Daughters of Destiny | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Created by | Vanessa Roth |
Starring | Shilpa Anthony Raj Abraham George Ajit George |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Running time | 56-65 min. |
Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | July 28, 2017 |
Daughters of Destiny is a 2017 English-language original Netflix documentary series created by Oscar-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth. It follows a group of disadvantaged children in rural India enrolled in the Shanti Bhavan residential school located in Tamil Nadu, India. [1]
Daughters of Destiny is shot over seven years, and follows a group of girls from rural India who are denied education because of their caste. [2] [3] [1]
It was released on July 28, 2017 on Netflix streaming. [4]
Julie Raeside from The Guardian wrote that "The actions of one man have undoubtedly transformed the lives of hundreds of seriously disadvantaged children and their families. If that isn’t worth celebrating in this glorious fashion, then I don’t know what is". [2] Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote that "For every instance of success, there are two or three scenes that are problematic at best — family strife, hopelessness, promise unfulfilled. “Daughters of Destiny” can and will be used as a promotional tool for the Shanti Bhavan project, but it’s to Ms. Roth’s credit that it sometimes feels like the opposite". [3]
Education in India is primarily managed by the state-run public education system, which falls under the command of the government at three levels: central, state and local. Under various articles of the Indian Constitution and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, free and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to children aged 6 to 14. The approximate ratio of the total number of public schools to private schools in India is 10:3.
Abraham M. George is an Indian-American businessman, academic, and philanthropist. He is the founder of The George Foundation (TGF), a non-profit organization based in Bangalore, India dedicated to the welfare and empowerment of economically and socially disadvantaged populations in India. His foundation has initiated numerous projects in poverty alleviation, education, healthcare, lead poisoning prevention, women's empowerment, and press freedom. He founded the Shanti Bhavan school to help provide free education to socially disadvantaged kids from age 4 through college.
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The Shanti Bhavan Children's Project is a U.S. 501(c)(3) and India 80-G non-profit organisation based in Bangalore Karnataka, India, that operates a pre-K-12 residential school in Baliganapalli, Tamil Nadu. The school annually enrolls 12 boys and 12 girls for its incoming pre-school class. Thereafter, students stay at the school year-round except for summer and winter breaks. Students attend Shanti Bhavan free of charge and are provided with nutritional meals, clothes, shelter, education, healthcare and emotional and mental support. Shanti Bhavan is accredited by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), and administers the ICSE and ISC exams during students' 10th and 12th grades. After students' 12th grade, Shanti Bhavan also pays for their college education.
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