Let's Unite 4 Literacy!

United4Literacy is a venture started to create a chain to successfully educate children in poverty around the world. Through informing our members about our initiatives of helping within our own communities, we plan to create a web page where members can share their experiences and share what they do to help in their own communities. By doing this we will accomplish our only goal, to provide and learn new ideas and insight on how to combat illiteracy among the less fortunate.

 Help us to spread the light of Literacy!

Mission United4Literacy

CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE OF OUR WORLD - 
I hear this in North America so many times. A cliché that is overused completely. But what about so many countries around the world where there are children, but with no future, the forgotten and helpless without education. An education is not just a requirement by law, it is perhaps the most powerful tool a person can possess, and it is a right of every child according to the Convention of the Rights of a Child. But, unfortunately in many places around the world this right will remain a dream. Unless, we the children reach out and empower the forgotten, the child labourers and slaves in remote parts of Asia. They could bring change and solve other issues in our world. This initiative could drive a transformation of our world from a place to live in to a palace to live in. Empowering these Forgotten Children, that is our mission.

The Difference between Something & Everything

If we all try to do SOMETHING, it can merge into EVERYTHING! 

Awareness among the school children

“THERE IS NO REASON, THERE IS NO EXCUSE, CHILD LABOUR IS JUST CHILD ABUSE” - One of the award winning slogans from a student of DAV School, Hehal, Ranchi. As part of “Unemployed and Happy” – a 45 Day campaign against Child Labour, DAV School organised a slogan writing competition on 10th May. The aim of the slogan competition was to generate awareness among the school children about the issues of child labour. After explaining the cause of child labour and the consequences, children were asked to present their views on this issue. Some of the views of participating children were quite impactful!Young children from Ranchi joined us in raising their voice against child labour and its your time. Say NO to child labour. Help us spread the word around by sharing this with your friends and family. 

-Courtesy;Save the Children India.  

‘Our Images, Our Voices’ -A True Story!

“If I can follow my dreams, so can other children like me” says Firoza Khatun. Firoza dreams of being a big time photographer. But it wasn't always as easy to have such dreams. Because she hailed from a poor family, she had to work as a child domestic worker in order to support her family. She would go to school in the morning and then work in the afternoon for a small sum of Rs 350 per month. It was not easy juggling both school and work and it was not fair to the young girl.

A ray of hope was visible to her in 2006 when she went to a drop-in center of Save the Children in her neighbourhood  Here, she learnt about her rights and started to believe in myself. Save the Children had organised a photography workshop called ‘Eye to Eye’ and she was selected for a training course. Here she developed her love for the camera and later joined an advanced course in photography.

October 20, 2011 was a special day in her life. Her first exhibition titled, ‘Our Images, Our Voices’ was opened in Kolkata. Now, Firoza wants to complete her studies and pursue a career in photography. She no longer works as a domestic help. There are many such Firoza’s in our country working as child labourers at an age when they should be studying and building a future for themselves.

How it all began!

Three guys sitting in the university of Berkeley back in 1991 said, we had the privilege of a good education. We should do all we can to give the same privilege to all those millions of under privileged kids in India. The ideas was so simple yet so powerful that Asha now is a 60 chapter strong organization that supports 250,000+ kids in India each year.

-Source Getting to know Asha - Part 4. 

Discover a Leader Within!

Look inward before trying to change the world!

When leaders cultivate compassion by addressing the negativity within, they strengthen their ability to build compassion into the framework of their businesses. This, in turn, directly impacts the implementation of their mission. This requires humility—the recognition that, while compassion is intrinsic to our nature, few of us are completely free of negativity and, consequently, all of us have inner work to do.

Investment for our Future!

Happy Provider Appreciation Day to all Early Care and Education Providers! Thank you for investing in our future!

TODAY
Today like millions of other Americans
I went to work. I didn't design a beautiful skyscraper,
I didn't write a proposal to save an endangered species,
and I didn't drive a bus or fly a plane,
or write a crucial bill that would someday become a law.

However, I did spend time with some very important people.

I read a story to an attorney,
I sang the alphabet song with a Supreme Court Justice.
I ate Lunch with a pastor,
and patted the back of an engineer until he fell asleep.
Taught a policeman how to tie his shoes,
and introduced an astronaut to the color red.

Tomorrow, who knows whom I'll meet,
but one thing is for sure.....
They will be very IMPORTANT
For they are our precious children,
and the hope of our very future.

~~~Author Unknown~~~

Please Share your views!

The ASER 2012 report in Delhi evidences high enrolment, low learning levels, moderately high children-and-teacher attendance in school, withmany class II and IV children sitting in multi-grade classrooms, and a school infrastructure that is inching forward but a long way off from fully complying with RTE guidelines . Private input into primary education continues to rise, be it the growing private enrolment figures in the northern and some southern states, or high private tuition in the eastern states. Both have not been able to prevent the learning dip.The ASER report, over the last eight years, has generated a fair degree of debate.

But few have contested the main ASER finding - strong evidence for low learning levels among Indian children and indications of a declining trend since 2010. Commentators of ASER have several concerns. Some have likened the testing of children to "torture." Others are worried that the year-on-year data that shows consistent increase in enrolment in rural private schools will force government to rethink their policy and cut down on the SSA budget.

Some even exhort the Indian goverment to emulate the successful education model of Finland, where schooling from class I to IX is free of cost, and schools enjoy a great deal of autonomy over curriculum, evaluation and management. With their highachieving children being amongst the best in the world, the Finnish school system has become an object of envy the world over, and a curious case for many researchers.

India is still learning how to make 'learning' its central focus.

-Courtesy: Educationtimes.com

Pledge your support against Child Labour!

What does 'Unemployed and Happy' mean to children?It means children are able to attend school, have opportunities to play, receive affection from parents and enjoy their childhood. Basically, the kind of childhood that you would want your children should have.Children who are into employment are devoid of all these.
It is time their childhood was given back to them. Join our Anti-Child Labour Campaign. Join us on our Face book or just simply like us and pledge your support against child labour!

The Leader of Knowledge

Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate poet, writer, philosopher was the ambassador of Indian culture to the rest of the world. He is probably the most prominent figure in the cultural world of Indian subcontinent and the first Asian person to be awarded with the Nobel prize. Rabindranath Tagore was primarily an educationist rather than a political thinker. He put emphasis on 'naturalism' for framing educational model. In education, freedom is the basic guiding force for inculcating interest within a student who will derive inspiration from nature to pursue any branch of knowledge he likes. As he inspirationally said...

• "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy."
• "Age considers; youth ventures"
• "The highest education is that which does not merely" 
• "The object of education is to give man the unity of truth"

Inspire a Nation

These are some very inspirational quotes by perhaps one of the most inspirational men in history. This man had a dream of a shining India, the same dream that we share. Said by the father of India: Mahatma Gandhi, we hope these quotes will inspire you to take action.   

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live tomorrow."
"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes."

Pledge your support against child labour.

If you are reading this,you must know you would have belong to a privileged percentage of world's population. You have been to school,learned to read and write,you have had time to play and nurture dreams for your future.However, there are more than 12.6 million children in India,with little hope for a happy childhood.Condemned to a life of labour,they never have chance to go to school or enjoy the company of their friends and family. These children can be found everywhere-in the "dhaba" near your office,sweeping in a neighbour's house,toiling in cotton fields exposed to hazardous chemicals and rolling "beedis" and "agarbattis"in factories.They are children who have lost the chance to study,lost the hope for a better life,lost a dream.

Like us on our Facebook to pledge your support against child labour.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/United-4-Literacyorg/563893630293412


-Source Save the Children India

Like us on Facebook

If you agree with our mission to spread literacy worldwide please become our friends and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/United-4-Literacyorg/563893630293412. Change will only come through ideas, an idea by itself may be just and aspiration, but an idea when put into action becomes an inspiration. Be a part of this inspiration and change!

United4Literacy Has a New Look!

United4Literacy now has a new website. We have created a new interactive website for our viewers to visit and keep up with our efforts to spread literacy. Please visit our website united4literacy.org. Also, follow our posts on Facebook and be our friends on Facebook to join the literacy chain.