BRIGHTLY coloured handmade carpets have been on sale at an exhibition in York which is raising money for schools in India.

York-based charity Project Mala is staging the event in Rupert's Barn, Church Lane, Nether Poppleton until Sunday.

The charity aims to eliminate the use of child labour on carpet looms by providing education for children aged between 10 and 14, and it currently runs four schools in India.

The carpets on display range from the Dhurri/Kelim type to very fine hand knotted ones with more than 36,000 knots per square foot.

They are made by the Advanced Weaving Academy, a new venture aimed at improving the weaving conditions and techniques in the Indian carpet industry.

The British High Commission in Delhi provided a grant to cover the academy's costs and will receive a specially made carpet for its building as a mark of gratitude. Robin Garland, chairman of the project, said "The show has been fabulous and is going very well. So far we've sold about six thousand pounds worth but hope to make a lot more. There has been a lot of interest in what we are doing which has been good."

The first Project Mala school was opened in 1990 and since then over 1,000 children have completed the three-year course. Mr Garland said that 94 per cent of all the money donated to the project has been directly transferred to India.