Our July 1% will fund 77 scholarships for young women who have left exploitative work in South India's spinning mills and garment factories. Girls as young as fourteen from the region's poorest families are lured to work long hours in Tamil Nadu's textile industry facing dangerous and unhealthy conditions and vulnerable to abuse and sexual assault all under the guise of a 3 year 'apprenticeship'. These conditions lead to deteriorating health meaning the programme is often abandoned and the money promised, which parents count on to cover their daughters’ wedding dowries, never paid out. The scheme is now illegal but continues in all but name. Our newest charity partner, TRAID are working with READ to find opportunities for former workers to build a life away from the factories and mills. We’re proud to be part of this work. Our July 1% will fund 77 one-year scholarships in private colleges at A-level equivalent. Scholarships are awarded to those most in need including orphans or those with only one parent or girls from a family with very meagre income, offering an alternative to textile work which would improve the social standing and prospects of the whole family.