Talk about Swinging For The Fences! The corporate honchos have often voiced their not-so-positive opinions about the education system in India and how despite consistent improvements, the current education system in India is inadequate for nation’s growth. Mr. Narayana Murthy’s remarks on the quality of IITians is only a few weeks old.
Well, fret not! Azim Premji is setting about on a plan to revolutionize the Indian Education system. Mr. Premji has decided to take matter into his own hands and decided to walk the talk when it comes to developing and nurturing talent in India
Azim Premji foundation (Mr. Premji’s self-funded foundation) plans to start 1,300 schools across the country- two per district – which will be free, impart education in the local language and be affiliated to the state board
The project has an estimated capital outlay of Rs. 9000 crore and the estimated timeline for completion of 1300 schools is by 2025.
A phased-wise approach will see seven schools being opened within the next 1.5 years in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand and Chattisgarh. Audacious plans but Mr. Premji is not just another guy in the park.
The interesting concept here is that the AFP foundation schools are not going to impart free education, the onus is to provide real quality education which can hopefully be replicated by other public and private schools over time.
Train Them Young !!
While a majority of corporate initiatives around education are focused on partnering with technical universities and training young graduates, Mr.Premji plans to cover pre-school to class 12 education in the schools that the APF opens.
Personally speaking, this is a welcome change and a great move. I firmly believe that the education system at the primary and secondary levels needs to improve and if that happens, the quality of talent when it comes to pursuing graduate courses will go up drastically.
The private sector has benefited the education sector to a certain extent but a for-free initiative managed with a private establishment type rigorousness and I think APF could do the nation’s education system a world of good.
One can only hope that Mr. Premji’s plans see execution because the scale of the project can really shake the education system in India from the ground-up and for the better.
One good thing about the initiative here is that, this is not a part of the CSR initiative of Wipro which then could have made me wary of the whole initiative. Mr. Premji intends to use his own funds and further the cause of education in India which makes me believe in the project even more.
What are your thoughts on the Mr. Premji’s ‘two schools a district’ education project. Do you think an education initiative at this scale will be achievable?