Literate India
While it is making giant advances in software, space, and nuclear power, India is paradoxically still struggling with questions of basic literacy for a large segment of its population. Upon independence, India's literacy rate was a staggering 11 percent. Since then, we have made tremendous advances in educating our people. Still, more than five decades after independence, 65.4% India is still illiterate. Even worse off is the position of tribal India, which has a literacy rate below 50 percent.

The Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) aims to help eradicate illiteracy from rural and Tribals India by 2011. To date, FTS is a movement of over 9,000 teachers, 2,000 voluntary workers, 10 field organizations (scattered in 16 Indian states), and 7 support agencies. With this tremendous human force, FTS strives to create a network of non-formal schools that will educate and empower children in rural and tribal India.

The Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) is a charitable trust that initiates, supports, and runs non-formal one-teacher schools (popularly known as Friends of Tribals Society) all over the country. With the participation of numerous non-profit trusts and organizations, this program has now become the greatest non-governmental education movement in the country.

The Paradox
While Indians have succeeded in flexing their intellectual prowess and in establishing entrepreneurship throughout the world, over a third of India's population is illiterate. Tribal villagers who live in remote areas away from major cities are the worst affected. Often unreachable by road and untouched by electricity, the tribal population is often neglected by agencies of development. FTS, therefore, has focused its primary education programs on tribals and other underprivileged communities in rural India.

Beyond Literacy
The Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) goes beyond mere literacy. Apart from its goal of achieving the national standards of Minimum Level of Learning (MLL) for its students, FTS also seeks to empower the village community for its own self-development. FTS solicits complete involvement of the local community and aims at making the school self-reliant in a period of five to seven years.

The donors, supporters and workers of FTS are motivated by a commitment to educate our illiterate brothers and sisters. Their unflinching dedication to serve their motherland is the key to our success.