About

Back in 1998, Riet Buvens, founder of NGO OPUS III, visited Jaipur, the textile capital of India. She was on the lookout for scarves for her store in Belgium and was struck by the poverty she witnessed. Through a chance meeting with a local taxi driver, she got in touch with the right people to set up some classrooms in the Hasanpura area of Jaipur. These were the first steps of the Fun and Child Schools, with the aim to provide free education for poor and disadvantaged youth.

From those early days onwards, the board of directors of Opus III grew and established a solid relationship with the Jaipur-based Drydan Social Welfare Society (DSWS), the population of Hasanpura and the local Drydan Public School (DPS). OPUS III and DSWS are related via an official ‘Grant Agreement’.

The project moved forward smoothly and after a few years, the project expanded to provide medical and social support in the Hasanpura neighbourhood.

Today, four Fun and Child schools are proud to provide free education to more than 1500 children in Hasanpura as well as other underprivileged areas in Jaipur, thanks to financial adoption and sponsoring. Further investments were made to offer further technical education. Within Hasanpura Home in the Hasanpura A district of Jaipur, students over 16 years old can study IT, electricity, cutting & sewing and body & hair care.

The future goal of OPUS III, DSWS and its ecosystem of supporting partners, is to create a solid backbone to support the Fun and Child Schools on the road to self-sufficiency.