Prominent industrialist and Labour Peer Swraj Paul on Friday opened the Ambika Paul Learning Resource Centre — named after his daughter who died of leukaemia at the age of four in 1968 — at the RSA Academy, a well-known comprehensive school in Tipton, West Midlands, sponsored by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
The Centre is an initiative of the Ambika Paul Foundation established by Lord Paul in 1978 to promote the well-being of children across the world through education, culture and health.
RSA Academy Principal Michael Gernon said the Foundation had made a very generous donation to the RSA when it set up the Academy and was “delighted” to welcome Lord and Lady Paul.
“This is a very important day for the Academy. The Ambika Paul Learning Resource Centre is at the heart of the Academy. We do everything we can to encourage our students to enjoy reading and we provide a wide range of books and electronic media which we hope will appeal to all our students. We hope that this visit marks the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration between Lord Paul, the Caparo Group and the RSA Academy,” he said.
Lord Paul, Chairman of Caparo Group, said: “Caparo has a large presence in the West Midlands and we are very pleased to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the RSA Academy at Tipton, a site at the heart of our West Midlands operations.”
The Ambika Paul Foundation, funded entirely by the Paul family and Caparo, supports child welfare and educational projects around the world.