Bollywood actor Rahul Bose was the keynote speaker.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: Pratham Raleigh-RTP in North Carolina raised $230,000 to eradicate illiteracy in India, as it celebrated its 10th year in style at the Brier Creek Country Club.
The theme of the gala was ‘Transforming Young Vulnerable lives’. The key note address was given by Bollywood actor Rahul Bose. Named the ‘Indian art house icon’ by Time magazine, Bose won Best Actor at the Singapore Film Festival for ‘Split Wide Open. He has also been voted the Indian Youth Icon of the Year, Social Justice, in 2010. In 2011, he was invited as the keynote speaker at the World Bank, according to a press release.
The evening was also made special by the presence of Pratham’s CEO and co-founder Dr. Madhav Chavan.
Chavan was recently chosen as an Asian Changer. The list of award winners include people like Jack Ma, Chairman, Alibaba Group who was chosen as the Game Changer of the Year. This recognition for Pratham and chavan comes on top of awards like the 2013 BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge award and the 2012 WISE Prize for education.
In his speech, Chavan talked about the challenges of working in India and recalled the team work of the Pratham employees who helped each other to safely get out of the recent Kashmir floods.
Chithra Ramesh, President of Pratham Raleigh, thanked the donors who helped the chapter raise over $1.5M over the last 10 years, helping to impact over 60,000 children in India over the years. She made a special mention of the generous support by National Sponsors Shah Capital who have contributed $250,000 over the years. Another highlight of the evening was a generous pledge of $50,000 by Drs. Om and Sudha Dhingra for the Second Chance Program which helps girls who drop out of school to complete secondary education.
Founded in 1995 to ensure that every child is in school and learning well, Pratham is now one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India’s education sector. In 2013-14, Pratham reached nearly five million children, adolescents and young adults through a range of programs in 20 of the 29 Indian states.