CII to pool in India Inc's education initiatives

In 168 villages in Andhra Pradesh, the Byrraju Foundation has adopted two government schools in each village. The aim is to make them comparable with the best.

The Byrajju Foundation is a philanthropy arm of Satyam Computers and works exclusively for rural development. The Satyam Foundation looks at urban government schools and is not a replica of what the Byrajju does.

These are not all. The Bharti Foundation of Sunil Bharti Mittal has announced plans to set up 1,000 schools in as many villages and adopt some government schools. The Azim Premji Foundation is taking educational content to schools in five states while the Akshara Foundation is helping 3,00,000 children in primary schools.

However, there is a realisation that this increasing corporate intervention in primary education is not having the desired impact. To pool in all this work, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is bringing all industry initiatives in education on one platform. About 40 companies working for education will take part in a workshop on December 19 under the guidance of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

"We have asked all participants to send their ideas in advance. The workshop will be about getting people to commit themselves to an agenda that they themselves will decide. Besides, with Amartya Sen as thought leader, we are hoping something tangible will emerge," says YS Rajan of E-Shiksha, the CII's education initiative.

Industrialists say there is a need to put more thought into what these foundations are doing for education.

Says Veghese Jacob, lead partner, Byrraju Foundation: "While the work of the Azim Premji Foundation is providing IT-enabled content, there are advantages and disadvantages. It needs electricity and a computer and support form the government. The advantage is that it can be scaled up in no time provided the state governments cooperate. The Bharti Mittal Foundation is working at a different level."

Most corporate programmes touch some part or the other of the problem but fail to address the issue holistically, says Jacob. He says his foundation believes in empowering the government's existing structures as so much money is being spent on them. "It is good if all of us put our thoughts together," he says.

Sunil Mittal, CII president, says his foundation is looking forward to innovative thoughts and partnerships. He repeats Jacob's views saying that an "active private-public partnership backed by community involvement can change the education scenario in the country." Gautam Thapar, chairman, BILT, says quality improvement is the need of the hour.

Among the companies that have agreed to attend are Ambuja Cement Foundation, Akshaya Patra Foundation, NIIT, Pesico, Tata Services, Tata Steel, ICICI Founation, ITC, Mc Donalds, Tata trust, Microsoft , Satyam and Infosys.

"The intent is there to bring about a convergence of some sort," says Rajan.