•CONVOKE 2017 organised in Satya Bharti Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Fattubhila
•Over 70 Principals, educationists, representatives of NGOs and school staff attended the day-long conference.
•Participants and discussants hailing from close to 35 private, aided and Government schools attended the knowledge sharing meet including, Delhi Public School, GD Goenka, Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Guru Nanak Dev University and more
•16 papers presented by academicians on the theme of “Real Life Curriculum”
21st February 2017, Amritsar: Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises organised Convoke 2017, in continuation of the 10 year celebrations of the Satya Bharti School Program. The thematic conference addresses the challenges in imparting and strengthening quality education in rural India. Hosted at Bharti Foundation’s Satya Bharti Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Fattubhila in Amritsar District, this is the third such conference in the series.
The conference series aims to cover a wide range of crucial issues related to current practices in the achievement of quality in school education, enhancing teacher capability and exploring best practices from different schools/educational institutions. In addition to providing a forum for discussion, it also promotes collaboration and intellectual exchange for all those interested in the fields of research and practice. The conference serves as a common collaborative platform for networking and knowledge sharing among the peers of Academia.
Addressing the gathering, Ms Mamta Saikia, COO, Bharti Foundation said, “At Bharti Foundation, we strongly believe in education beyond meeting of immediate academic needs, by equipping children to face real life situations. The role of Real Life Curriculum is especially relevant in the rural context where children have limited opportunities and face socio-economic challenges. The academic and non-academic processes at Satya Bharti Schools serving rural pockets and children from marginalised sections are a true a testimony of such an effort. As educators taking charge of this task, it is gratifying to partake in a discussion that is concurrent to Bharti Foundation’s emphasis on holistic development of students. It is a privilege to provide this platform of knowledge exchange and share good practices from our schooling system with the wider sector.
The conference brought together academicians, research scholars, curriculum developers and think tanks to share their insights on the need of ‘Real Life Curriculum’ in the school education system, with a special focus on rural India. The sharing of sectorial experience and best practices is intended to energise curricula that reflect various aspects of “Real Life”; holding the potential of becoming a determining factor in every aspect of school education and leading to the development and training of young minds towards Nation building. Papers were presented by 16 participants, each covering the following sub-themes of “Real Life Curriculum”:
◾Significance and components of real life curriculum
◾Effective teaching and learning processes
◾Holistic education and its integration with curriculum
◾Enhancing scope for employability
As a participant of the conference Dr Sukhdev Singh, Professor and Ex HOD, Department of English, Guru Nanak Dev University added, “Convoke 2017 has created an opportunity for all of us at the local level to share and learn from each other. As educators we teach our students that the learning process never stops and the papers presented today provided fresh and welcome perspectives on the importance of integrating ‘real life curricula’ in the education system.”
About Bharti Foundation:
Bharti Foundation was set up in the year 2000 as the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises. It implements and supports programs in the field of primary, elementary, senior secondary and higher education through the Satya Bharti School Program as well as Government School interventions under its Satya Bharti Quality Support Program and Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program. This year the Foundation has completed 10 successful years of its flagship initiative – the Satya Bharti School Program.
In addition to its primary focus area of education, the Foundation initiated ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ in 2014, to improve sanitation facilities in rural Ludhiana and ‘Nyaya Bharti’ in 2015 to provide legal and financial assistance to deserving underprivileged under-trials languishing in jails across the country for petty offences.
Bharti Foundation is currently reaching out to over 1,30,000 students through 1,500 schools/centres, across 12 Indian states, engaging 4,500 teachers through its initiatives in the education sector. In addition, our programs have impacted over 1 million community members across rural India, since inception. These programs have already been recognized as one of the largest private enterprise initiatives of the country in the education sector. Satya Bharti Abhiyan has also achieved the distinction of having delivered over 17,500 household toilets, directly benefitting more than 86,000 beneficiaries in the villages of Ludhiana. The Abhiyan has entered phase II of implementation by extending its footprint in the urban areas of Ludhiana. This is intended to support the District Administration’s initiative of declaring Ludhiana open defecation free.
Our initiatives:
Ø The Satya Bharti School Program:
The Satya Bharti School Program is the flagship initiative of Bharti Foundation. This rural education initiative provides quality education to underprivileged children, completely free of cost, with a special focus on the girl child. The program envisions transforming students into educated, confident, responsible and self-reliant employable citizens of India with a deep sense of commitment to their society. The program’s reach is multi-pronged, encouraging active involvement of the rural community, parents of students and like-minded organizations working in the field of education in India. Making a lasting and sustainable impact on the community where schools are present and finding innovative solutions, through its primary and senior secondary schools, to create replicable and scalable components in the program ensures delivery of quality education. The Satya Bharti School Program is being implemented with the intent to arrive at replicable and scalable components of quality education which may be adapted by the Government and other like-minded organizations. Reaching out to thousands of underprivileged children, the program, through its focus on holistic development, aims to bring forth a new generation of citizens eager to usher in positive change. Currently 249 primary/elementary Schools and five senior secondary schools are operational across Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal reaching out to 43,605 children and employing 1,717 teachers. Focusing on the girl child [49% girl students] and the weaker sections of society [75% of children from SC/ST/OBC Communities], the program is one of the largest end-to-end education initiatives by a corporate group in the country.
Ø Satya Bharti Quality Support Program:
The Satya Bharti Quality Support Program is an education initiative with Government Schools. Through this program, Bharti Foundation engages the school leadership, teachers, students and communities to enhance the schooling experience and strive for excellence. The approach focuses on identifying, integrating and optimising best practices from Satya Bharti Schools with the intent of encouraging innovation, participation, ownership and facilitating a sustainable change. Currently, the program is being run in 239 Government schools directly impacting 64,059 students and 2,747 teachers across seven states of India.
Ø Satya Bharti Learning Centre Program:
Bharti Foundation operates a remedial/bridge courses program with aim of bridging the education gap of out of school children and mainstreaming them into regular schools. The first phase of the program was deployed in partnership with the Government of Rajasthan and was scaled up to Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, extending program reach to the remote blocks of all three states. Currently, 321 Education Volunteers are engaged in teaching 4,447 out of school children, of which 48% are girls, enrolled at 344* Satya Bharti Learning Centres. Till now, 21,323 children have been mainstreamed, with the total impact reaching up to 29,498 children.
* 821 centres have been closed as most of the OOSC’s in these villages have been mainstreamed (number included in overall impact); in some villages the count of OOSC’s have dropped to such a low figure that it has gone below the minimum numbers required to run a centre, as per Government norms; of these, 58 Centres were closed due to of non-availability of qualified Education Volunteers.
Ø Nyaya Bharti
'Nyaya Bharti' is one-of-its-kind corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative by Bharti Enterprises, one of India's most respected business groups. The primary objective of Nyaya Bharti is to provide aid to underprivileged undertrials who are first time accused of petty offences and require financial and legal assistance to apply for bail and release. It also extends assistance to poor convicts undergoing imprisonment for petty offences due to their inability to pay petty fine imposed by the court. Nyaya Bharti's Governing Board is headed by Justice A.S. Anand (Retired Chief Justice of India). The Nyaya Bharti initiative aims at providing legal assistance and creating awareness about the undertrials' legal rights while complementing the legal aid work being undertaken by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and State Legal Services Authority (SLSAs) set up under statute legislated by the Parliament. Under this initiative 40 bail orders have been obtained till date and the release of 32 underprivileged undertrials has been effectuated.
Ø Satya Bharti Abhiyan:
On 18th August 2014, Bharti Foundation launched Satya Bharti Abhiyan, an initiative to improve sanitation facilities with rural Ludhiana as a focus area. Under this initiative, the Foundation has provided individual toilets in the villages of the District, fulfilling its objective of leaving no rural household across Ludhiana without a toilet. Till now, the Abhiyan has provided over 17,500 household toilets directly benefitting more than 86,000 beneficiaries and reaching out to over 1000 villages of Ludhiana. In addition, it has helped in improving sanitation facilities in Government schools by providing a separate toilet for girls in 14 Government schools of rural Ludhiana as identified by Department of Education (Punjab).
All data as of 31st December, 2016