Ashish Dhawan, founder of Central Square Foundation, presents the findings of the organisation's recent report, "Investment in Learning," which aims to guide companies who are formulating or revising their CSR policies in how to structrure a strategy focused on education.

1. 12 November 2014
INVESTMENT IN LEARNING
Promoting Quality School Education through
Corporate Social Responsibility

2. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 2
AIMS OF THE REPORT
To guide companies who are formulating or revising their CSR policies
in how to structrure a strategy focused on education by:
• Highlighting key opportunity areas that can drive education quality
• Suggesting overarching strategies for CSR in any area of education

3. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 3
EDUCATION QUALITY IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR
• 26 crore school children, 14.5 lakh schools
• Issue of access to schools largely resolved
o 97% enrolment in elementary (ASER 2013)
• But massive quality challenges persist
o Class 5: 53% of students cannot read a
Class 2 text and 74% cannot do simple
division (ASER 2013)
o 41% of CEOs in India had to cancel or delay
a key initiative because of talent-related
constraints (PwC)
• Need to complement initiatives such as
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with quality-focused
interventions

4. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 4
CATALYSING QUALITY THROUGH CSR INVESTMENT
• Opportunity for Strategic CSR
o Government spends 3.6 lakh crore
annually on education
o Limited scope for innovation in
government system
o Corporate funds can be used as R&D to
develop new models and gather
evidence of their impact
o Scale effective models through policy
changes and government partnerships

5. 1. Public-Private Partnership Schools
2. Remedial education
3. School leadership
4. Teacher training
5. Technology in education
6. Social integration in private schools
under the Right to Education Act
7. Equity in education for marginalised
groups
8. School Management Committees
9. Early childhood education
10. Co-scholasting learning
11. Nutrition and health
12. Vocational education in secondary
schools
12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 5
12 OPPORTUNITY AREAS

6. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 6
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) SCHOOLS
• Opportunity:
o PPP schools are publicly owned and operated by
NGOs
o Mumbai passed PPP policy with per-child
reimbursement to school operators; Delhi,
Chennai, MP also interested
o PPP schools can act as innovation labs for
government system, e.g. teacher training
• Role for Corporates:
o Provide gap funding to NGO school operators
o Contribute to collaborative endowment fund for
operators
• Example:
o Thermax and NGO partner, Akanksha
Foundation, operate 6 PPP schools in Pune
o These schools have demonstrated significantly
higher results than government schools

7. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 7
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
• Opportunity:
o Vocationalisation of Secondary Education
Scheme introduces vocational curriculum
beginning Class IX
• Role for Corporates:
o Help design vocational curriculum and
teacher training
o Provide guest faculty; practical training
opportunities for students
o Fund NGO to support implementation of
vocational education
• Example:
o Wadhwani Foundation has partnered with
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, to implement
vocational education in secondary schools

8. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 8
SOCIAL INTEGRATION UNDER RTE
• Opportunity:
o RTE provides for 25% reservation in
private schools for EWS children
o Government reimburses on per-child
basis
o Additional funding needed for social
integration
• Role for Corporates:
o Provide top-up funding for
remediation, extracurricular
activities, field trips, and teacher
training for social inclusion
o Employee volunteering to mentor
EWS students

9. 12 November 2014 Investment in Learning Slide: 9
OTHER STRATEGIES FOR MAXIMISING IMPACT
Design a focused strategy
Concentrate resources on a single issue or limited set of issues
Collaborate with other stakeholders
Partner with NGOs with implementation expertise
Pool resources with other companies to achieve greater scale
and impact
Take a long-term view
Recognise that change is likely to be a slow process
Set out short-term, mid-term and long-term objectives
Invest in monitoring and evaluation
Use data to refine the approach and decide when to scale up