Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Bharti Foundation ensures that Satya Bharti Schools continue to provide education in rural India during nation-wide lockdown


April 21st, 2020:  Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, is making efforts to ensure that nearly 40,000 students in its Satya Bharti across six states in rural India continue to stay engaged with education despite nation-wide lockdown.

Although majority of families of the underprivileged children in villages do not have a personal computer, the Foundation has ensured that teachers remotely reach out to students through smart phones. Class-wise WhatsApp groups have been formed and students are being given reading material, video links and assignments as per class.

Satya Bharti School teachers are contacting parents over phone and including them in the class-wise WhatsApp groups. Teachers are working from home to create homework and weekly assignments for different classes and are sharing them in the groups. Wherever possible, teachers are making use of online learning apps for children. Teachers of some schools have been also making short video classes for students to access. For parents who cannot read, teachers are making voice-notes and sending over WhatsApp.

Parents are actively involved in their child’s learning process at home and are sending pictures of their children’s homework and reports to teachers in the groups.

Ms. Mamta Saikia, Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Foundation commented, “We are pleased that our field teams and teachers are fully committed and giving their 100% in these trying circumstances. It is heartening to note that parents have been very cooperative and students are eager to learn.  It is important that underprivileged children of our country continue to stay engaged with education”.


About Bharti Foundation

Bharti Foundation was set up in the year 2000 as the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises. It implements and supports programs in primary, secondary and higher education as well as Sanitation. The flagship Satya Bharti School Program provides free quality education to thousands of underprivileged children in rural India across six states, with a focus on the girl child, since 2006. The program aims to deliver transformative education, with a holistic approach, so that the students become educated, responsible and self-reliant citizens. Equal emphasis on scholastic and co-scholastic education ensures that students acquire 21st Century life-skills and are ready to not only face but lead the future. The impact of quality education has been scaled-up by transferring the learning and good practices of this program to lakhs of students studying in government schools across several Indian states and union territories, through the Satya Bharti Quality Support Program, since 2013.  Satya Bharti Abhiyan, the sanitation initiative since 2014, has been improving sanitation conditions in the districts of Punjab by providing access to toilets and by fostering behavioral change in communities. Together, the Foundation’s programs have cumulatively impacted over 2 million community members.  

The higher education partnerships and initiatives are designed to meet the education paradigms of the 21st century. Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management (IIT, Delhi), Bharti Centre for Communication (IIT, Bombay) and Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Mohali (ISB, Mohali) are among the leading higher education institutions in the country. The Satya Bharti Institute of Technology is deftly on the path of being established as an institution of global excellence in research and learning. https://www.bhartifoundation.org/


Current Program Reach

(Satya Bhart Schools)
192 schools/Six states-5 Sr Sec., 30 Elementary and 157 Primary Schools
39,450 + students
1,390 + teachers
50% girls
75% SC/ST/OBC


(Overall)
Education:
16 States, UTs/54 Districts/210 Blocks
2,70,000 + Students (current enrollment)
Sanitation:
25,000 + Toilets constructed*
1,85,000 + Beneficiaries **
* include (rural & urban Ludhiana + rural Amritsar), 37 Ladies’ toilets at Ludhiana Police Commissionerate and 14 Girls’ toilets constructed in government schools
** >55,000 estimated beneficiaries annually for Ladies’ toilets at Ludhiana Police Commissionerate


Data as of Feb 2020

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