Tax Exempt Donations for NGO
To encourage people to donate for good causes, the Income Tax Department allows one to claim tax exemption for donation under Section 80G, on the amount donated to charities and NGOs. Although this is an alluring option to support a charity, World Vision India invites you to support the poor, not to save tax, but to save a life.
Your support, no matter big or small, makes a huge difference in the life of a child. Meet Balkumar from a community we serve in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh, he dropped out of school just because he could not read or write. Although he was in Std 5, he still was not able to cope up like the rest of his classmates. The embarrassment not being to read or write made him quit school, in frustration.
But, the decision to quit school proved to be an expensive bargain: for a year he toiled in the paddy field with his parents. It worried Balkumar’s mother to see her son standing at the doorway of the cattle pen while his peers were in school. She encouraged him to attend the Remedial Education Centre (REC) set up by World Vision India in their village.
At the REC, children are taught Hindi and Maths for four days and one day is kept for fun learning through activities and games.
“After attending REC, I began to understand. I learned to read and write,” said Balkumar. “Here I am paid more attention. The teacher comes to my seat and teaches me personally. I can ask anything, something I cannot do in school.”
REC is an innovative approach and community-led process that seeks to ensure learning support to children of age 6–14 years, in the community to inculcate basic knowledge about reading, writing, math and life skills. Every study centre has a teacher and free classes are given for two hours. It is to ensure that children attain appropriate age learning and also develop foundational, essential and applied life skills. World Vision India has set up 1028 Remedial Education Centres across four states in India.
When Balkumar joined the REC, he did not intend to go back to school, but after he began to understand lessons, he wanted to return to school. After a year’s break, he returned to school. He walks 4 km to school each day. On hot days when temperature soars to 45˚C, attending school is not easy, but he believes he has seen the worst, working in the paddy field. He had wasted a couple of years but he is determined to stay in school and become an army officer.
Many children like Balkumar drop out of school for various reasons. World Vision India’s interventions in the education sector is focussed on enhancing quality of education. The desired change that we want to see is, children are educated for life by achieving age appropriate learning outcomes, acquiring life skills and values for life.
Now you would completely understand why World Vision India urges people to sponsor children. The difference you bring in the life of a child is worth much more than a tax exemption. Your donation under section 80G will not only help you save tax, but also rewrite destinies.
