Bharti Schools: Bharti Group to spend Rs 200 crores

Bharti Group to spend Rs 200 crores on primary education projects

While the Indian government is busy pushing the reservation bill forcing private companies to hire people based on their caste, Bharti is setting an example of their own by announcing a corpus of Rs 200 crores which would be spent on setting up primary schools around the country.

This project would be carried out through the company’s Bharti Foundation and they are aiming at establishing a few hundred schools over the next 18-20 months.

Investors in this group, Vodafone and Warburg Pincus have also supported the cause and would be playing a role in this project. Mr. Sunil Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises spoke about this new noble initiative from the company: “I have taken inspiration from people like Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft. We have picked up primary education as a mission under the banner of Bharti Foundation.”

The Bharti Foundation would also setup Teachers’ Training facilities throughout the country to improve the level of competence in teachers who would be teaching at these primary schools. These newly established schools would be called Bharti Schools and the company plans to spend Rs 10-15 lakh on establishing them. Another Rs 5-7 lakh are expected to be spent as operational expenses.

Other companies in India need to take inspiration from this noble initiative taken by one of the largest telecom operators in the country. And maybe government would respond too by concentrating on improving education facilities at the ground level rather than messing with institutions, which are doing well on their own.