Close to 400,000 young Indians lead the call for quality education for all as committed Global Citizens

Mumbai, October 21, 2016: One month since the launch of the Global Citizen initiative, more than one million actions have been taken by Global Citizens across India as part of the youth-led movement to eradicate extreme poverty. In three ‘Action Journeys’ young Indians have taken small actions as individuals that combine to a collective action that moves the needle on the critical issues of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), quality education and gender equality – three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in place by the UN. These actions include signing petitions calling on government officials to provide hygienic sanitation facilities on Indian highways, signing petitions asking United Nations Secretary General candidates to commit to scaling up efforts to improve sanitation, as potential future co-conveners of the High Level Panel on Water and tweeting the importance of consent along stating #nomatlabno.

Close to 400,000 Indian youth have already taken action through the Global Citizen platform, a social-focused movement that harnesses the immense power of social media to amplify the voice of young India to make it heard across government, in private corporations and non-governmental organisations and among the youth population of the country as a whole.

Bhavya Bishnoi, Global Citizen India spokesperson, said, “On average, there is approximately a 20% disparity in literacy rates between males and females in India, with relatively fewer girls attending school. This is unacceptable given the transformative effect of education on a population. India's trajectory of human development and socioeconomic progress will be significantly expedited once every girl is offered meaningful educational and professional opportunities. As Global Citizen India segues into Action Journey 4 on Quality Education, we believe that the full potential of India's young people can be unlocked only by encouraging every child to attend school so that s/he can become an informed decision-maker.”

Now live on www.globalcitizen.in, the fourth Action Journey focuses on how the next generation will lead India and pushes for the improvement of the educational system that forms not only the knowledge but also the values system of Indian children.

The fourth action journey galvanises individual actions such as tweeting to leaders from Canada, and Australia urging them to provide funding for polio eradication, #Thumbsupforliteracy which is to show support for fundamental right to education, to advocate for the inclusion of pre-schooling and secondary education in the Right to Education Act, inclusion and quality education for out-of-school children, fighting against under-nutrition and allocation of budget expenditure on education state governments.

Thomas Chandy, CEO Save the Children said, “Education is one of the most critical means of empowerment and development. We are committed to ensure that every last child gets access to quality education and improve their chance of surviving and thriving. India has made tremendous improvements in our education levels and for achieving the Global Goals it is important that no child is left behind as we move towards 2030. I congratulate the Global Citizen India for their efforts and I am sure together we will take education to the last child.”

“We believe that every child should be in school and learning well. As a country we have made impressive progress towards ensuring that almost every child is in school. Now we need to focus our attention on how children can learn well. We welcome initiatives like Global Citizen that raise awareness and encourage participation of people, especially young people in helping to make quality education a reality for India’s children. Every child can learn – come let us work together to make it happen.” Stated Rukmini Banerji, CEO, Pratham Education Foundation

Ranveer Singh said "India has the largest youth population on the planet, and will soon have a majority citizenry of millennials. As such, education is key to our country's progress. Boosting development in the area of Education is imperative in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals which one hopes will transform not just India but also the world by 2030."

The Global Citizen Festival India is being presented by Colors Viacom18 and powered by UPL. The festival, a collaboration between The Global Education and Leadership Foundation and Global Citizen, is being hosted in Mumbai by the Government of Maharashtra and event-produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

The inaugural Global Citizen Festival India will be held in Mumbai on 19 November 2016, and will feature artists, business and political leaders from India and across the world who are committed to the Global Citizen movement to eradicate extreme poverty. The Global Citizen Festival India will be headlined by Coldplay, JAY Z, Aamir Khan, Arjun Kapoor, A.R. Rahman, Arijit Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Dia Mirza, Farhan Akhtar, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Katrina Kaif, Malaika Arora Khan, Monali Thakur, Parineeti Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sakshi Malik, Shah Rukh Khan, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Shraddha Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Vijender Singh.