[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 75 (Thursday, June 15, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE MASTERCARD-CARE PARTNERSHIP SUPPORTING GIRLS' EDUCATION IN 
                                 INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NITA M. LOWEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 15, 2000

  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, we have read many accounts of the current 
economic revolution in India that is being driven by the technology-
savvy labor force. While this movement has led to positive developments 
in India, there is still a serious gender-based educational divide, 
resulting in low literacy and education rates among women. Narrowing 
the divide can have a powerful impact, as noted in a recent World Bank 
report, Engendering Development. The study concluded that one of the 
best ways to fight world hunger and encourage global economic growth is 
to educate girls and women.
  Today, Thursday, June 15, CARE, one of the world's largest relief and 
development organizations, holds its annual Capitol Hill event, ``CARE 
Packages from Congress.'' At that event, CARE will announce that a 
donation from MasterCard International, which is headquartered in my 
Congressional district, will support the completion of a six-year 
project for girls' education in India. The funding will provide primary 
education to thousands of young women in India this year. It will 
support 120 formal equivalent education centers serving 300 villages in 
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, states with the highest illiteracy rates 
in India. The gift is part of MasterCard's ongoing philanthropic 
efforts to serve youth and to improve access to education in the United 
States and internationally.
  The project will enable 3,000 girls from the poorest areas in rural 
India to have access to primary education, and an estimated 25 percent 
of them will move on to mainstream education. Targeting girls between 
the ages of 6 and 14, the project plans school schedules, recruits and 
trains teachers, designs curricula and materials and involves the 
community to overcome the traditional obstacles to girls' education. 
With a female literacy rate of only 40 percent (compared to 64 percent 
for males), India has 196 million females who cannot read or write. In 
some rural areas, the rate for women drops to 12 percent. Currently, 
the school drop out rates for girls is 57 percent at the primary stage, 
57 percent at the middle stage, and 74 percent at the high school 
stage, according to CARE statistics.
  MasterCard's gift will enable CARE to provide valuable information 
about this alternative education program for girls to the Indian 
government so that it can be replicated. I congratulate CARE and 
MasterCard for their commitment to this very important cause.

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