Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders and the public. It is all about companies playing their responsible part in society and giving back to society: in other words, it is basically creating a ‘connect’ and building relationship with the community. In today’s world, there are numerous societal needs and companies have taken it on themselves to enhance and strengthen the communities they serve. CSR is a win-win for everyone. In fact, even Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) deliberates on the thought that each of us should be responsible for our actions, as these actions affect the community that we are a part of.
Education has been one of the main thrusts for CSR/ISR as the sector is facing continuous challenges of strained budgets of the schools, and weak economic conditions of student families. Even the quality of education being imparted in schools may not match the expected standards. Lack of basic amenities, inadequate professional teachers or teaching aids, and other such reasons may add to the deteriorating conditions.
CSR in Education helps in improving the quality of education, training teachers, and providing access to infrastructure that can cultivate student’s skills so that they can aim for higher education and better lives. Government schools need maximum support in areas such as STEM education and resources.
STEM Learning with its pioneering Mini Science Centres (MSCs) provides an all-encompassing solution to all these challenges by making the road easy for students who want to make a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) but are unable to do so due to the previously mentioned inadequacies.
STEM Learning collaborates with various Corporates to ensure many under-served schools have access to radically impactful aids. MSCs have been installed in more than 1900 schools across India and have received a phenomenal response with over 1 million students now having access to an increase in their scientific temper and inquisitiveness. The objective is clear and concise: if we provide access to these well deserving students, they can easily build their own roads for glorious future ahead. This entails the teachers being empowered with the help of teaching aids, so that they can easily teach tough subjects like science and maths to students in an easy manner. They need to be trained to further educate students in an effective manner, for the overall development objectives.
I have been working in the education sector for long years now and this is my honest belief: till the time we target a holistic approach of these under-served students and design programs accordingly with all stakeholders being a part of this development process, we cannot think of a STEM culture in the future. It is nothing less than imperative to empower teachers by providing them with aids and trainings, and to empower students by helping them explore, question, reason, understand and retain permanently.
In other words, it is crucial for us to build brains beyond books; help students undergo hands on learning in comparison to rote learning, learn from one another through peer to peer learning to increase their capacities. Whenever I have interacted with my team or the teachers where we have installed MSCs, this is the feedback I have always received, and the impact I have measured.
CSR/ISR in Education has had a sustainable impact on the progress of the society, the validation of which can be attained when we see students across India, and mostly in rural areas, look towards the skies with their eyes twinkling with hopes of positive and skilled careers, since education has turned to be their guiding light.
“Think of CSR, Think of ISR, Think of Investing in Next Generation, Think of Investing in Education!”
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