Aditi Rao Hydari at the P and G Vidyawanti Round Table ZP High School

Aditi Rao Hydari joins hands with P&G to make a difference to lives of the children at the P&G Shiksha school in Hyderabad

§ Over the past decade, P&G Shiksha has built and supported more than 330 schools across India and will impact the lives of over 6,00,000 children
§ P&G Shiksha has made key infrastructural interventions by building new schools, refurbishing old schools to bring a difference in the lives of underprivileged children
§ In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana itself, P&G Shiksha has built and supported about 12 schools and impacted more than 3000 children
§ P&G Shiksha is making key infrastructure interventions in the schools in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to focus on enhancing girl child education as well as making education accessible to the children in the whole state

Hyderabad, 15th April 2015: Having built and supported over 330 schools till date that will impact the lives of over 6,00,000 children, P&G's flagship Corporate Social Responsibility program P&G Shiksha continues to march forward with the motto 'Padhega India, Badhega India'. In its 11th year, P&G Shiksha continues to make the necessary infrastructure interventions by building and supporting schools across the country thereby giving children the access to education. Aditi Rao Hydari, the actress who in her own way has been supporting P&G Shiksha by choosing P&G products, visited the P&G Shiksha School in Hyderabad to extend her full support towards this cause. Aditi spent the day interacting with the excited students of the school, read a poem and shared her favourite childhood memories with them. In continuation of providing education to children all over India, this time P&G Shiksha is also focusing on enhancing girl child education in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

As a part of making infrastructural interventions, P&G Shiksha has refurbished the entire school in the past one year. They have built 6 classrooms, 4 toilets and a library as well. This initiative is an encouragement for these little kids to make use of this wonderful opportunity provided to them by P&G Shiksha and realise their dreams. It has been observed in the past that most of the girl children drop out of school due to basic hygiene facilities. P&G Shiksha's intervention of constructing 4 new toilets have increased the number of girls being enrolled in the school as now their parents are more comfortable sending their daughters to study in a hygienic environment. Last year the number of boys in the school was more than the number of girls in the school but this year, we have seen an increase in the number of girls and the ratio of boys to girls in the school is now equal.

Aditi Rao Hydari speaking on the occasion said, I got solid education and I desire the same for every girl child in the country. Girl child can be empowered by providing her good education, that's the way forward and for our country to go from strength to strength. For simple reasons girls don't attend school, here at the P&G Vidyawanti Round Table ZP High Shool at Penjrala Village, lack of girls toilet was the reason. P&G Shiksha is addressed the need of the hour by intervening at the right time by building 4 new toilets, 6 new classrooms and a library here, she said. It is amazing to see so many girls in the class here now. Speaking about her school days she said, I studied here in AP at Rishi Valley, I was scared and never liked maths, but Biology was my favourite subject. It was a boarding school, everyday was filled with lots of fun. When it rained we used to run out of class room and have fun by drenching ourselves in the rain. I used to play basketball, volleyball and participate in sprint events. Films is what I enjoy doing, but I feel have a responsibility to give back to the society. Associated with a couple of causes including women empowerment, save the tiger etc. I am elated to be acting with Mr Amitabh Bacchan, it's fun to work with him, he has a child like side too, he extends lots of encouragement, she said.

The actress also shared her vision of empowering the girl child with access to education, and together with P&G Shiksha urged consumers to make the simple brand choice and join the program's drive by purchasing P&G products such as Tide, Ariel, Whisper, Pampers, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Vicks, Gillette, Oral-B & AmbiPur. These purchases enable the company to channelize part of the sales proceeds towards building and supporting schools across the country.

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone, P&G Shiksha has improved the lives of nearly 3100 lesser-privileged children through quality education, by building and supporting close to 12 schools. With the objective of providing access to education to every child across the nation, P&G Shiksha is working extensively, by making key infrastructure interventions. P&G Shiksha has been instrumental in the change by equipping the schools with necessary amenities from building classrooms to building toilets, providing clean drinking water to setting up playgrounds thereby bringing down the dropout rate and improving overall literacy rate in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Aditi Rao Hydari expressed her joy by saying, "I have been supporting P&G Shiksha over the years by choosing P&G products and therefore, today I'm extremely delighted to visit the P&G Shiksha School and see the difference being made in the lives of the children. Education is a cause I deeply care about and when I was growing up; education enabled me to follow my dreams and aspirations. All the success that I have achieved in my career, I owe it to my education. I was born in Hyderabad and I'm happy to see more and more girls being educated in our state so that they have a chance to fulfil their dreams."

She further added "P&G Shiksha has undertaken a great initiative by building and supporting schools across the country over the last decade and they are also focusing on enhancing girl child education in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Like me, all of us can be a putt of this noble cause by making that simple choice of buying P&G products so that we all can contribute to making a difference to the lives of the children."

P&G Shiksha has over the years received generous support from many thought leaders and celebrities such as Anupam Kher, Dr. Kiran Bedi, Anil Kumble, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham, Abhay Deol, Farah Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sameera Reddy, Huma Qureshi, Sushmita Sen, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Konkona Sen, Neha Dhupia, Soha Ali Khan, Lara Dutta, Preity Zinta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Jatin Das, Shaan, Chitrangada Singh, Soha Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor and many more.

P&G Shiksha also allows consumers to share in their support. This can be easily done by buying any P&G Product such as Tide, Ariel, Whisper, Pampers, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Vicks, Gillette, Oral-B & AmbiPur and part of the proceeds will go towards building and supporting schools. Consumers can also visit www.amazon.in/pgshiksha or http://www.snapdeal.com/offers/shiksha to buy P&G products & support this cause.

With a motto of 'Padhega India, Badhega India' - P&G Shiksha believes that the key to a brighter India lies in the quality of education of our children.

About P&G Shiksha: Launched in 2004, P&G India's flagship CSR program P&G Shiksha has grown immensely, with the help of strong support from consumers. Till date, P&G Shiksha has built and supported over 330 schools that will impact the lives of over 6,00,000 children by helping them gain apcess to education. P&G in association with NGO partners like Round Table India (RTI), Save the Children (STC) and many more works towards building new schools, providing critical infrastructural amenities at existing schools or reviving non-operational government schools. Become part of the conversation onwww.facebook.com/pgshiksha or #PGShiksha.