Manoj is 14 years old and lives in the village of Seebai in the Kalyandurg region of Andhra Pradesh. He is enrolled in the 9^th grade at Golla Government High School. He enjoys studying, especially the social sciences.

The problem is that his school is almost five miles away from his home.

“One of the main problems that young students face when going and coming back from the school is the long-distance journey,” says Manoj. “It is very hard to walk so many kilometers every day to go to school”

Manoj understands the importance of education. He wants to become a police officer when he grows up. “Since I was a little, I played with my friend, Sri Hari, about being a police officer in our town,” Manoj says. “We don’t want people to do bad things, and if we are police officers, we can help our neighbors.” To achieve his dream, he will need a good education.

That dream was made more attainable when RDT presented Manoj with a bicycle to help him get to school.

“Having a bicycle allows us to reach the school faster, and when we arrive, we are not tired, so we have a lot of energy to study,” says Manoj.

The teachers at Manoj’s school notice a big difference when their students arrive on bicycles: they are more energetic and more likely to graduate.

“When the students have a bicycle to go to school it is less likely for them to drop out school before they graduate,” says Ramadevi, a teacher at Manoj’s school. “It is a very useful and positive thing for them to have a bicycle. It gives them facilities to attend the school and encourages them to keep studying.”

Knowing that their son has a way to get to school quickly is a big relief to Manoj’s parents, Eramma and Somashekar, who both work as construction laborers. Thanks to his education, they know their son will be able to get a good-paying job and lead a prosperous life.

“Having a bicycle is very fun, too,” Manoj adds with a grin.