JFS aims to bring down the number of school drop-outs in India
Several thousand women across 17 cities pledge to educate their children
by Suman Gupta
Bangalore, May 13, 2017: In India, about 8.31 million children drop out of school every year to support their families financially. Commemorating Mother’s Day, Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS) has taken a step towards creating awareness among mothers from low-income group stressing the importance of formal education for their children. Thousands of mothers across 434 locations have come forward and pledged to educate their children. JFS firmly believes in helping every individual realize their dreams and aspirations and formal school education is key to achieving this.
The event, conducted across 17 cities, celebrates the spirit of motherhood and entrepreneurship. A ‘dreamwall’ in every location displays dreams of various mothers for their children.
A selection of the Mother’s Day activities included: a JFS representative educating mothers on the significance of their children’s education, a panel discussion on how a mother is the President of the family, various activities to unwind and a tete-a-tete with children on why they feel their mothers are the best. Mr Rajan NS, Chief Audit Officer, Janalakshmi Financial Services, spoke about rising from grassroots and how education led him towards making a successful career, was aimed to inspire mothers and reiterate on the importance of education and the opportunities it could open up for their children.
Wishing all mothers, Ramesh Ramanathan, Chairman & Founder, Janalakshmi Financial Services, said, “In India, six out of ten children drop out of school every year to support their family financially. Due to this, they end up working as labourers, doing menial jobs for the rest of their lives and hence are never able to break free from the vicious circle of poverty.” He added, “We understand the important role of a mother in a child’s upbringing. Thus, our endeavor is to create awareness among mothers on the need to put their children for formal schooling to be able to uplift their quality of life.”
To emphasize on the need of mothers to stay healthy, a free health camp was organized across several locations. JFS will also be supporting children of participating mothers with stationaries and essential goods for their children’s school education.JFS’s celebration of Mother’s Day builds on the deep connect that the organization has in the communities they service.
About Janalakshmi Financial Services : Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS) recently received operating licence to set-up a small finance bank. JFS is the largest Micro Finance Institution (MFI) in India. JFS gave out its first loan in October 2000, and currently serves over 5 million families across 259 cities in India. It has over 16,000 employees, referred to as JanaNayaks. JFS has deep domain expertise in banking and financial services with over 500 years of consolidated banking sector expertise just among the senior management. It is an organization that is recognized globally as one of the world’s innovative financial institutions working on the problem of financial inclusion.
JFS is promoted by Jana foundation, which is an urban inclusion think tank based in Bangalore with a vision to transform urban India where financial inclusion and enhanced quality of life are assured to all those who aspire to help themselves.The Foundation undertakes various activities that deepen understanding of financial inclusion and its many challenges. It addresses policy issues through its financial advisory services; education, skilling, livelihood initiatives, community connect activities in order to help customers to improve the quality of their lives and help them meet customer needs comprehensively.In March 2016, JFS was recognised and awarded as the ‘Best Financial Services firm in India’ by VC Circle. In 2017, JFS was also featured in ‘Fortune – The Top 500’ largest corporations in India. Recently, JFS was awarded for Best Financial Sector Transaction at the ADB Private Sector-CNBC awards.
