Page 59 - EducationWorld September 2020
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and services, including printed
products. I am also confident of an
increasing number of professionals
and students signing up for com-
munication skills training to enhance
their job prospects and employabili-
ty,” says this indefatigable polymath.
Summiya Yasmeen (Bangalore)
Children’s
evangelist
une-based NIVEDITA DAS
GUPTA is the country head
Pof Miracle Foundation India
(MFI, estb.2011, head count: 55) —
the Indian division of Austin (USA)-
based non-profit Miracle Foundation DasGupta: orphaned & vulnerable children saviour
(MF). The parent foundation was
registered in the millennium year a visit to a conventional orphan- they are enrolled in the nearest
to provide for orphaned and other age in a remote village in Odisha. government school and proceed into
vulnerable children in approved Appalled by the living and learning higher education. Moreover, they
Child Care Institutions (CCIs) that conditions of eager-to-learn chil- are provided after school remedial
implement the foundation’s well- dren, Boudreaux quit a promising education within the premises of
designed education, nutrition, health corporate career and registered the their CCIs. For vocational education,
and protective programmes to pre- Miracle Foundation in the US with they are enrolled with nearest ITIs
pare them for life. MFI is a member the objective of helping “orphaned (Industrial Training Institutes). We
institution of a global network of and vulnerable children reach their pride ourselves for nurturing our
non-profits committed to eliminate full potential with the broader objec- children and ensuring their success
traditional orphanages and CCIs by tive of reuniting abandoned children in life,” says DasGupta, an alumna
2040. Among their prominent corpo- with their families and encouraging of Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
rate donors are G.M.R. Vanalakshmi adoption of orphaned children”. Mumbai with four decades of experi-
Foundation and Bajaj Auto. Over the past two decades, ence in social work and child devel-
Newspeg. Following the Covid-19 Miracle Foundation has empowered opment, who was appointed country
induced mass closure of schools in 15,000 children in 300 approved head of MFI in 2011.
mid-March, MFI has introduced a CCIs countrywide, and reunited 25 Future plans. Looking ahead, Das-
remote education programme to percent of them with kith and kin. Gupta has drawn up an extensive
ensure that the children in the foun- Moreover, 342 ‘graduates’ of MFI expansion plan for MFI. “In the next
dation’s 17 approved CCIs continue are enrolled in higher education, five years, we intend to support at
their education. Leveraging digital 18 are in productive employment least 30,000 orphaned and vulner-
learning platforms such as Skype and and 906 have ICT (information able children in approved CCIs while
Zoom, CCI teachers and computer and communication technologies) working towards reuniting them with
professionals engaged by MFI are certification. their families and placing orphaned
providing online classes — including Direct talk. “There are 29.6 million children in loving homes. To finance
career counseling and life skills edu- orphaned and abandoned children these initiatives, we will be step-
cation — to 11,542 MFI supported in India, the largest number of any ping up our fundraising drive and
children. country worldwide. Our children, spreading awareness about MFI’s
History. On the India leg of a world mostly first generation learners, humanitarian work and track record.
tour in 2000, US-based CAROLINE receive loving, nurturing care of Our ultimate objective is to eliminate
BOUDREAUX, an alumna of Loui- carefully selected caregivers, periodic all orphanages and CCIs,” says this
siana State University (USA) and a health check-ups, three nutritious committed abandoned children’s
young ‘global leader’ of the Davos- meals daily and a safe environment evangelist.
based World Economic Forum, made in our approved CCIs. We ensure Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore)
SEPTEMBER 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 59