Education is the most powerful tool to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty: it helps to overcome inequalities, promotes inclusive development, accelerates social transformation and is essential to develop human potential towards economic progress.
Ours is the age of the knowledge economy. Only quality education for all children can help us achieve the goal of long-term economic and social equity that we are all working towards.
India has made real strides in providing access to education for all in the last decade, as the numbers indicate: 96% year-over-year enrollment, one public school within a kilometer radius across the country, better ratios of students per teacher, to name a few.
Indian Government Educational Initiatives
The Indian government has launched various initiatives to ensure better education, ranging from Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). In addition to this, education has been one of the most popular causes for companies to support.
- From 2014 to 2015, 29% of total CSR was spent on education and skills development initiatives.
- 385 of the 432 companies that reported their CSR in November 2015 had some spending on education, even more than the number of companies that spend on health.
Supporting education is one of the most enduring ways to contribute to nation building in India:
- Education is one of the greatest levers to overcome inequalities and accelerate human development. A comprehensive education program can provide a meaningful starting point for engaging in community development for businesses across industries and geographies.
- With industry being one of the main stakeholders in recruiting qualified staff, education programs provide an advantage for companies to ensure they are effectively addressing skills gaps.
- Education initiatives in India have had a reasonable track record of effective partnerships between government, business and civil society, providing an essential foundation for businesses to bring their expertise in the field and strengths in designing and implementing innovative solutions to improve learning.
A Strategic Approach in CSR of Education in India
Given that the options for investing in education are so wide and diverse, one of the challenges we often face is: what are the considerations when designing the roadmap of an effective and lasting CSR educational program?
We are seeing companies trying to find the balance between aligning their CSR strategies with their core areas of expertise and ensuring that a clear societal need is met. Within the organization, there are varied priorities including compliance with the law, stakeholder engagement, and ecosystem leadership.
In this scenario, we believe that the first step towards planning for effective CSR in India is to decide on the key pillars that will determine the design of the initiatives. Here are 3 key anchors that we believe are valid for CSR planning in all sectors:
communities
The focus is on the communities around the company’s areas of operation or manufacturing plants (factories/campuses/warehouses, etc.). The focus could also be a certain demographic focus, such as girls, tribal communities, or people with disabilities.
partners
The anchor is a credible and trusted partner (government/non-profit program) working in the education focus area whose philosophies and approach align with the company’s thinking around investing. CSR efforts will then be woven around the partner’s existing programs or new allied initiatives that the company may co-create with the partner.
Topics
This approach anchors the entire initiative around a specific social need. These needs may be based on internal priorities agreed upon by the leadership team or may be based on national and international priorities (eg Sustainable Development Goals). CSR efforts then consist of deciding the nature of the intervention (own program/existing nonprofit partner program), institutionalizing rigorous systems and processes to identify and onboard implementing partners, regular monitoring, and standardized reporting.
Regardless of the chosen anchor, the first step in determining the disbursement of CSR programs in education is to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that involves all stakeholders in the communities in which the company has chosen to work. The needs assessment points not only to critical gaps and potential points of collaboration, but more importantly, it points to areas that the community considers important. And this buy-in is critical to the rollout of any effective CSR program in India.
Case studies of CSR education programs by Indian companies
Hindustan Zinc
 – In association with the Vedanta Foundation, Hindustan Zinc promotes ECE through the construction of Anganwadi and childcare centers in Rajasthan. Vedanta Foundation implements delivery models that have been rigorously tested in the field. For ECE, the Balchetna Anganwadi Vedanta Programs also train teachers as counselors and caregivers.” The program has reached over 50,000 children ages 3-6, while 4,000 children are served through Bal Chetna Anganwadi.
HDFC Bank – HDFC Bank has partnered with the Ashadeep Foundation to run 20 pre-schools in the slums of Delhi. The Galli School Project targets children whose parents are rag pickers and gives families a way to make sure their children are safe. The young women run the nurseries from their homes. Asha Creche is a newly developed program to provide early childhood education. Nearly 1,000 students have been served through this program in the last 4 years.
KC Mahindra Trust – Nanhi Kali is the flagship program of KC Mahindra Trust. The project provides academic, material, and social support that enables a girl to access quality education, attend school with dignity, and reduce the chances of her dropping out of school. Project Nanhi Kali is working with 19 NGO partners on grassroots level implementation and today supports over 114,000 girls in 9 states in India and receives extensive support from Mahindra employees, 300 corporate donors and 6,000 individual donors. Many other companies have also looked to Nanhi Kali as part of their CSR initiatives, such as eClerx and Capgemini Group. Several of these girls also receive scholarships from the Education Trust.