaching out to 20,000 children across 9 projects in 5 states.
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