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 era of the knowledge economy. Only a quality education for all children can help us achieve the long-term goal of economic and social equity for which we are all working.
India has made real steps towards providing access to education for all in the last decade, as the numbers indicate: 96% enrollment year on year, 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). On top of this, education has been one of the most popular causes for businesses 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 on 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 longest lasting 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 personnel, 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 companies to bring their expertise in the field and their strengths to bear in the design and implementation of Innovative solutions to enhance learning.
A strategic approach to CSR in education in India
Since the options for investing in education are so vast and diverse, one of the challenges we often face is: what are the considerations when designing the roadmap for an effective and long-lasting CSR education program?
We are seeing companies trying to find the balance between aligning their CSR strategies with their core areas of expertise and ensuring the realization of a clear social need. 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 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 Program/Non-Profit) 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 can co-create with the partner.
Topics
This approach anchors the entire initiative around a specific social need. These needs can be based on internal priorities agreed by the leadership team or they can be based on national and international priorities (for example, 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 for identifying and onboarding 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 targets not only critical gaps and potential points of collaboration, but more importantly, targets 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 field-tested. For ECE, the Vedanta Balchetna Anganwadi Programs also train teachers as counselors and carers.” The program has reached over 50,000 children aged 3-6, while 4,000 children are served through Bal Chetna Anganwadi.
HDFC bank – HDFC Bank has partnered with Ashadeep Foundation to run 20 pre-schools in Delhi’s slums. The Galli School Project targets children whose parents are ragpickers 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. Almost 1,000 students have been served through this program in the last 4 years.
KC Mahindra Trust – Nanhi Kali is the flagship program of the KC Mahindra Trust. The project provides academic, material and social support that allows a girl to access a quality education, attend school with dignity and reduce the chances of her dropping out of school. Project Nanhi Kali is working with 19 partner NGOs on grassroots implementation and today supports more than 114,000 girls in 9 states of India and is widely supported by 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.
