This announcement came on the heels of the World Bank report (Engendering Development), which concluded that one of the best ways to fight world hunger and encourage global economic growth is to educate girls and women. This finding mirrors research by CARE and other organisations that educating girls is one of the most effective ways to achieve significant and long-lasting social and economic benefits for poor families and communities.

According to Kokila Gulati, project manager of CARE's Girls Primary Education Project in India: ``This project provides critical equivalent primary education to girls who have never been to school or have dropped out.''

She adds, ``By learning basic language and math skills, these students are shaping a different future for themselves and for their families, who have traditionally viewed school attendance as unimportant and as hindering girls from carrying out household chores.''

The donation is part of MasterCard's ongoing philanthropic mission to serve youth and to improve access to education in the United States and abroad."Providing access to education is the first step towards breaking the cycle of poverty and improving the standard of living, " says Stuart McDonald, MasterCard's senior vice-president for Corporate Services in Asia/Pacific.

According to him, this project will enable 3,000 girls from the poorest areas in rural India to have access to primary education, and an estimated 25 per cent of them will move on to mainstream education.

Although India is known for its technological and engineering talent, there is a gender-based educational divide. With 196 million females who cannot read or write, the female literacy rate is only 40 per cent (compared to 64 percent for males), and in some rural areas, the rate for women drops to 12 per cent. The school drop out rates for girls is 57 per cent at the primary stage, 57 per cent at the middle stage, and 74 percent at the high school stage, according to CARE.

While expressing his gratitude to Mastercard, Peter D Bell, president and CEO of CARE says: ``With MasterCard's support, CARE will work closely with local Indian communities to provide thousands of girls with the opportunity to attain a basic education.''

Targeting girls between 6 and 14, the project plans school schedules, recruits and trains teachers, designs curriculums and materials and involves the community to overcome the traditional obstacles to girls' education. It is unique in that it creates a residential educational camp that reaches out to older Indian girls (9 to l4 years old), who have either dropped out of school or never attended, teaches them important life skills and compresses primary education into a one-year time frame.