Freedom Through Education

“illiteracy is the longest standing epidemic in India. Only education brakes the chain of poverty, degradation and child labor”

More than 140 million children in India grow up without any education. Families are poor and illiterate and India has a lack of schools in the urban areas. Travel distance is a restriction and as they can’t afford the extra risk of infection the children are kept out of school. The number of need is high and the availability is low. The social development has a long way to go which can’t be easily settled by the Indian government.

“Education is the golden key to freedom” ~ George Washington Carver

Freedom Through Education is a primary and secondairy school build project for the underprivileged.

To build there is a lot to organize in advance. Where is the highest need? Where is a granted building site? Is a school management available? Is there enough student intake? Does the local community support volunteers for assistance, maintenance and more. Will the government agree to provide teachers, books and the daily meal for the students?

What is the long term need of the school capacity? This must be translated in building plans and expansion options in the future. Before you start to build there has to be a construction model and build plan for the building and the infrastructure. Build permits are necessary and all of this needs a financial estimate.

“Education enables a child to realize its full potential to think, to question and judge independently, to develop a sense of self-respect , dignity, pride and honor”

A local Round Table identifies a school project in need. They initiate the contacts, plans and formalities as a zero-cost organization. They provide money from of their local Round Table and contract the funding from the Round Table India Trust. They manage the build by a strict procedure to guarantee the result; Inauguration of a school for the underprivileged.

“building a country starts by building a school”

When the formal affairs are applied, the budget is available and a contractor is selected the build starts under supervision of the local Round Table. A dedicated project team weekly coordinates the building site and takes operational and financial responsibility of the project progress.

“Schools of the unprivileged should not look underprivileged”

A four room Freedom Through Education school cost around euro 7.000,- which provide education for more than 200 students. This includes infrastructure, toilets, food storage room, playing ground  and facilities rooms like a library. School extensions cost less.

“Education is a right not a privilege”

Projects are partly payed by funding. Partners like Proctor and Gamble, Infinity, Coca Cola, Bajaj and many more support Freedom Through Education through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As one of the pillars of Round Table, Tablers of India fund money by charity projects.

https://www.roundtableindia.org/our-partners/

Since Round Table Netherlands has joined the Freedom Through Education project in 1998 the condition is each amount of donation from Round Table Netherlands will be doubled. History

“In pursuit of educating underprivileged children” ~ Freedom Through Education tagline

The funding and building is on a strict and formal process to guarantee the result. The project a Round Table has adopted must apply to the following conditions:

• Proof of need and availability of number of needful students
• Agreement of availability of the school board and support from volunteers from the local community
• Agreement with the government for teachers, school equipment and the support of daily meals
• Construction model and build plan
• Financial estimate
• Permit to build from the local authority
• Contract of availability of the building ground
• Contract with the contractor

Funded money is tightly held by the Round Table India Trust. To claim this the local Round Table needs to:

• Provide all noted agreements and contracts
• Provide a templated Project Identification Details (PID). This contains project facts and figures, a brief explanation of the need, project execution and result, project pictures included. Notes the agreement and contract details, and the determined financial forecast like budget of income, budget of costs and payment agreements.

The National Project Convener and his team exam the application (PID), supplied permits and contracts. If all the requirements are present and convincingly the project gets approval by the board of the Round Table India Trust. This provides a Letter Of Allotment (LOA) which approves the project.

The LOA contains all details of the PID, Trust approval and the project gets a project-ID. And it determines the financial subdivision of funded money by the Trust and by the local Table collected money. The project-ID is required to get the funding contribution and project payment requests from the managing local Round Table.

When a predetermined building stage is finalized the Round Table India Trust will pay it’s determined financial counterpart which proceed till the final phase of inauguration of the Freedom Through Education school.

“Knowledge makes man unfit to be a slave” (Frederick Douglas)

The whole process is orbed in the PID and LOA documents. These are together with the financial estimate, funding contribution and all building phase payments registered in a national online database of Freedom Through Education projects. All together it’s a tight and detailed program which is audited and published each year as part of the Annual Report by Round Table India, it pursues compliance of all FCRA regulations for receipt and use of International Funds.

• https://www.roundtableindia.org/freedom-through-education/
• ANBI

Accountability of ‘Stichting Freedom Through Education’ here

“Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world” (Nelson Mandela)

Since 1997 Round Table India has already build almost 3000 schools, close to 7000 classroom by long term project Freedom Through Education. That’s one classroom a day!

• https://www.roundtableindia.org/achievements/

“Only the educated are free” (Epictetus)

• Round Table is a Round Table is a friendship organization, founded in 1927 in Norwich, England by Louis Marchesi. Internationally Round Table has 43.000 members across 52 countries.
• Each Table of 15 young men exchange experience, knowledge, visions, learning goals, social development and so much more which creates a strong (international) brotherhood. Within Tabling it’s quoted as ‘Adopt, Adapt, Improve’.
• Round Table started 1957 in India. With 5000 members Round Table India is the biggest association.
• This website is initiated by the Dutch foundation ‘Stichting Freedom Through Education’. The foundation it’s primary goal is to transfer the donations from Netherlands to India. Partners are Round Table Netherlands, Nyenrode New Business school and private or business funders.

This website is created by the need of funders to ‘Stichting Freedom Through Education’. It provides a clear understanding of the Need, Goal, Approach, Build process, Cost, Funding, Process, Accountability and Impact of the long term project Freedom Through Education.

Contact / Board

“The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth” (Erasmus)

• Freedom Through Education is started in 1997.
• Round Table Netherlands already joined the Freedom Through Education project since 1998. A elementary and strong pillar in the startup and early growth of the Freedom Through Education project. Round Table Netherlands supported from 1998 till 2006 tremendously.
• Since 2006 till 2018 partner NNBS joined by an exchange between members of Round Table India and students entrepreneurs education of Nyenrode New Business School. Fresh year students visit to India for business, culture, religion and social development. Through Fundraising  program have brought a bound between tablers and students and 11 years of great financial support towards visited Freedom Through Education projects.
• Since 2006 stichting Freedom Through Education established to transfer the funds.
• Round Table Netherlands committed in 2015 again to the Round Table India Freedom Through Education project. Many schools are build every year from the support of Dutch Tablers.

Throughout these years the partnership between Round Table India and the partners in Netherland have created millions of financial support. Knowing this amount is multiplied to build long term Freedom Through Education schools, the Dutch partners are very proud on their contribution to more than 1000 Freedom Through Education schools in India. Namaste!

Freedom Through Education has been twice awarded the prestigious ‘Best National Project’ of World Council of Service Clubs (WOCO). an umbrella organization of Community Service Associations across 80 Countries

• Impact