Small step for a company, big leap for the children

“Good morning, Sir! How’re you, Sir?”, the group of little kids break into a sing-song chorus as you enter the class-room of the panchayat union middle school. Pleasantly embarrassed, you blurt out a response and throw the question back at them. The reply is quick: “We’re fine, Sir; thank you, Sir!”

Nothing extraordinary in this except that this is a school deep inside what used to be forest brigand Veerappan’s territory and these are under-privileged children who, until recently, did not have the benefit of even basic education thanks to their remote location. We’re in a small hamlet Dhoddur, on top of a hill, 75 km from Hosur, Tamil Nadu. Forget conversing in English, most of these little kids with bright eyes and innocent smiles could not spell words even when in the 5th standard nor could they do basic arithmetic.

With classes from 1st-8th standard, the school boasts of 210 students on its rolls but more than half of them were attending school for namesake. Until recently, the school had only the principal who doubled up as teacher for all classes! Today, there are two vacancies filled but it is anyone’s guess how long the new appointees would stay.

It is an old problem alright, and one not unique to the Dhoddur school — remote village schools where teachers refuse to join work is a problem plaguing government schools. The price is paid by generations of children. Given the state’s policy of not detaining children until the 8th standard, these kids are promoted to higher classes each academic year but without them possessing the required levels of learning or knowledge. So, how do you break this cycle?

Enter Ashok Leyland (ALL) in 2015 with its Road to School programme. As part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, ALL decided to take up the task of improving learning levels in 153 government schools in and around Hosur, Namakkal and even in suburban Chennai.

The idea, as NV Balachandar, President-HR, Communication and CSR, says, was to work with the principals of these schools to screen the children and identify those lagging behind either due to inadequate teacher attention or due to learning disabilities and conduct remedial classes during school hours right within the school premises.

“Our CSR activities were ad hoc in education, health, environment and driver safety but when the statutory 2 per cent of average net profits on CSR spend kicked in we re-evaluated our choices and decided to focus on improving learning levels in the lower classes,” says Balachandar.

The company commissioned Boston Consulting Group to research the subject. The next step was to identify a partner who would implement Leyland’s strategy in the identified schools. NGOs were the obvious choice and Delhi-based Learning Links Foundation (LLF) was chosen through a competitive bid that was evaluated by a committee.

LLF would employ resource persons (teachers, in another name) from the same area who would teach the children picked up for remedial learning in the three subjects of English, Tamil and Mathematics. These special classes would be held for an hour or two after which the kids would return to their regular classes. The idea was to bestow special attention on the children and employ modern teaching methods to bring them on a par with their classmates.

LLF is reimbursed all costs, including the salary of the resource persons (about ₹15,000-20,000 per month), teaching materials etc. and a service fee, which Balachandar refused to disclose citing confidentiality. The entire operation is overseen by a dedicated team of nine officers. Technology, including WhatsApp, is being leveraged to control the massive operation across 153 schools.

“Though we had the easy option of handing over the responsibility completely to LLF along with the required funds, we decided to keep the control with us and only outsource the job to them,” says Balachandar, adding that EduSports has also been employed for sports related development in the schools.

The effects are beginning to show in the schools adopted in the first phase of the programme in 2015, one of which is the Dhoddur middle school. Screening tests show that the children’s learning levels are improving. Reports of tests seen by Business Line and visits to three different schools in Anjetty near Hosur prove that children are beginning to benefit from the programme. They proudly show off their awards and prizes secured in inter-school competitions.

School Management Committees formed by ALL with representatives of parents and teachers apart from its own executives oversee the progress of the initiative in each school. It is also the committee’s job to ensure that parents send their little ones to school daily without fail.

Given the extreme poverty levels here, parents are often wont to send their kids to graze goats in the hills as it will help them earn extra money. LLF resource persons say that they often personally visit the village homes to question parents who do not send their children to school.

Madhaiyan, the parent representative of the school committee in A. Pudhur village near Anjetty says that he pulled his son out of the local “convent” (private school) and put him in the government primary school after seeing the quality of education imparted there. “I was coughing up big money in the private school for none too good education. Here my son gets better education and for free!” says Madhaiyan. It helped that one of the resource persons in the school, Rajgiri, is an ex-student of the same school. Young Rajgiri radiates enthusiasm as he mingles with the kids and teaches them.

As an added incentive to the parents and children, Leyland has recently started providing breakfast to the kids comprising of bread, bun and cookies. According to N Seenivasan, Senior Manager-CSR at ALL’s Hosur plant, the drop out rates have almost come down to nil after this initiative. The children are provided lunch under the government’s mid-day meal scheme.

Interestingly, though it has not been able to ensure that the teachers it appoints stay in their posts, the government machinery seems to be working even in these remote parts. Children do get free uniforms, books, note books and even school bags from the government.

Going the extra yard, ALL takes the children on field trips too. Last year, selected children were taken to ISRO, Sriharikota, the Bangalore zoo and so on. As part of practical learning, they visited the nearby police station, post office and hospital. That these visits have had an impact on the children is evident when you converse with them.

Oviya and Malarvizhiselvi, middle school students at the A. Pudhur school, want to become doctors while Ranjitha shyly says she wants to go “foreign”. You ask her: “Where?”, and she chimes up in all innocence: “Chennai!” Seenivasan says that these kids barely knew the world beyond the village that they lived in which is why the field trips were organised to widen their knowledge.

The kids of the middle school at Chakkalapalli village near Anjetty are curious to see the visitor from far-off Chennai and want to know what he does as his profession. Bright-eyed and talkative VidyaSri pipes up: “You asked us a lot of questions. Can you also tell us about yourself?” When you explain the job of a journalist in a newspaper, little Murugan puts up his hand from the rear of the room: “ Sir, the road outside our school is narrow and though not meant for vehicles, autos and trucks race past. Can you write about it in your paper?!”

Little Tamilselvi, who was observing the events quietly from her perch in the first desk then chimes: “Sir, will our school name appear in your paper?”

The first test for Road to School will come when ALL exits the schools chosen in the first phase on completion of the remedial programme. “We’re working with the government and trying to fill up teacher vacancies. We’ll ensure that the positions are filled when we move out. The response from the government is positive”, says Balachandar.

The Road to School programme is expected to cost ALL about ₹18 crore in this fiscal, which is a small amount for the ₹20,000-crore company. Yet, this makes a big difference to these under-privileged children who would otherwise find themselves ill-equipped in an unequal world.

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