MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am delighted to announce that AusAID-Australian Agency for International
Development- will provide up to $10.4 million ($2.7 million for 1996-97 and an
in-principle allocation of $7.7 million for the two subsequent financial years)
for a UNICEF primary education project in India.
'This project will help the most vulnerable and often exploited children,
including girls, working children and the urban poor, in some of India's poorest
regions,' Mr Thomson said.
The project will provide primary education to approximately 900 000 children
in five districts across three states of India. It will improve the quality of
teaching and importantly, enhance the involvement of local communities and
district level institutions in the provision of education.
'The emphasis on local involvement aims to generate greater community support
for primary education, which means more children in school and more parents
interested in educating their children,' Mr Thomson said.
Primary education substantially improves child welfare and reduces the
possibility of children being exploited in often hazardous and dangerous working
conditions. Primary education provides flow-on benefits to the health and
welfare of present and future generations. The project also supports the Indian
Government's policy to provide universal primary education.
Human resource development is a major focus of the Australia's aid program
with India. The project fits in well with AusAID's new education and training
strategy announced by Mr Downer in August 1996.
Media
contact: David Alexander (Mr Thomson's Office) 041 214 6181 Andrea McLaughlin
(AusAID) 06 282 6067/06 206 4966