The Hindu Business Line : Empowering children, the IBM way

IBM India is in the process of expanding its community work beyond six States, touching more people. And its punch line seems to be `catch them tiny'.

The Head of IBM Corporate Social Responsibility, Ms Jalaja Pillai, told Business Line, "IBM has a series of initiatives such as KidSmart, IBM University Relations programme and Linux Campus Clubs. The effort now is to broadbase these initiatives."

Through Kidsmart, IBM takes education to the masses, thereby seeking to accelerate their progress and bridge the digital divide for the underprivileged.

Partnering with NGOs, IBM works at the grassroot level to reach out to underprivileged children at government schools, anganwadis and trust-run schools using technology to develop basic skills, make learning interesting and help lower drop-out rates. The idea is to bring them on par with those who have access to education, said Ms Pillai said.

What began with five schools in Chennai has now expanded to 175 schools across six States, thereby reaching out to 25,000 students. Typically, kids in ages 3-7 years learn in an innovatively designed environment. This effort is supported by over 400 trained teachers.

Started in 2000, Kidsmart is in partnership with Promise Foundation in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Pratham handles the project in Maharashtra. In Andhra Pradesh, Kidsmart partners with Byrraju Foundation.

IBM India has tied up with Byrraju Foundation to launch its community relations initiative in 13 schools. Through TryScience, IBM, in partnership with the New York Hall of Science, seeks to introduce science and technology. So far, it has installed six Tryscience kiosks and plans to provide more.

All these initiatives are supported by what is described as On Demand Community that symbolises the volunteerism of its employees. More than 2,000 employees have registered for the programme.

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