Kailash Satyarthi Helped 6000 Poor Kids Get Over 1700 Android Phones For E-Learning

It¡¯s been almost a year since the pandemic shut our lives completely. Most of us started to work from home, while many even lost their jobs.

Kids started studying from home with classes being conducted online on video conferencing platforms. And while kids enjoyed this convenient switch, not all kids were so lucky to get this option.

Getty Images

Many kids from underprivileged backgrounds couldn¡¯t afford to own a laptop, computer or even a smartphone to participate in these virtual classes. In fact, most schools, especially ones in rural areas, didn¡¯t even have an infrastructure in place to conduct online classes for their students.

A study conducted by Kailash Satyarthi Children¡¯s Foundation (founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi) revealed that out of 53 NGOs working with children during the pandemic, 85 percent of respondent NGOs and 89 percent of NGOs working on themes surrounding education, poverty and livelihood showed that school dropouts were likely to increase post lockdown.

Kailash Satyarthi/ Twitter

Six percent of respondents reported that due to poor financial conduction they were willing to withdraw their kids from schools. And about 14 percent didn¡¯t really know what they do in schools, thus amounting to 20 percent of households that were at risk of dropping out from schools.

However, some people are working to make sure people from underprivileged backgrounds don¡¯t miss out on their education and Nokia smartphone maker HMD Global is trying to help make this happen, along with Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation.

HMD Global

HMD Global, the manufacturers of Nokia smartphones have announced that they¡¯ve teamed up with Kailash Satyarthi Children¡¯s Foundation to distribute over 1,740 new Nokia smartphones (worth over Rs 1.65 crores) to children across the rural and urban slums, as well as survivors of child exploitation and first-generation learners of the Banjara community.

The devices have been donated to children who are beneficiaries of KSCF¡¯s Bal Mitra Gram and Bal Mitra Mandal. The devices will also be donated to Bal Ashram, a long-term shelter home in Jaipur run by Bal Ashram Trust, a sister organization of KSCF.

HMD Global

The donation is expected to aid over 6,000 children from families across Delhi, Karnataka, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.

Sanmeet Kochhar, Vice President, HMD Global said, ¡°When it comes to driving positive social impact, education and skill development for the youth, has always been a key focus area for our CSR efforts in India. Our efforts towards education take inspiration from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) focused on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education. We believe that smartphone technology contributes to SDG 4 by enabling unhindered access to educational content, anytime, anywhere.

HMD Global

He added, ¡°Through our association with Kailash Satyarthi Children¡¯s Foundation, we are keen to play a part in helping our country¡¯s underprivileged children and youth realise their self-confidence through undisrupted access to education.¡±