Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, has announced that the community development initiatives of students from five Satya Bharti Schools have been chosen for the 2013 Pramerica Spirit of Community awards.
The awards are an annual recognition programme for voluntary community service. The community campaigns started by five Satya Bharti students won one silver and four bronze medals. DLF Pramerica received more than 4,000 applications this year from across the country. Of these, 24 applicants were from Satya Bharti Schools.
Arti Verma, a class VII student from Satya Bharti School Raiwana, Neemrana, made it to the top 15. She was recognised for her campaign to change the attitude of her community against untouchability.
The class VIII students from various Satya Bharti Schools which won the runner-up awards and bagged four bronze medals were Sapna Chauhan for her initiative against child marriage; Shilpa Kumar, who ran a campaign to help the village elderly; Priyanka Kumari for her work to provide assistance to abandoned women and Rekha Meena for her drive against sexual harassment.
Vijay Chadda, CEO, Bharti Foundation noted that despite belonging to economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the children have proved that giving back to society is not the preserve of the privileged.
Bharti Foundation launched its flagship initiative, the Satya Bharti School Programme in 2006, which delivers free education to underprivileged children, focusing primarily on the girl child. Currently, more than 37,709 children are enrolled in 254 Satya Bharti Schools, across six states.