Thank you so much for your interest in supporting RISE, a charity I set up in 2009 after the success of a project I started as a Teach First teacher at Mulberry School for Girls called the ROAR Challenge. Its aim was to promote social enterprise by connecting my students in London with students in rural West Bengal, enabling them to develop an understanding of village life in India as I had done growing up through visits to a dear place called Shondanga. In defining the RISE mission I realised that tackling educational disadvantage in rural West Bengal, where over 25% of children drop out of school before age 10, was at the core and in 2010 I began developing plans for our Yearn to Learn literacy programme. Through the ROAR Challenge, UK students develop key life skills as young social entrepreneurs and the funds they raise go towards supporting the education of children at the school they are partnered with in rural West Bengal who attend Yearn to Learn. We also have Survival Week, giving both students and people in the workplace the opportunity to be active global citizens. I hope you will join our movement to raise the aspirations of young people in the UK and India.

I joined the RISE team to pursue my passion of improving education globally so all children and young people have the tools to lead sustainable and happy lives. RISE understands the necessity and value of inspiring teachers and great education, so fights for the right of young people to have access to learning. The work is not easy and there are many barriers to overcome, we work up against socio-economic, cultural and financial hindrances, but our determination comes from a place of humanity and justice, so we won’t stop until the 500 million children out of school globally are getting the education they deserve.