The Grace Academy School is a Christian school that provides much needed education to poverty stricken children in a predominanantly Muslim community just outside the Delhi border in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This slum community, which was settled by migrant laborers from east India and Bangladesh, has no sewage, no proper roads to allow vehicles access to the community and no other necessary facilities. The community is shaped by the Muslim culture, which does not allow girls access to the outside world. As a result, the children in this community do nothing as they grow up, especially the girls who are forced to live in seclusion from the outside world. For the past 12 years, Mrs. Shuvra Masih has been working in this community and has seen great progress; families have gone from living in thatched huts to single brick makeshift houses that they have built themselves. While this community has made great progress, Grace Academy is dedicated to educating the children living in this community so they will be equipped with the tools and skills necessary to break the cycle of poverty in this community.
The Grace Academy currently provides schooling to approximately 280 children through the 8th grade. They have applied for registration with the State education department and are hoping to get accreditation up to 5th grade. In order to get further accreditation, Grace Academy will need to show land and building facilities. Currently, the school operates from a rented facility; however, they have purchased land and are now praying for funding to construct a facility which will serve approximately 500 to 600 kids from nursery school through the 12th grade.
2009 Updates
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Current Leader - Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh
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Compulsory Education - 6 to 14 years
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Literacy - 73% (male); 48% (female)
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Religion - Hindu (80%), Muslim (14%),
Christian (2%), other (6%)
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India is located in Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan.
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Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population. Only China has a larger population.
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There are an estimated 35 million orphans (all of sub-Saharan Africa has 43 million). 9% of all children in India are orphans.
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No country can rival India’s children in need. Of India’s nearly 400 million under 18, over 70 million are child laborers, 10 million are bonded laborers (a form of slavery to pay off family debts), 13 million are homeless, 2 million are street children without families.
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There is widespread child abuse, and there is a deficit of 40 million girls because of female feticide — over 20,000 ultrasound clinics thrive on this illegal practice. There are 575,000 child prostitutes and there is a massive trade in Bangladeshi and Nepali girls sold into prostitution.
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Malnutrition affects nearly half of all children under age five.
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The adult literacy rate has a wide discrepancy between males – 73%, and females – 48% (2000-2004).
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Only 59 percent of boys and 47 percent of girls attend Secondary school (1996-2005).
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AIDS has spread rapidly in India and some estimates have said that by 2020 there could be 200 million carrying HIV.
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