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Vijayawada, May 8 (UNI) Consumer durables major Procter and Gamble (P&G) and Child Relief and You (CRY), a global voluntary organisation launched 'Shiksha,' a children's education campaign in the city today.

Talking to newspersons here, the company's Marketing head Sumeet Vohra said 'shiksha' was an initiative to lead a child to the path of education.

He said the company was committed to provide Rs one crore to 'shiksha' which would be allocated to education-focused projects.

Mr Vohra said India had the world's largest number of uneducated children and 50 per cent of them did not go to school. More than 40 per cent of school going children did not complete class five and only one child out of ten who joined class one continued upto 10th Standard.

The campaign is being undertaken for the third successive year, he said, adding that the company had contributed Rs 2.69 crore which supported the education of 33,052 children in 435 communities.

Last year, the state supported education of 672 children which was double compared to its support around the same time the previous year.

Mr Vohra said 'Shiksha' would work with the State Education Department for creating awareness, construction of more schools with better infrastructure facilities, enrolling more children into schools and building all-round development of children through education.

'Shiksha' was being supported by renowned personalities, including filmstars, he added.

UNI