pp_report_2017

7 / 24

Organizational structure of ST Foundation
We partner with local communities and begin by managing the key issues and challenges in education and
health for children and subsequently help improve the creation of necessary village infrastructures that can
support stronger development, such as the set up of clean water systems or health posts. In these villages,
the school becomes the centre of interactions of villagers. In school, children learn on one side what is
needed for their academic path and at the same time what can be useful to know on growing their own food,
on collaborating with their peers, and on improving the quality of life of the community as a whole through
better hygiene practices, for example. Through the school, the whole community can be both engaged in
their children’s education, as well as learn at the school how to improve the entire village’s living conditions.
Every school is equipped with kitchen, canteen, and sanitation facilities, and students learn basic rules of
proper hygiene. These lessons are also imparted to parents of beneficiaries. The quality meal students
receive in school at lunch time helps maintain a good level of nutrition for children of underprivileged families,
ensuring them better health and development. This relieves families in part of the burden of both providing
for their children’s education as well as food during the day, and further motivates parents to send their
children to school. In this way, a kind of “hub” at the school and virtuous cycle is created where parents can
appreciate the value of education and thereby become more involved in the support of their child’s schooling
and hence partake in their children’s successful competition of school.
The two key pillars of the village approach are the following:
• Scholarship Program which provides school age children everything they need to succeed in school
including transport to school, school supplies, uniforms, school meals, yearly medical check-ups, and
dormitory fees if their schools are far away from their homes;
• IInfrastructure Program which aims at building and improving school infrastructures to ensure a better
environment for learning. Moreover, where possible, we also try to encourage gardening and agriculture
activities at schools to teach children how to grow and harvest crops that can also be used by the
school canteen by village families.
Despite the huge progress of the last few years, there are still too many children who see their rights to
education denied day after day. Education is a fundamental human right as clearly stated in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights [1] and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [2]. Every
child has the right to quality education in order to optimise his or her chances in life to build a brighter future.
Education has to be seen as one of the most powerful instruments capable of reducing poverty while
boosting economic development and increasing incomes. In fact, education increases the chances every
person has of having a healthy life while promoting equality, and with it a more solid democratic context.
Hence, education must be recognised as an essential tool for the success of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. Specifically, Global
Goal 4 on education aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all” [3]..
Investing in education with a particular focus on the early childhood schooling, can bring the highest returns.
Children who have access to quality education earlier in their life can achieve better results along their school
path, and thereby promote more positive outcomes later on, such as attaining higher levels of education and
secure better chances of employment and higher salaries. Education needs to become the buzzword for
every society that wants to ensure a stable, equal and shared development.
[1] For further details:
[2] For further details:
[3] For further details:
Education
OUR MISSION AND APPROACH
7