CSR interventions of Indo Count Industries Limited, a textile industries dealing with home furnishings, were recently looked in to. The Company has framed its CSR policy and spending about over Rs 300 lakhs annually on CSR. One of the CSR interventions of the company relates to setting up E-literacy centres in 110 government and municipal schools in the peripheral areas of its plants in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.
Required hardware like computer, projector, Info Tech connectivity and software tailor-made as per the approved syllabus of state Education Board in local Marathi language have been installed in each school.
This had a financial implication of Rs 113.61 lakhs involving Rs 1.30 lakh as capital cost per school and Rs 35,000/- for maintenance. Students as well as teachers of the school appeared to be very enthusiastic in using the facility. The parents were also happy as their children got quality education. It speaks volume about this CSR intervention making a difference in the lives of the younger generations
IT based E-learning facility have been installed in a number of schools under SSA and other programmes with sizable investment. However their utilities vary widely. In a number of cases the facility is being used sub-optimally due to some reason or other and the target group continue to be deprived of quality education. The case mentioned above appeared to be different as the system was functioning and the students were getting the benefit.
