Education represents the stepping stone to improve the quality of life, especially for the poor and the vulnerable. Access to quality education is fundamental to the growth of India. The ideology behind the top corporate social responsibility initiatives in education this year is to transform lives through the continuous enhancement of knowledge and empowerment.
Piramal Enterprises
Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership (PFEL) envisions making a disproportionate change in the quality of primary education by creating and replicating sustainable programs for grooming education leaders in the government educational system. PFEL created a four-year School Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) to improve the learning levels of students enrolled in Government schools of India. This unique fellowship programme selects bright young individuals from top universities across the country, who eventually work in a district with teachers and headmasters of five different schools, five communities and five school heads; an average of 25 teachers creating impact and orchestrating transformations from within the system.
Larsen & Toubro
Larsen &Toubro supports the functioning of many schools in the vicinity of its facilities across the country. Mobile toy libraries called The Nanha Munna Express, make learning fun for young children. These vans introduce the children to educational toys that help develop their motor, cognitive and social skills. Community Learning Centres are run in partnership with NGOs in low-income communities that provide after-school support to children to help them cope with their school curriculum. Pre-schools or balwadis are run in low-income group communities, laying a strong foundation of education.
Mahindra and Mahindra
Mahindra & Mahindra has been making an impact through its ongoing CSR programs, some of the notable ones include Project Nanhi Kali, which supports the education of underprivileged girls, Mahindra Pride Schools, which provide livelihood training to youth from socially and economically disadvantaged communities and a variety of other scholarship programs, which range from providing opportunities to youth from low income group families to undergo diploma courses at vocational education institutes, to allowing meritorious students to pursue their post graduate studies at reputed universities overseas, to allowing meritorious and deserving students to study at the Mahindra United World College in Pune. Other initiatives are research projects of the Indian Council on Global Relations, Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan, and supporting 28 English medium MCGM schools from KG to 7th Grade.
Adani Group
Adani Foundation provided “Free of Cost” quality education to the deserving young minds coming from weaker economic backgrounds. DPCL DAV Public School, Dhamra supported by Adani Foundation is providing quality English medium education at a subsidized cost to nearly 300 students from the periphery villages. The career guidance programme, Disha, benefited 2,797 students from 21 government schools of Mundra (Gujarat) and 131 students from three high schools in Tiroda (Maharashtra).
Wipro
Wipro Applying Thought in Schools (WATIS) is one of Wipro’s social initiatives, working to build capacities in school education reform in India. Over the past 15 years, they have associated with scores of organizations and work with them has primarily been through 67 educational projects, involving over 2,300 schools and 13,250 educators across 17 states reaching out to about 1 million students. A specific initiative started in 2014, to contribute to education of children with disability, supports the educational and rehabilitative needs of 1,350 underprivileged children with disability, through five projects in the cities of Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur and Hyderabad.
Asian Paints
The foundation of the company took an initiative to introduce Digital Literacy to the villages around Ankleshwar, Gujarat. Hole in the Wall is an innovative learning methodology promoted by NIIT Foundation. It helps children to learn in an unmonitored and facilitative environment. Other interventions include coaching assistance for competitive examinations, training girls in self-defence techniques and workshops to enhance soft skills.
ICICI Bank
To improve learning outcomes of the students in government schools, the foundation provided training to School Management Committee (SMC Members). ICICI Foundation has partnered with the government and various NGOs to improve the quality of the teaching staff and the curriculum and is also working towards improving the infrastructure in schools. They have successfully empowered over 950 rural schools to provide their students and teachers with a brighter future. The positive impact created by our initiative can be seen in many schools across the country, from the remote areas of Kargil to the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai.
Reliance Industries
At Jamnagar, a pilot program was designed to bridge the deficiency and enhance the proficiency levels in schools. ‘Functional English’ supplementary classes and subjects such as science and math are carried out in 3 schools at present, reaching out to about 1,000 students. The unique aspect of the project is that a group of 33 lady volunteers (mostly educated homemakers and spouses of RIL employees) teach in schools under the guidance of an eminent educationist. Reliance Foundation supported The Bombay Community Public Trust’s English E-Teach (EET) project which aims to improve quality of English of poor children that can improve their employment opportunities.
UltraTech Cement
UltraTech conducted an Enrolment Campaign that supported in reducing dropout rates of students in schools. Another great initiative of the foundation is establishing libraries in villages. The foundation distributes stationeries, books, uniforms, school bags, etc. amongst the students. The Smart Class Computer Project “Utkarsh” running with the collaboration of Rajasthan Government has benefited 22,000 children.
Indian Oil
Indian Oil launched training initiative ‘Shikshak Dakshata Vikas Abhiyaan’ in coordination with the District Education Department, Government of Assam. The program aims to improve soft skills of Government school teachers. So far, 355 teachers from schools covering 42 villages in and around Digboi have been trained. Indian Oil Education Scholarships are awarded to 2,600 underprivileged poor and deserving students on merit-cum-means basis to students pursuing full-time courses in 10+/ITI, Engineering, Medical and MBA.
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Article Source: The CSR Journal