Mission Statements

The Yatra Foundation aims to:

• Increase access to quality education for the most severely disadvantaged children in India
• Be non-discriminatory with regards to gender, religious background or caste
• Monitor outcomes and adapt the program to suit changing needs of our participants
• Further increase access to education, in student numbers and in years of schooling, by providing incentives for further education
• Incorporate child health education and public health initiatives in the school setting
  

Background

Childhood education in India is a state-by-state arrangement. Traditionally, there has been heavy investment in the tertiary sector resulting in vast inequalities in education standards. Rajasthan state is a prime example due to the feudal social order generated over hundreds of years, geographic isolation, escalating childhood labour, resulting in poor school retention rates. Only 47% of children enrolled in year 1 reach year 8 level. ‘Millennium Development Goals’, set by United Nations to be attained by 2015, call for all children to complete to end of grade 5. India has a long way to go to achieve these goals.

Education is recognised as a powerful tool for reducing poverty, unemployment and inequality and for improving health, nutrition and promoting sustained growth (World Bank, 2004). Education has also been shown to have positive knock-on effects in the future generations.

Yatra Foundation seeks to effect an enduring change in the lives of children and their families by giving them the opportunity to access primary school education, with the hope that a good education will lead them to better opportunities.

Yatra Foundation's Founders

Yatra founders (from left to right) Sophie Beaumont, Sanjay Jain, Renu Binaykia and Ravi Savarirayan.

Sophie Beaumont is a dental surgeon with a Masters degree in Public Health. She has always had a passion for public health, education and equity and a keen interest in India.

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Ravi Savarirayan is a Paediatrician who works at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. He is of Indian origin and is passionate about social justice.

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Sanjay Jain was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Although a scientist by qualification, Sanjay is the managing director of a sporting goods company based in Melbourne, Australia.
Having lived his early youth years in Kota, Rajasthan he is passionate about helping the disadvantaged children of India.

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Renu Binaykia has grown up in Mumbai, India and her family hails from the shekatwati region of Rajasthan. She has lived for the past 20 years in Melbourne Australia. A designer by profession she travels regularly to India and is strongly compelled to help educate the poor.

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