New Delhi, April 22 (IANS): Four years ago, a beverage giant felt the need to build toilets and bring water in peri-urban and semi-rural areas to stop the growing drop-out rate of girls from government schools. The campaign for happy, healthy and active schools has successfully reached 500 schools, impacting over 150,000 students across 22 states.

The “Support My School” campaign is a multi-partner program initiated by Coca-Cola India, which, with the help of local NGOs, identifies schools in dire need of better infrastructure. On Tuesday night they celebrated covering 500 schools under this project.

At the event, it was formally announced that the former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly is supporting the cause.

“We are privileged to go to schools where we had all facilities. But there are many children who are deprived of basic facilities like toilets and playgrounds that a child is entitled to. I have visited a few schools in Kolkata and seen for myself the state they are in,” Ganguly told IANS.

“I will try to bring in my learning to scale up the programme,” Ganguly added.

Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar, the brand ambassador of Coca-Cola who was also present at the event, said every parent wants their child, especially a girl child, to go to a good school.

“So if this initiative is able to decrease the dropout rate, it is excellent news for parents who won't hesitate to send their girls to schools for the lack of infrastructure,” Farhan told IANS.

According to Venkatesh Kini, president, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, the campaign had begun with the aim of providing basic facilities like water and toilets to schools, but such was the response that
it has been spread across many verticals.

“We have partnered with other companies and hence have been able to set up libraries and playgrounds, provide computers and teach them how to do rain-harvesting,” Kini told IANS.

“With stupendous success like this, we are now looking at different ways to cater to other areas. As of now, we have set a target of reaching 1,000 schools by 2017,” he added.

Asked how the association of a Bollywood actor and a cricketing icon would help the cause, Kini said: “When respected and well-known voices are with you, the campaign gets visibility. So the idea is to spread
awareness about this programme through them to make it a success.”