Bharti Foundation awarded social and corporate governance award

Bharti Foundation, the philanthropy arm of Bharti Enterprises, has been awarded the Social and Corporate Governance Award for Best Practices in Corporate Social Responsibility 2008.

The award, which has been instituted by Bombay Stock Exchange Limited, Nasscom Foundation and Times Foundation recognises and honours organisations for their contribution to society.

Bharti Foundation was sited as one of the nine winners and received this award for its work in the field of education under the aegis of the Satya Bharti school programme.

Bharti Enterprises set up Bharti Foundation in 2000 to help underprivileged children and young people of our country realise their potential. For over eight years, the Foundation has been creating and supporting programmes that bring about sustainable improvement in the field of education. Bharti Foundation implements education programs in the field of both primary and higher education.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, co-chairman, Bharti Foundation, said, "It is an honour for Bharti Foundation to receive this award for the Satya Bharti school programme. This programme is our endeavour towards increasing access to quality education in rural areas and making it a catalyst for educational reforms in the country. I thank the jury who has considered the program worthy of this award. Recognitions like these will encourage us to further strengthen our program and reach out to many more children across rural India."

The Satya Bharti school programme is the flagship initiative of Bharti Foundation and aims to provide free quality education to underprivileged children in rural India, with special focus on the girl child.

The Satya Bharti school programme is designed to help students acquire skills to explore, question, reason, communicate effectively and acquire values that help them stay rooted to their culture and connect with the society. It is a large scale, replicable project which aims to develop an education model that will be of high quality.

Various innovative processes and systems have been put in place to ensure quality education at the Satya Bharti schools. Processes like mobile teachers and mobile co-ordinators ensure that no class is left unattended at any point of time and that teachers are provided pedagogic and administrative support. It has standard operating procedures, processes and stringent quality checks to create accountability in the system and ensure smooth implementation of programs.

The curriculum used at the schools look at holistic development of the child and special emphasis is given to computer learning and English language. The schools are also run as year round schools without extended breaks to maintain continuity in the learning levels among the students.

158 Satya Bharti Primary Schools are already operational across the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with more than 17,000 children and over 600 teachers. Over the next few years, Bharti Foundation plans to set up 500 Satya Bharti Primary Schools and 50 Senior Secondary Schools that will reach out to over 2,00,000 children in villages across India. Of this, 236 primary schools and 10 secondary schools will be set up in the first phase of operations. 78 new Satya Bharti Schools will be operational by April-June 2009, reaching out to more than 30,000 children.

The Foundation has adopted a two-pronged strategy to make a difference in the quality of elementary education in the country through its Satya Bharti School Program. On one hand, Bharti Foundation is establishing its own primary and senior secondary schools. On the other hand, Bharti Foundation is adopting government primary schools to improve the quality of education being imparted there. 49 government schools have been adopted in Rajasthan with teachers and resources of the Foundation.

Currently 158 Satya Bharti Schools are operational across the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, reaching out to more than 17,000 underprivileged children.

In addition to the flagship programme Bharti Foundation has also initiated and set up 26 Bharti Computer Centres and 104 Bharti Library and Activity Centres (BLAC) across the country in association with organizations like Pratham, Kalakar Trust and Adharshila.

Bharti Foundation has partnered with premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2000 to set up the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management, IIT Delhi. Bharti Foundation has also entered into a partnership with IIT, Bombay to set up the Bharti Centre for Communication, Bombay. The Bharti Scholarship and Mentorship program has also been instituted to support academically brilliant students from financially weak backgrounds.

Currently 202 scholars are being supported under the Bharti Scholarship and Mentorship Program. The Bharti Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives, set up in a joint initiative with the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) promotes, develops and facilitates entrepreneurship and works towards encouraging entrepreneurship among young individuals.