A growing movement to bring literacy to the staggering number of people in India who can’t read and write began with a couple of 16-year-old Moravian Academy juniors who had the life-altering experience of seeing the poverty and distress of that country up close.
“It was very shocking to me,” said Nikhil Skandan, recounting his impressions of his ancestral homeland during his first visit there, when he toured areas where his parents and grandparents were raised. “I come to Moravian and have this education here, and there are kids all over the world not getting the education they need and deserve.”
That’s how Skandan, with friend and classmate Aveer Chadha, dedicated to battling a problem of stunning size and ubiquity.
India, home to 1.4 billion people, accounts for more than 35% of the world’s illiterate population. An estimated 287 million Indians, mainly in poor rural areas, are unable to read or write at a basic level.
Illiteracy inevitably translates to poverty. Helping people in India’s poorest areas learn to read and write, the Bethlehem teens said, will help the nation break the cycle of generational inequity.
India’s ancient culture has produced some of the great epics of world literature and more than its share of renowned novelists, artists, scientists, mathematicians and musicians. So the extent of its illiteracy problem surprises almost everyone when Skandan and Chadha talk about it.
“Definitely most Indian Americans in the community aren’t aware of how big a problem it is,” Chadha said.
EmpowerIndiaEdu has formed partnerships with schools in northern, eastern and southern India, providing a comprehensive literacy course that begins with phonics and evolves into lessons in reading, grammar and sentence structure.
Chadha said the primary audience is children ages 2-7, because research shows children in that age group are most adept at learning. The program also aims to help adults through classes and training, because a great deal of learning is done in households.
Their primary connection in India is Chadha’s grandfather, T.K. Chadha, a retired major general in the Indian army who served as chief operating officer of the country’s water management and plumbing skills council. He oversaw the creation of more than 200 plumbing training centers that have taught the trade to more than 250,000 people.
Beyond developing literacy lessons, Skandan and Chadha have overseen donation drives to get practical tools into children’s’ hands. Chadha went to India in March and held drives in Mumbai and New Delhi to collect and distribute school supplies.
The teens are also forming chapters around the U.S., and have succeeded in Arizona, Texas, North Carolina and Nebraska so far.
Donations to EmpowerIndiaEdu can be made through the website, empowerindiaedu.org. A $120 donation can provide help for one child, but any amount is accepted.
So far, the fledgling nonprofit — it’s only about 6 months old — has raised nearly $10,000 and donated more than 1,000 school supplies. Its team of about 150 student leaders has devoted 4,300 hours to combating illiteracy.
It’s an ambitious project. Skandan and Chadha work on it even as they juggle a challenging academy course load and extracurricular activities — tennis for Chadha, music and soccer for Skandan.
They expect to carry it on as they pursue careers — Skandan as a surgeon and Chadha in the business world, most likely.
Jennifer TumSuden, dean of students at Moravian’s Merle-Smith campus in Bethlehem Township, said the project is in good hands.
“They’re very tenacious,” she said. “It’s a great thing. I think they care deeply and have a lot of motivation.”
Morning 첥Ƶ reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com.
