INDIA: School expands to serve more children in need
Salesian missionaries inaugurate new building for Don Bosco Guntupalli School
INDIA
(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries have inaugurated a new building for Don Bosco Guntupalli School, located in Vijayawada, India. The school was founded in 2019 by the Don Bosco Society with the objective of providing value-based education for children living in poverty in the region.
Bishop Msgr. Thelegathoti Joseph Raja Rao and Father Thathireddy Vijaya Bhaskar, superior of the Salesian Province of Hyderabad, attended the inauguration event. Bishop Rao recalled his childhood and encouraged children to enjoy their time but to study and work hard for the future. Fr. Bhaskar urged every teacher and child to make the building come alive by participating in education based on the values of Don Bosco’s Preventive System.
“Education provides a chance for a better life,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian missionaries establish vital primary, secondary, and vocational schools in some of the most impoverished and remote places on earth. By focusing on the poorest places and the most vulnerable children and young adults, this effort makes a lasting impact.”
Salesian primary and secondary education provides a path to later vocation and technical training and even college level courses, all of which is critical for the success of poor youth in India. Access to professional training and workforce development services is highly valued by youth in the country, which is home to 1.34 billion people (18 percent of the world’s population). India will have overtaken China as the world’s most populous country by 2024, according to the World Economic Forum. While India has the world’s largest youth population, it has yet to capitalize on this, leaving some 30 percent of this population without employment, education or training.
India has the world’s fourth largest economy but more than 22 percent of the country lives in poverty. About 31 percent of the world’s multidimensionally poor children live in India, according to a report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
India’s youth face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class and gender. Almost 44 percent of the workforce is illiterate and less than 10 percent of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.
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ANS – India – New building for the Salesian school in Guntupalli
Salesian Missions – India
World Bank – India
