Rishi and his wife Akshata are launching a new charity dedicated to improving numeracy across the UK.
The former Prime Minister and his wife are both passionate about education and have together identified confidence with numbers as a burning issue on which they can make a difference.
Their new venture will be called The Richmond Project in honour of the area of North Yorkshire where they live and which Rishi represents as an MP.
Since leaving No10 after the election in July the Sunaks have set up a private office and he has become an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research and accepted visiting academic posts at Oxford and Stanford. Meanwhile Akshata has been a headline speaker at India’s leading literary festival alongside her mother Sudha Murty.
The purpose of The Richmond Project, a registered charity, is to support creative ways of tackling numeracy problems. It aims to help children struggling at school, families lacking in number confidence and adults who never mastered basic maths.
Rishi said: ‘Akshata and I are passionate about the importance of education – particularly numeracy, and the culture around it. If we can change the way people think about and approach numbers, we can build confidence and transform lives. We’re calling it The Richmond Project – named after the place where we live and the constituency I am proud to represent. It’ll be a UK wide charity which will focus on breaking down some of the barriers that exist in families around numeracy – whether you’re at primary school, secondary or indeed as an adult.
[writing in The Times] Akshata Murty said: ‘Since leaving No 10 Rishi and I have talked about what really matters to us now, and why. We’ve been fortunate in many ways, so what can we do to give back: to continue our commitment to public service. We’ve asked ourselves some fundamental questions – what drives us, what will make a real difference, and ultimately what will change lives?
‘All our conversations have led us back to our passion - education. We did our research and concluded that within the sphere of education, numeracy stands out and would benefit from further attention. Great work is already being done, and we want to add to that. So, we’ve decided to set up The Richmond Project. The mission: To transform lives, by numbers
‘Building confidence with numbers changes lives. The Richmond Project will identify and support innovative solutions that drive social mobility by helping families break down barriers to numeracy.
‘From starting school, through teenage years and into adulthood, if you find numbers a struggle, you’ll find day to day living a struggle. Lack of understanding leads to fear and fear creates a vicious cycle that’s hard to break. It can start young and blight your entire education, leading to limited job prospects and long-term social and financial consequences.’
The project will champion a range of numeracy related innovations. Its work is expected to include original research and financial, organisational and delivery support for specialist organisations. The charity’s trustees are Rishi, Akshata and Eleanor Shawcross, a former Director of the No10 Policy Unit.
Rishi, MP for Richmond and Northallerton, has described education as “closest thing there is to a silver bullet ”. While in office he pledged to overhaul post- 16 education and extend Maths education to 18.
While in Downing Street Akshata organised ‘Lessons at Ten’ a scheme in which thousands of children came to No10 on Friday mornings for lessons on everything from business to beauty, cooking, coding and chemistry.
And she added; ‘People have asked us ‘Why Richmond?’. Well, we feel a sense of belonging here and connect with the people and the values this community embodies. It felt like a natural name for a project that means so much to us both.’
