NEW DELHI (India CSR): Ashok Leyland Foundation, the CSR arm of Ashok Leyland Ltd, has announced an ambitious plan to expand its education programmes to reach nearly one million students across India by 2029. The Foundation will also increase its annual CSR spending from Rs. 40 crore to Rs. 60 crore to support this growth.
The Foundation currently runs its flagship programmes — Road to School and Road to Livelihood — across 25 districts in nine States. Together, these initiatives benefit about 6.3 lakh students in 4,585 government schools across nearly 4,500 villages.
Foundation Director N V Balachander said the programmes would be extended to more States, including Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The initiatives are being implemented in partnership with Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and respective State governments, with the aim of strengthening access to quality education for underserved children.
Launched in 2015, the Road to School programme focuses on foundational literacy and numeracy for students from Classes 1 to 8. The Road to Livelihood programme, introduced in 2022, supports students from Classes 9 to 12 with career-oriented learning and practical skills to improve employability.
Highlighting the programme’s field impact, Foundation Chief Operating Officer T Sasikumar cited Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal district, a remote tribal region where nearly 95 per cent of the population belongs to Scheduled Tribes. The Road to School initiative currently covers 58 government schools in the area, supporting 3,515 tribal students with the help of 48 field personnel.
The Foundation has distributed more than 5,750 literacy and numeracy workbooks, enabled over 3,165 students to attend summer resource camps, and supported 373 students through tablet-based learning.
The planned expansion signals Ashok Leyland Foundation’s deeper commitment to improving learning outcomes and creating pathways to higher education and livelihood for children from underserved communities.
