New York City students tackle India's educational inequality by helping build high school
UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- From an apartment on the Upper West Side, New York City high school students are focused on helping kids more than 12,000 miles away in western India.
"We felt like because we had the opportunity, so many opportunities going to Fieldston and living in New York, we were able to do something to help those kids," said Ishaan Akileswar, co-founder of The Sher Organization.
They're helping out hundreds of students from seven different villages in the Satara region of the country.
There is a lower and middle school, but after that, the kids face uncertain futures because there is no high school.
"Without it, these kids can't go to college, can't go to any jobs besides what's in their village, so they are really stuck in this cycle of poverty, which they were born into," said Dhruv Kapoor, co-founder of The Sher Organization.
That didn't sit right with Akileswar and Kapoor, who both grew up spending a lot of time with relatives in India.
"Around beginning of middle school and 5th grade, I started being more observant of the people around me, not just in the home I was in at the time," Akileswar said. "Seeing kids in the streets begging, seeing people in broken homes."
So, they decided to do something. They created The Sher Organization, a non-profit dedicated to combatting educational inequality in India.
Their first order of business was to raise roughly $400,000 to build a high school.
They knew they needed help on the ground and so while in India, Kapoor rolled the dice and reached out to the Akhil Maharashtra Education Society.
"We were able to set up a meeting in a local coffee shop, we met with them, talked with them just completely blindly and eventually got to the point, ok come to our school," Kapoor said.
Kapoor was welcomed with open arms.
Sher is now working with the organization.
"Just this one building itself will be able to run itself for so many years, there can be so many more children moving out, which can help boost that area completely and change everyone's lives," Kapoor said.
Sher now has members in other cities and is looking to form many more partnerships.
"Our goals are definitely super high and we're not going to be happy until we've met the high goals," Akileswar said.
You can learn more about The Sher Organization at their website.
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