Education Support Fund by BRAC India - Futures

Every year in India, bright children leave school – not because they fail, but because their families cannot pay the fees, buy the books, or afford the bus to college. The Education Support Fund keeps these children studying. Your contribution pays school and college fees directly to institutions, provides books, uniforms and digital learning resources, and connects students with mentors and career guidance.

From Class 1 to college, no child should lose their education because of money. Every rupee reaches verified schools, colleges and vendors. Your support doesn't just keep a child in school. It keeps a future alive.

The fee notice had been sitting in twelve-year-old Lakshmi's school diary for nine days. Every morning she opened the diary to find her homework. Every morning she saw the folded slip of paper, and every morning she folded it back and closed the diary. The notice said the term fee was due. It also said, in polite school language, that students with unpaid fees would have their names struck off the register.

Lakshmi is first in her class in math. Her teacher says she explains fractions better than the textbook does. But her father loads sacks at the grain market, and her mother cleans four houses in the colony. Nobody at home has said the words "stop school." They don't need to. Lakshmi has heard her parents counting at night. On the tenth day, she did not go to school. Stand in any school office in India in the month fees are due, and you will meet this story.

It wears different faces. The boy who works at a garage after Class 8. The girl in Class 11 whose father lost his job and who now stays home to mind her younger brother. The college student who has cleared every exam but cannot pay the next year's tuition. Different faces. Same closed diary.

Here is the hard truth about education in India. The costs grow as the child grows. Primary school may be close and low-cost. But higher secondary school is farther away, with bus fares, exam fees, and costlier books. College is a different world entirely – tuition, hostel, admission fees, coaching.

When a family's income comes from daily wages, a small farm, or domestic work, each step up the ladder costs more than the last. And when money runs short, families make the only choice they can see. A child stops.

Then there is the silence no one talks about. Guidance. Millions of children in India are the first in their families to ever attend school. No one at home has filled a college form. No one knows about scholarship deadlines, entrance exams, or career paths. A brilliant Class 12 student with 90 percent marks can still drop out – not for lack of ability, but for lack of one person to show the way.

And then there is the phone. Learning today lives on screens – online classes, digital homework, video lessons, application forms. In a home with one shared phone and no steady internet, someone misses out. Usually the girl. Usually the eldest. Usually the one who was already holding on by a thread.

Education is the one door that changes everything behind it. A child who completes school and college walks into better work, a stronger voice, and a different future. Stop the education, and the door closes. Keep it open, and a family's story can change in one generation.

This is why the Education Support Fund exists. Your donation pays the fee that keeps Lakshmi's name on the register. It is paid directly to her school. It buys the textbooks, the uniform, the shoes, the geometry box. It puts a digital course and online tutoring within reach of a village student.

It matches a first-generation college student with a mentor who answers the questions no one at home can. It funds career guidance sessions, skill workshops, and exposure visits that show a child what the world of work actually looks like.

Every rupee you give becomes something a child can hold: a fee receipt, a stack of new books, a seat in the exam hall, a filled college form, a mentor's voice on the phone. Not cash handed over. Real, tracked, verified support that reaches the student through schools, colleges, and trusted vendors.

On the tenth day, Lakshmi stayed home. On the thirteenth day, someone like you can make sure she walks back into her classroom, opens her diary, and this time, finds only homework inside.

Donations are used to support students from economically weaker families across India, from primary school through college. Here is exactly where your contribution goes:

School fee support: Donations are used to pay term fees, admission fees, and exam fees directly to verified schools, so that no child's name is struck off the register for lack of money.

College and higher education fees: Donations are used to pay tuition, exam fees, and admission costs directly to colleges and universities for students who have the marks but not the money to continue.

Books, uniforms, and school supplies: Donations are used to purchase textbooks, notebooks, school bags, uniforms, shoes, and stationery from verified vendors and registered suppliers.

Digital learning support: Donations are used to provide access to digital courses, online tutoring, learning devices, and internet support so that no student is left behind in a classroom that now lives on screens.

Mentorship and student counselling: Donations are used to run mentorship programs that match students – especially first-generation learners – with guides who help them with studies, confidence, and emotional support.

Career guidance and skill building: Donations are used to organize career counselling sessions, skill workshops, study visits, and support for competitions and entrance exams, so students can see a future and walk toward it.

Every rupee is directed toward verified schools, colleges, vendors, and service providers. Donations are not given as unrestricted cash. BRAC India ensures your contribution reaches the student where it is needed – at the school counter, the bookshop, the college office, the learning platform.