· Bharti Foundation led Satya Bharti learning Centres enrol and mainstream Out Of School Children (OOSC) in 1079 villages
· 27,104 OOSC have been directly impacted till date
· Around 18,597 OOSC who appeared for the Government Assessment have been mainstreamed into their age appropriate grades
· 96.5% OOSC belong to marginalised communities (SC/ST/OBC); 49% are girl students
· Local youth employed as Education Volunteers (EVs): 1094 EVs in Rajasthan, 134 EVs in Jharkhand and 88 EVs in Madhya Pradesh.
Jaipur, 19th September 2016: Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, today announced the success of its Government school initiative- the Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program, with its direct impact in 1,079 villages located in the remote rural areas of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. The program aims to enrol and mainstream ‘Out Of School Children’ (OOSC) into regular schools by providing them bridge courses to bring them at an age/class appropriate level.
On attaining the milestone of 1000+ villages, Mr Vijay Chadda, CEO, Bharti Foundation said, “The program that began in February 2013 with Jodhpur District is today running successfully in 35 Blocks of 10 Districts across three states including Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. We are grateful that through the Satya Bharti Learning Centres we have been able to bring thousands of Out Of School Children back into Government schools.”
Venturing into such a large outreach program and bringing back a great number of Out of School Children is a challenge as well as a formidable task. The targeted locations are situated in extremely difficult terrains of rural hinterlands and are educationally backward blocks with literacy rates lower than national and State average. The program is designed to converge with the existing Government system through coordination and alignment with the regular support of Government officials.
Mr. Keshar Dan Ratnu, Block Elementary Education Officer (BEEO), Chohtan, Barmer added, “In the year 2013-14 there were 7,734 out of school children as per the CTS survey in Chohtan block. To this end, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Chohtan has been working to mainstream these children into Government schools. Since 2014, Bharti Foundation has extended its full support to our initiatives, to the effect that 5,386 children (70%) have already been mainstreamed into Government schools as of 2015-16. The efforts of Bharti Foundation, especially in these remote blocks is indeed praiseworthy. We are confident, with their continued efforts, soon every single child in every Gram Panchayat of Chohtan will be mainstreamed in the near future.”
About the Satya Bharti Learning Centres Program:
The Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program focuses on Out of School Children (OOSC) in close coordination with Government Schools. In 2012, the Foundation entered into a partnership with the Educate A Child program of EAA under the leadership of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar. Under this partnership, the Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program was initiated with an aim to mainstream Out of School Children back into schools by identifying, enrolling and providing them bridge courses to bring them at an age/class appropriate level. The first phase of the program was initiated in Rajasthan in 2013 and it was later extended to Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
The program approach is to establish a Learning Centre within a classroom provided in a selected Government School. In addition, Mid-Day Meals, textbooks and condensed courses (special training modules) are provided by the Government. Bharti Foundation appoints and trains Education Volunteers who undertake community surveys to identify Out of School Children in the villages. These Education Volunteers also undertake special teaching/training for the identified children, fortify learning with usage of innovative Teaching Learning Material, provide age-appropriate mainstreaming and undertake community mobilisation activities. Finding suitable human resources continues to be a challenge in these remote areas, which is overcome to a great extent by identifying and training youth from the local community with the support of the Education Department and other Government bodies as well as Foundation’s own team of expert trainers.
About Bharti Foundation: Bharti Foundation was set up in 2000 as the philanthropic arm of the Bharti Enterprises. It implements programs in the field of primary, elementary, senior secondary and higher education through the Satya Bharti School Program as well as Government School interventions under its Satya Bharti Quality Support and Satya Bharti Learning Centres Program. This year, the Foundation is celebrating 10 successful years of the Satya Bharti School Program. Bharti Foundation has till date impacted the lives of close to 1,50,000 students from underprivileged background and has touched over a million lives through its education initiatives.
In addition to education programs, the Foundation has initiated ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’, to improve sanitation facilities in rural Ludhiana District and ‘Nyaya Bharti’ to provide legal and financial aid to deserving underprivileged under-trials languishing in jails across the country for minor offences.