Atlas Asia works in partnership with the incredible Khelo Rugby programme, led by Future Hope. This programme uses rugby as a medium to improve the lives of children in Kolkata, North East India, and in Saraswatipur, North of West Bengal. Many of these children live in profoundly deprived slums and areas where education is non-existent.
We were delighted to mark the 20th annual Khelo Rugby Camp, which was a colossal achievement for every coach, volunteer, and organiser. The camp delivered inclusive rugby tuition with a focus on life skills, community, and equality to a staggering 3,169 children across six separate locations.
The Young Coaches, a team of 235 who committed to 24 morning sessions over the camp, worked tirelessly. They are all young people aged 16 to 23 who are standing out as community leaders and ensuring younger children have vital access to motivation, inclusion, respect, and forward pathways to education and employment.
The Importance and Impacts of the Annual Khelo Rugby Winter Camp
Khelo Rugby’s YouTube videos showcase what Winter Camp is all about: an inspiring, joyful event where hundreds of children come together for a hectic schedule of fun-filled games, sports activities, challenges, and group activities across the rugby fields, open spaces, and beaches.
While much of Khelo Rugby’s initial work was concentrated in Kolkata, the Winter Camp now reaches children across the region with camps hosted in Bengaluru, Saraswatipur and Uluberia, among other locations – areas where children face distinct challenges, barriers to opportunity, or where education is considered a luxury reserved for the most privileged.
Each camp is hugely anticipated by the children, who receive coaching and can enjoy a nutritious breakfast, with thousands delivered across the 24 sessions, printed t-shirts to wear and keep, and bus transport to ensure the camps are accessible to all.
Being able to support and sustain this annual event is a significant priority. It relies on the generosity and dedication of each supporter, and of course, the Young Coaches, who manage everything from ordering bananas to setting budgets, proudly representing the Khelo Rugby ‘dare to dream’ motto.
The impacts cannot be overstated. This project has successfully increased local school graduation rates from 18% to 80%—an inspiring achievement—and used the power of rugby and the life skills and empowerment focus through its camps to ensure children receive positive leadership and access signposting to employment and education opportunities that can be transformative.
How Rugby Is Changing Children’s Lives in Kolkata and Beyond
While the Winter Camp is a highlight, it is also just one element of the ongoing work in India. Khelo Rugby now operates in over 30 communities and has extended its reach to townships like Jarmundi, Bengaluru, and Saraswatipur. Local schools tend to have severely limited resources or finances but have seen a dramatic improvement in attendance and graduation rates following collaborations with Atlas Asia and Khelo Rugby.
The Saraswatipur Khelo Rugby project has become a focal point of village life where the purpose-built Sunrise Centre serves hundreds of local children, while the Bengaluru branch works with local schools and underserved communities.
In villages where nobody has ever been to university, 20 children have been enrolled in further education, leading the way in creating a world where opportunity and education are accessible and breaking ingrained cycles of poverty and deprivation.
This work has also resulted in a decrease in child marriage rates of 85%, an issue that perpetuates inequality and creates a barrier to development, with child brides significantly more likely to be from deprived backgrounds and socioeconomically disadvantaged families.
Providing economic opportunity ensures that children of both genders have greater goals, are empowered to succeed, and can strive towards a more prosperous future, or choose to continue pursuing their education without repeating harmful cycles.
In addition to the thousands of children who attended the 20th Winter Camp, a figure that is steadily growing year on year, Khelo Rugby routinely supports over 3,000 children every month, delivering outcomes that made it a well-deserved recipient of the World Rugby Spirit of Rugby partner award in both 2017 and 2019.
The Future for The Atlas Foundation’s Partnership With Khelo Rugby
Change starts with hope, and this is the foundation of our work in India. We create impactful partnerships that bring together resources, ambition, and knowledge, ensuring that targeted camps and outreach work are solidly based on the needs of the local community.
Rugby sessions act as a way to build relationships and understanding, which then enables coaches to engage with children around:
- Motivation: Helping children recognise their potential and the value of personal growth.
- Education: Reinforcing the importance and life-changing power of education.
- Employment: Identifying and signposting children to skills acquisition opportunities.
- Empowerment: Ensuring children have the aspiration and commitment to seek out opportunities for themselves, often starting with a chance to lead some of the sessions.
Equality and respect are pillars of each rugby camp and session, working to progressively tackle deep-rooted economic disparities, social hierarchies and disadvantages linked to families and communities based on their gender, religious beliefs, or caste.
Building on this work and the achievements made thus far, we are thrilled that Khelo Rugby is now extending its education programme, working with StudyCat, a language learning app designed specifically for children, which helps them learn through fun, interactive and game-based lessons, devised by language and teaching experts.
Helping children learn English can have a resounding effect on their life chances, and each Khelo rugby coach and educator has received training. They host pop-up classes using tablets generously provided by the Anita, Alex, and Annabel Nicholson Memorial Fund.
Looking Forward to the Khelo Rugby Winter Camp 2025
Following last year’s achievements, with a Winter Camp that broke new records in terms of engagement, meals served, Young Coaches trained, and children attending, we’re excited to see what next winter holds.
More information about The Atlas Foundation’s work with Khelo Rugby, Atlas Asia, and the measurable, sustained impacts rugby is making in these communities is available through Our Work, where we will be sure to publish the latest news, updates, progress and camp achievements as this valuable partnership continues.
