KOLKATA (India CSR): Embee Software, a leading IT solutions company, is proud to share the sustained success of its transformative CSR initiative launched in 2018 in collaboration with Kolkata-based nonprofit, AHEAD Initiatives. What began as a pilot ICT training program for teachers in Kalchini, North Bengal, has now grown into a multi-district movement that is reshaping rural education through technology.
Empowering Rural Education
AHEAD’s strategy and Embee Software’s vision of “making IT easy, not simple” inspired the program. While it ensured compliance, the program was designed to demonstrate how IT could transform the impact of education of underprivileged rural students and empower their teachers in government schools. The idea was to train the teachers so they could, as part of a Training of Trainers program, train others in their schools as well as neighbouring schools, for a larger social impact. Embee Software chose to work and team up with the local Panchayat and the local school authorities in a remote area like Kalchini, in North Bengal. The idea was to garner local ownership and mainstream the intervention for its sustenance after the project ended.
Inspiring Digital Transformation
Teachers who had never even touched a computer are now utilizing digital tools, developing audio-visual learning materials, and even starting YouTube channels. Someone even helped to stop a wild jungle fire by promptly shooting a video and sending it to the local administration. He got a mention in the newspapers. The success of Kalchini resulted in similar initiatives in backward district towns, Baghmundi in Purulia District and Balurghat town in South Dinajpur district.
Boosting Student Literacy
Exposed to the pitiable state of education in rural schools, Embee Software then moved to address a greater, more critical and urgent need to help young, marginalised village students in the Sundarbans to boost their literacy and numeracy levels, as well as help them with cultural learning, contextual life skills and socio-environment awareness, especially since Sundarbans, the mangrove delta, is one of the most vulnerable zones among those threatened by climate change. Open Learning Centres supported by communities with Embee Software and AHEAD’s help opened in five villages in 2023.
Boosting Student Literacy
This initiative is unique not just for its outcomes, but for its approach. Embee Software didn’t just fund programs, it collaborated deeply with local NGOs, panchayats, and communities to co-create meaningful solutions. The result is an education model that reflects the realities of rural learners, not just urban-centric curricula.
Co-Creating Local Solutions
“We believe that real transformation happens when you empower people with tools and trust,” said Sudhir Kothari, Managing Director, Embee Software. “This initiative is not about ticking CSR boxes; it’s about creating meaningful change where it’s needed most.”
Championing Purposeful Support
Abeer Chakravarty, Managing Director of AHEAD Initiatives said, Through the CSR programs, “Embee Software has looked at the purity of purpose; they understood what was really needed and done in the true spirit of ‘sewa’, Embee Software decided to fund us and support programmes that we have initiated, which goes beyond the ordinary call and this is what is remarkable as this, I believe, is the core DNA of Embee Software.”
Expanding Learning Centres
The OLCs continue to function, and the successful model has been adopted by AHEAD in Mayurbhanj, Odisha as well as in Bankura in West Bengal with 10 more OLCs opening. Technology is now used to get village women, many adivasis, to make them rely on easily accessible Smartphones and the internet for training, curriculum development and video documentation. The use of computers will be introduced when more senior students engage with the OLCs. Embee Software remains committed to walking this harder, purpose-driven path, not for accolades, but for the future it helps reshape.
Meanwhile trained teachers continue to make a significant difference with the use of the training and the hardware provided by Embee Software.
(India CSR)
