CHILDREN'S educational needs in rural India will receive a boost from a York academy.

The Ebor multi-academy trust has pledged support for Project Mala, which enables poor children in India to access quality education in well-equipped schools.

The trust, one of the biggest in the city, chose the charity as its work resonates with their core belief that every child should have the opportunity to make progress, regardless of social circumstance.

Founded in 1989, Project Mala is a non-profit charity working to abolish child labour in the carpet-weaving belt of India.

It seeks out working children in the remote villages of Uttar Pradesh and gives them quality education up to secondary level, as well as access to healthcare facilities.

Over the past few months, each school within Ebor Academy Trust, which operates schools across York, North and East Yorkshire, has held events to raise funds for Project Mala - including non-uniform days, discos, cake sales and other imaginative activities.

The pupils have also learned about the charity, the children it is helping and what the proceeds of their fund-raising will be used for.

So far, the trust's schools have raised almost £1,500 for the project, but fundraising efforts will continue throughout the year.

The community at Sproatley Endowed CE academy in the East Riding, where activities included a non-uniform day and a dance-a-thon, were the trust's biggest fundraiser.

Headteacher Mrs Paula Townsend said: "The children were really interested in Project Mala and the children it supports, so they were super-keen to get involved in all of the events.

"As a school we managed to raise an amazing £671. We are hugely proud of this achievement, especially being such a small school.

"We like to think of ourselves as a small school with a big heart."

A member of staff within each Ebor school has now been designated as Global Education Lead, and they will work together to develop the trust's global curriculum, incorporating more fundraising for the project.

Robin Garland MBE, chairman of Project Mala's trust board, said: "We are extremely grateful to everyone in Ebor academy trust for embracing Project Mala.

The money raised will got a long way to help more children have access to a good education and a happier childhood."

Currently, the project has nearly 1,500 children in it school, including five pre-schools, six primary, three middle, three secondary and one intermediate boarding college.