Sachin inaugurates 100th transformed school

Mumbai, June 1 (IANS) NDTV and Coca-Cola India Friday celebrated the completion of transforming the 100th school under the 'Support My School' initiative at Priyadarshini Vidyalaya in northwest Mumbai.

The event also marked the inauguration of the 50th school library under the initiative. Set up by Pearson Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Pearson, a media and education company, the library has over 600 books on all subjects. It was inaugurated by campaign ambassador and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Representatives of the campaign partners UN-Habitat, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), Tata Teleservices, Pearson Foundation and Sulabh International were also present at the occasion.

"This is my first century away from cricket and a very happy one. I am honoured to be associated with this inspiring campaign that is committed to provide the right infrastructure to keep children happy in schools. Reaching the milestone of the 100th revitalised school is a proud and joyous occasion for us," Tendulkar said.

The campaign was initiated in January 2011 with a vision to address issues such as access to drinking water, sanitation and infrastructure facilities in schools and to create healthy, active and happy environment at schools.

Over 43,000 children across 10 states in India have benefitted from the campaign that has helped reduce dropouts and absenteeism and increased enrolments in these revitalised schools.

Also present at the occasion were Vikram Chandra, Group CEO of NDTV and Atul Singh, president and CEO of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia.

Speaking about the library, Khozem Merchant, president of Pearson India said: "Our library project has been an extraordinary success with students spending quality time reading books outside of their curriculum, some for the very first time."