Israel Consulate in South India partners with The Art of Living to distribute e-learning devices, pre-installed with instructional material, to school children in rural Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
Bengaluru, January 4, 2021, The Consulate General of Israel to South India, based in Bengaluru, is proud to partner with The Art of Living’s ‘Gift a Smile’ education program to create a better communication infrastructure for long-distance education by distributing 100 tablets, pre-installed with instructional material, to underprivileged school children in rural Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing schools to rapidly transition to remote learning, children living in remote areas, with limited internet access, experience a larger challenge than those in urban areas. This partnership aims to enable teachers to efficiently lend support to these students, and in turn, bridge the literacy gaps and accelerate learning, to ensure students make independent progress in these extraordinary times. The consulate looks forward to assisting students with limited recourses to successfully navigate this school year.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “We welcome this first-of-its-kind partnership between Art of Living and the Israeli Government. It is holistic education that brings intelligence and this is most needed in the world today particularly during these times. Online learning will reach marginalized students from vulnerable communities and help them a lot.”
Consul General, Jonathan Zadka: “Israel views education as one of the highest priorities in ordinary times, let alone during crisis times. This partnership with Art Of Living, a like-minded organization, allows us to share this view with our host country, India. We pray that the pandemic oriented situation will be over soon and that these children could go back to their education routine.”
Smt. Bhanumathi Narasimhan, Director, Art of Living women and children programs and chairperson, International Women’s Conference: “We are very happy that the Israeli Consulate has participated in the education project. In this time of the pandemic, where distance education is a necessity, we appreciate their timely help in providing valuable technological support.”
