Multi-lateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed a Rs 10 crore investment to expand pre-school programmes in Karnataka.
"A Rs 100 million equity investment from the Asian Development Bank will enable Hippocampus Learning Centers (HLC) to expand its pre-school programmes to over 700 villages in Karnataka by 2016," the Manila-based bank said in a release today.
HLC recruits and trains women teachers from the villages where its education centres are to be located. The curriculum aims to move away from rote learning to learning with comprehension.
"Investing in human capital brings about powerful social change and this investment will create opportunities for children to realise their full potential.
"This inclusive business model developed by HLC has good potential for replication in other states in India, as well as in other developing countries in the region," said Aniruddha Patil, Senior Investment Specialist at ADB's Private Sector Operations Department.
In addition to ADB, Unitus Seed Fund and Khosla Impact Fund will together invest Rs 4.4 crore in the company, ADB said in the release.
"Our enrolments in pre-school have grown 20-fold in three years, evidence of the demand for high quality education in rural India.
"Our robust, innovative and low cost framework has ensured that we deliver high learning outcomes consistently, creating the platform for us to scale rapidly across Karnataka and India," Umesh Malhotra, Founder and CEO of HLC, said in the statement.
