The Gurgaon-based Bharti Foundation (regd. 2000) — the philanthropic trust of the Rs.9,000 crore Bharti Enterprises — which promotes K-12 schools countrywide under its Satya Bharti Schools banner, is all set to inaugurate 78 new primaries by end May. The trust (corpus: Rs.200 crore) has already promoted 158 primary schools in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with an aggregate enrolment of 17,225 students. Moreover the foundation has set itself the target of establishing 500 additional primary, 50 senior secondary-cum-vocational training schools in rural India by 2010.
“We want to provide end-to-end school education. That’s why we have moved beyond primary to secondary and vocational education. Being quite aware that Bharti Foundation cannot meet the countrywide demand for schools on its own, our objective is to establish one primary, secondary and vocational institute in each district as models for people to emulate, and build a national movement for easy integration of under-privileged rural children into the education system. This is the vision outlined by our chairman Sunil Mittal. He has repeatedly propagated that quality education is the prerequisite of economic success and the driving force of upward mobility,” says Col. (Retd.) Vijay Chadda, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pune, who served in the Indian Army for 25 years (1967-1992) and with several travel companies, prior to signing up as chief executive of the Bharti Foundation in October 2008.
According to Chadda, after indirectly funding education initiatives for six years, in 2006 the foundation took a historic decision to promote its own schools under its flagship Satya Bharti programme. The foundation’s objective is to promote schools under the PPP (public-private partnerships) model with the land either donated or leased for building Satya Bharti schools. “The entire infrastructure, human resources, curriculum and administration inputs are provided by the foundation, though community participation in management boards is encouraged. Each school providing free education to 225 students requires capital investment of Rs.20 lakh, with the recurring expenditure estimated at Rs.11.5 lakh per year,” says Chadda explaining the foundation’s modus operandi.
Another commendable Bharti initiative is adoption of failing government schools. Thus far under an MoU signed with the Rajasthan government, 49 schools in Amer and Neemrana districts have been adopted and renamed Satya Bharti Government Primary Schools.
In higher education, the foundation is proactively involved in telecom research and business management studies through the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management sited in IIT-Delhi, and the Bharti Centre for Communications in IIT-Bombay. Moreover it has set up a specialised school of public policy at the newly inaugurated campus of the Indian School of Business at Mohali (Punjab). “The mission of the Bharti Foundation is to build a strong and prosperous India through universal-isation of education. This is in the interest of Indian industry and society,” says Chadda.
Wind in your sails!
Autar Nehru (Delhi)