April 7 2016, 11.14 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Workshops to coach children in basketball skills in four Municipal schools
Photo caption - Western Union and Teach for India facilitated a basketball workshop today for students. This was conducted by Sambhaji Kadam- Former India team captain for Basketball at the Deonar Colony Municipal School, Govandi.
Mumbai, India – April 7, 2016: The Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services announced a series of basketball workshops for children in municipal schools of Mumbai as part of the company’s employee engagement. The workshops will be facilitated by Teach for India, an NGO focused on education and which has access to schools across India. The initiative aims to encourage and promote basketball as a sport and ensure children continue their academic journey from school to college with less chance of dropouts.
Deonar Colony Municipal English School No 1 was the first school that benefited from this initiative. The workshop kick started in the presence of Mr Ajay Wani, Administrative Officer, M-East ward, Mrs. Rekha Yashwante Headmistress and Sambhaji Kadam, former National Team Captain, Venil Ali, City Director, Teach For India, key government employees from the ward office and Western Union employees. The workshop attracted 35 pre-registrations from eager school children between the ages of 12-15.
Western Union employees played an important role in ensuring the basic basketball infrastructure was made available to these schools for the required coaching to be provided. Through these series of workshops children will get an opportunity to learn the sport and its history along with the values and benefits they can acquire from a game of basketball. The workshops will be conducted by former captain of Indian basketball team, Sambhaji Kadam.
Commenting on the initiative Kiran Shetty, Managing Director and Regional Vice President, Western Union India & South Asia said, “Encouraging education for children is an initiative we have taken at a global level, the addition of sports training reduces the chances of student drop out. We are glad to extend our support to schools in Mumbai along with Teach for India, and offer them an opportunity to learn and enjoy this popular sport. Training in sports often enables students from less privileged families to gain a foothold into further education too. Enabling children to achieve their dreams by giving them sports as a stepping stone, is one of the objectives of this initiative.”
"We are very excited about this initiative with Western Union directed towards providing students in local municipal schools with holistic education. The students we serve do not receive any training in basketball and hence this exposure is very valuable towards our vision of making an excellent education attainable to all children. We are grateful to Western Union for enabling so many of our students to avail of this opportunity, said, Venil Ali, City Director, Teach For India – Mumbai”
The other schools that feature as part of this initiative are Mumbai Public School Mohili Village at Sakinaka, Jyotsna Dhirajlal Talakchand High School at Malad and Worli Sea Face Municipal School at Worli.
The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of December 31, 2015, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks. In 2014, The Western Union Company completed 255 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $85 billion of principal between consumers, and 484 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.Western Union Employees support education through sports with Teach for India