Indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Six weeks post Shiksha's launch, - the special program to help educate underprivileged children across India launched by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in partnership with Child Relief and You (CRY), the programme has gained momentum with a sizeable response from citizens of India who have helped contribute towards a year's education of 4,021 underprivileged children across the country.

Citizens of Maharashtra have made the largest contribution of 18 per cent by supporting education of 724 children thus far. The announcement of this initial contribution was made at a unique painting event featuring children from CRY projects and leading actress Katrina Kaif who is supporting the cause at Food Bazaar in Big Bazaar.

To support Shiksha, one has to is purchase a large pack of either Tide, Ariel, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Rejoice, Vicks VapoRub or Pampers during May and June, and one can help support one day's education of a child per pack purchased. Irrespective of the sale of its brands from Shiksha, P&G has committed a minimum of Rs. 10 million to CRY.

Says MP&G India market strategy & planning (MS&P) head Vivek Gupta,"It is gratifying to see that Shiksha has already supported a year's education of 4,021 underprivileged children with citizens across India, simply buying a large pack of Tide, Ariel, Pantene, H&S, Rejoice, Vicks VapoRub or Pampers. Shiksha will continue till 30 June and we appeal to all consumers to change more lives by supporting Shiksha, as each P&G product bought will help support one day's education of one child."

CRY regional director Puja Marwaha avers, "Shiksha is enabling lakhs of individuals across the country to participate in the movement for child rights. We are heartened by the number of people that have come forward till date to ensure the right to education for India's children through this initiative. We look forward to more support during the course of this program."

Project Shiksha is being supported by renowned personalities from myriad fields, with actors like Kajol, Mandira Bedi, Perizaad Zorabian, Pallavi Joshi, Revathy, Khushboo, Aditi Govitrikar, June Maliah, Sreelekha Mitra, Aishwarya Rajnikant, supercop Kiran Bedi, cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, singer Sonu Nigam, and educationist Dr. Snehalata Deshmukh (former vice chancellor - Mumbai University), via their strong endorsements for 'children's education'.

The funds gathered through Shiksha, will be allocated by CRY to projects with a focus on education spread across India: Delhi, Barrackpore (West Bengal), Ongole and Chilkaluripet (Andhra Pradesh), Bellary (Karnataka), Salem (Tamil Nadu), Bolangir (Orissa), and Osmanabad, Wardha, Navi Mumbai, Borivali (Maharashtra).