A FORMER Cirencester College student has flown out to Mumbai for three months to teach English to slum children.

Max Cooke, 27, moved to the Indian city earlier this month to volunteer for the Oscar Foundation, set up 10 years ago by teenager Ashok Rathod, who still lives in the slums.

The charity encourages slum children to stay in school, and is keen to promote its ethos of linking education and sport across the world.

In October, Ashok, now 28, will bring Oscar’s under-14 football team to the UK to play in a series of matches against several schools, including Beaudesert Park School in Minchinhampton.

Seeing as many of the children have never even left the slums they grew up in, let alone visited the UK, Max’s job is to teach them English in preparation for their visit.

Max, who will resume his degree in Animal Welfare and Behavioural Science at Bristol University in September, recently raised £500 with a cake sale in Nailsworth, where he lives.

Ashok was visiting the Cotswolds last year to drum up sponsors for the scheme with the help of Lucinda Magraw, a freelance publicist from Frampton Mansell, when he met Max.

“I really wanted to do something productive with my time, and remembered about the foundation, and being friends with Lucinda I always get updates about it, and got in contact,” said Max.

Max has also taken with him a sophisticated drone so he can film the children while they are playing football matches.

Visit mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/oscarukschoolstour to donate to the project or contact Lucinda at lucinda@magrawpublicity.co.uk if you would to get involved as a sponsor.

For more information on the Oscar Foundation, go to oscar-foundation.org

See also: Indian slum children to play Gloucestershire schools in football tour

For more on Max see: Former Cirencester College student to move to Mumbai to teach slum children English ahead of UK football tour