ABA ENGLISH EXTENDS COMMITMENT TO MUMBAI SMILES NGO
The online language school has signed a cooperation agreement with the NGO, strengthening its long-standing support
Barcelona, 28th July, 2017 – ABA English has signed a cooperation agreement with Mumbai Smiles, a Barcelona-born NGO dedicated to fighting poverty and supporting Human Rights in India. This agreement strengthens the language school’s collaboration with the NGO, which it has been supporting for several years with the aim of helping to improve the opportunities and living conditions of Mumbai’s underprivileged communities.
ABA English’s contribution this year will be dedicated to the ‘Girl Child Education’ project, which is aimed at fomenting access to quality education of girls in the Mumbai slums and helping to foster gender equality.
Millions of people in India suffer social and cultural discrimination, especially in the slums where 60% of the population lives. “Children’s school drop-out rates are very high in India and girls bear the brunt of it. For different reasons, such as the need to work or being forced to marry, girls are pushed out of mandatory schooling earlier than boys,” explains Alfonso Alzugaray from Mumbai Smiles.
ABA English’s collaboration with Mumbai Smiles is not limited to financial support. It also encompasses other actions such as grants for English courses, donating computers, or employee involvement in funding programs for the NGO, for example the sale of fabric roses handcrafted by women of the slums especially for Book Day celebrated every April. “Solidarity with the underprivileged is part of our DNA,” said Javier Figarola, CEO of ABA English. “Our dream is to help improve the lives of everyone through the learning of English, regardless of their social or cultural status.”
For this reason, ABA English provides parts of its course for free and ensures the paid course has accessible prices. “But to ensure we reach the most disadvantaged people,” Javier Figarola adds, “we want to do more and contribute our grain of sand to help improve their living conditions, education and professional opportunities.”
Through its social responsibility policy, ABA English actively collaborates with different organizations and foundations with local, domestic and international reach.
