Unfolded x Pratham Overview
Did you know that, in India only 50% of children aged 11+ are able to read and write? While recent research from the Indian Government puts the countries adult literacy rate at only 74%. For reference in the UK the adult literacy rate is 99%.
A lack of literacy creates long-term inequality, shuts down life opportunities, blocks access to continued education, and as a consequence limits access to higher-paid jobs in adult life.
Unfolded clothes are made in small factories in India and whilst this enables us to ensure that the garment workers who work within these, are treated well and paid better wages, we believe our clothes can have a wider impact on the surrounding communities.
For us, long-term change, starts with education therefore what better way to create a positive societal impact than by using our clothes to help support children in India to learn to read and write, add and subtract?
Since the very start of Unfolded, (how can this be over two years ago already) we have partnered with the amazing NGO (non-governmental organisation) Pratham, whose mission is to improve the quality of education in India. Pratham focuses on delivering high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system and we at Unfolded are delighted to be able to support their children’s educational programs. They’ve been doing this work for over 25 years and have won many awards for it.
Research from Pratham shows that only 19% of children starting their literacy programs could read paragraphs and only 25% could read full stories. After participating in their learning support programs 78% can read full paragraphs and 58% of children can read full stories.
That’s a huge (and critically important) jump of 30% of children now able to read after support through Pratham.
The work of Pratham is needed now more than ever as Covid not only closed schools here in the UK but also in India. Schools closed for months and children’s education halted. Worse still, even though schools in India have reopened many children have missed their opportunity to learn, instead having to remain at home to look after siblings or elderly relatives rather than return to the classroom.
Your purchases of Unfolded clothes have provided the funding for Pratham to support children in the Delhi region via learning programs such as their Learning Excellence Program which is driving improvement in literacy.
The Unfolded donation focuses on supporting children through a school support program and a community-based program for out-of-school children.
The following slides detail how this support is provided and also allows you to meet some of the children who have benefited so far, highlighting just how life-changing your support has been and the impact changing your shopping habits can have.
Why is the community support program so important?
Not only do many children in India miss out on their schooling as a result of responsibilities at home but unlike in the UK, many schools in India are not linked to age groups. Therefore young people find themselves in classes with children several years older/younger than them. This often leads to embarrassment and frustration with children dropping out early and not finishing their studies. The Pratham out-of-school learning allows these children to re-engage with education and re-enter the classroom longer term.
Alongside focusing on reading and writing skills Pratham also runs Science and Math Integrated Learning Enhancement programs.
Pratham last year supported 14,000 kids through these 2 programs, with many of these places partly funded by Unfolded shoppers choosing to do something with their shopping purchases!
To learn just how important Pratham's work is and how your Unfolded purchase can make a dramatic impact on a childs' life read Varsha’s story in the slides - it really is heartbreaking.
Our next collection - Collection 09 - launches to existing customers on the 31st of January and then new customers from the 2nd of February, with this collection we want to help even more children, just like Varsha - in fact we hope that this new collection will support 1,000+ children for a year.
Make sure you don’t miss out and do some good with your clothes!
Sign up for the Unfolded newsletter here to get early access to the new collection.
Information on this page was provided by Pratham and edited by Unfolded. Whilst Varsha’s transformation is accurate and her story all too common, details for identification have been removed.