Yes, I can go to school! (Official Music Video)

Seva Kirana - Toilet & Hygiene Project for Girl child Yes, I can go to school! Sanitation in India is a widespread issue that has an impact on the dignity, general health, sexual health and even the safety of women. Lack of proper sanitation facilities results in an increase in girl child drop-outs from schools. According to the Unified District Information System data for Education (U-DISE) for the year 2013-14, there are a total of 257,680 schools without a toilet, which amounts to about 18% of the total schools in India. The lack of toilets affects not only girl child attendance in schools but also the attendance of female teachers. Improving sanitation facilities in schools will contribute greatly towards increasing female literacy. Since January 2015, Sewa International USA has been working in Bengaluru with a vision to improve sanitation facilities for girls in schools. Sewa partnered with a local non-profit organization, Seva Kirana, to address the acute need for toilets and sanitary napkins for school-going girls. This initiative was carried out in the following stages: The pilot project involved building of toilets in 4 government schools in Anekal. For the academic year 2015-2016, the schools saw about 87% increase in girl child enrollment. The second stage of the project was implemented in the Laggere slum area of Bengaluru - Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Tyagi Nagar, Ginishashtra Nagar, Rajaji Nagar and Chintamani (near Kolar) So far, this year, Seva Kirana in partnership with Sewa International, has built about 60 toilets in the Bengaluru area. The work has been made possible by generous donations from NRIs. The Karnataka Govt and BBMP have been instrumental in providing space, permits, septic tank access, water pipelines and other logistics. Two of our volunteers from Cleveland, Mr. Ram Ramanan and Mrs. Jayanthi Ramanan worked full time in slums in Bangalore from winter 2014 to summer of 2015 to oversee the first two stages of the project. They will be going back to Bangalore in January 2016 to fully devote their time for this noble cause. Recently Sewa has partnered with TeenTaal to create public awareness about this issue. TeenTaal has created a music video that aptly captures the graveness of the sanitation issue from a girl’s perspective. The song also conveys the helplessness of parents who are unable to send their daughters to school due to the lack of basic sanitation facilities. A toilet could determine whether a girl continues her education or not... Building a toilet will lay a concrete foundation for many a girl’s future! Let’s contribute! Let’s build! Let’s make every girl child say “Yes, I can go to school!” How can you contribute? Awareness is the first step towards awakening. Help us spread this message. The success of the project is greatly dependent on generous donors like you. Every donation matters. If you would like to donate for the cause: Please visit www.sewausa.org/donate Choose Seva Kirana Toilet & Hygiene for Girl Child under projects, Select the city nearest to you under Chapters (if you don’t find any Sewa chapter near you, select “Other” and mention your city in comments section) and Make your donation! Contributors: Seva Kirana - http://www.sevakirana.org/ TeenTaal - www.teentaal.in , http://facebook.com/teentaal.in David Bernabo / Ongoing Box: www.davidbernabo.info Nandanik Dance Academy - http://www.nandanik.com Music Composition & Recording: Nobin Paul Vocals : Anjana Padmanabhan, Winner Indian Idol Jr. & Rajani BC Lyrics & Concept : Santosh Gurlahosur Cinematography : Jagya Naik Manja Editing : David Bernabo, USA Mixing & Mastering : Audible Images, PA Filmed in : N RAMPURA, NITTUR, Govt. Higher Primary School, Karnataka, India Special thanks to Satish KS & Family, Padmanabhan Venkatesan & Nandini Mandal