Improving access to education in India
Australian Marist Solidarity supports young people like Fazeela through Marist development work in India. She one day hopes to become a police officer. We hope to make this possible through improved education and health outcomes for disadvantaged communities like hers.
The Marist Brothers have been working in India since 1974. They have developed three schools in the Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The schools are St Marcellin Higher Secondary School at Mangamanuthu, which caters for more than 830 boys and girls; Marist Nursery and Primary School at Vizhalanmedu—a new English-language school that currently caters for 140 students; and Marist Primary and Secondary School in the rural village of P. Udayapatti, which caters for 1,465 boys and girls.
Marist Solidarity is a key supporter of these schools, which cater for socially-ostracised young people who are living with the lasting effects of India’s old caste system. For example, most people in the village of Mangamanuthu are referred to as Dalits, or ‘untouchables’ and they live in very poor conditions with limited ability to access education.
We also provide ongoing support to the Chetana Tribal Boys’ Hostel in the village of Talit, near the city of Burdwan in West Bengal. The hostel provides food and accommodation to enable 65 very poor students, aged between 12 and 18 years from the minority Shantal community, to attend a nearby school.
Please donate to our India Schools’ campaign and help us realise the Marist Brothers’ vision of a better future for these disadvantaged communities in India.
