Skater covers 6,000 km on golden quadrilateral for girl child education

For 37-year-old Rana Uppalapati, skating has been a passion since childhood. Having taken part in several competitions across the globe, he never imagined he would use his hobby to bring about societal change.

It was the instinct to bring a change in the status of girl child education that Rana, a business associate with Titan, decided to be a part of their ECHO (Educate to carry her onwards) campaign for girl child education and empowerment. 

To fulfill the mission of organising funding for 25,000 girl children, Rana set  off on a "skating" spree. Covering 6,000 km over the golden quadrilateral, in 99 days, he has (at the time of going to print) been able to organise funding for over 20,000 girl children. 

"The idea was to sponsor 6,000 girls covering 6,000 km but then those who partnered with me said I might as well utilise my efforts to bring a change in the lives of more girls than a mere 6,000", says Rana who started the skating journey on September 5, 2018 from Hosur in Karnataka and concluded it on December 19, 2018 in Bengaluru where he was felicitated.

Scale, sustainability and tangible results were the focus of Rana's mission for which his organisation partnered with organisations like K C Mahindra Educational Trust Mumbai and IIMPact, Delhi. Both organisations have already partnered with Titan in their ongoing programme of remedial education of the girl child. The organisation is also associating with CII-Young Indians and their Project Masoom for training on child safety. CII-YI and Titan will carry out 6,000 awareness sessions for children on 'Good Touch and Bad Touch' as part of the ECHO programme. 

The interactions with the children, parents and other stakeholders involved rounds of discussion briefing them about the importance of education, empowerment of girl child and sensitising them about good touch and bad touch. While identification of the people with whom the interaction had to take place with wasn't difficult, the focus was on how to bring them to the level of discussion and how to explain to them where the funds will come from and how it will be utilised for their children. "We had to first look at what was available already. Based on that, we zeroed in on schools that are speaking to children, schools that have the facilities and how the children performed vis a vis schools that didn't have any facility," adds Rana.

A report by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights' (NCPCR) states that around 39.4 percent of adolescent girls in the 15-18 age group are not attending any educational institution, and a vast majority - around 65 percent - of them are "either engaged in household activities, are dependents, or, are engaged in begging, etc". As per the Annual Status of Education Report (2017), while 86 per cent of youth in the 14-18 age group are still within the formal education system, the enrollment gap between males and females in the formal education system increases with age. There is hardly any difference between boys' and girls' enrollment at age 14; but at age 18, 32 per cent females are not enrolled as compared to 28 per cent males. 

Rana notes how most people have no resources especially in the small town and cities. "A father in Gujarat teaches at a private school, but sends his child to a government school because he cannot afford to send her in the same school and there are other resource constraints as well," he says. Documenting the journey on his Facebook profile, Rana says, he learnt a lot on the way. The interactions threw up some interesting observations. Most people thought they were doing enough, given their capacity, but after interacting with him, 30 per cent would agree to finally take a call on helping a child.  

He feels it is as important to have a dialogue with the parents as the children. "Understanding a child's psyche is very important for a parent. Similarly, the child too needs to be sensitised about people around. From their caregivers to caretakers, everybody is equally responsible for a child, Rana concludes. The logistics for Rana's journey were taken care of by You too can run — a sports management company that organises marathons and promotes running for good health .