Bharti Foundation's flagship initiative, the Satya Bharti School Programme, has won the Qatar Foundation's 2012 ‘World Innovation Summit for Education’ (WISE) Award for its transformative impact and innovative approach to improve the quality and delivery of education to underprivileged children in rural India.
The Satya Bharti School Programme provides free quality education to over 38,000 children across rural India through its network of 254 primary and secondary schools.
Bharti Foundation is to receive prize money of $ 20,000 for further enhancement and development of the programme and will also enable the Foundation to showcase its endeavours, best practices and learning at the world forum and inspire change through education.
Bharti Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, a leading business group in India.
In a statement, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Co-Chairman of Bharti Foundation said, “What started out as a small dream is today one the largest interventions of its kind in India, when it comes to basic education for the underprivileged. This recognition will give us the confidence and encouragement to take this programme to greater heights.”
The 2012 WISE Awards finalists have been selected under the theme ‘Transforming Education’. The WISE awards for education are given each year. It was launched in 2009 by the Qatar Foundation and has received over 1,600 applications from 128 countries, with only 24 outstanding educational projects being declared winners.