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Speech
delivered at
the Annual General Meeting of Roundtable India at Cochin
Azim
Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation
27
December, 2002
President of roundtable,
Mr. Jaikumar Ramdass, Past President and other office bearers of
Roundtable India and friends,
It gives me immense pleasure to be among so many
young entrepreneurs and successful professionals across India. I am
thankful to Round Tablers for inviting me to this event at
Cochin.
But for some conflicts in dates, I had absolutely
no hesitation in accepting this invitation. I genuinely admire the fact
that so many professionals and business people are deeply aware of the
huge problems before our country in the area of education and are
actively taking concrete steps to address these problems than merely
talking about it.
I was delighted to learn that the mission of
Roundtable organisation is to educate one million children in the
country by building some 2000 schools of which over 400 schools have
already been constructed.
The association and partnership of Wipro or Azim
Premji Foundation with Roundtable is not new. When Azim Premji
Foundation wanted to launch its pilot initiative of using computer
assisted learning in elementary schools of rural Karnataka, it was
Roundtable Bangalore that came forward to refurbish the schoolrooms,
upgrade the infrastructure and equip the rooms with necessary furniture.
When the unfortunate and devastating earthquake in
Kutchch happened and the Team Wipro wanted to help the affected persons
with funds of Rs. 20 Mln, we found Roundtable as the organisation we
can depend on with the school construction project. Roundtable not only
did an outstanding job of constructing quality schools - but also
raised matching funds that were required to build these schools.
As you probably know, education is the only hope
for our country to change its status of developing country into a
developed country. We cannot make this change happen unless we ensure
the 50 Mln out of school children are in the school and ensure that all
children in school are learning.
Several state governments have launched
initiatives to enrol large number of out-of-school children in school.
In Karnataka alone, over 300,000 out-of-school children have been
mainstreamed during the past three years. On the other hand, the
national average drop out rate for children from 1-8 standard is as
high as 58%. This means for every 100 children that get enrolled in
standard 1, only 42 children remain in class 8. There are many reasons
why children drop out. However, the most important of them is that
children do not find it worthwhile to remain in the school. They find
it threatening, boring and confusing. They do not learn enough.
Wipro and Azim Premji Foundation believe that a
sustained Universalization of Elementary Education can be achieved only
through dramatic improvement in learning in the school.
Thus Wipro has launched a Programme "Wipro
Applying Thought in Schools" that focuses on enhancing the quality of
learning for children in 3rd to 7th standard in some of the premier
schools in identified metros and mini-metros. The objective of the
initiative is to address key issues in the school that impact children
learning in an interesting and innovative manner. This includes issues
ranging from teacher training to administrative, pedagogical and
academic interventions that impact children's learning.
In Azim Premji Foundation, we are working in rural
Government schools in identified geography with complete focus on
improving quality of learning in these schools. For the next 24 months,
we will be working in about 3700 habitations in northeast Karnataka,
2000 habitations in Andhra Pradesh and in about 300 slum schools in
Gujarat. Our work addresses the various issues in learning at three
levels:
At the first level, we have launched a
comprehensive learning guarantee Programme that aimed at identifying
schools that are achieving learning guarantee, identifying the reasons
of why they are achieving it, recognising the same, incentivising the
schools and communicating the reasons for their achieving the Learning
Guarantee to all other schools in the region.
At the second level we have specific interventions
such as developing competencies for multigrade teaching among teachers,
remedial teaching for the under achievers in the school and using
computer assisted learning to attract, retain and excite children in
the school.
At the third level, we have interventions that
would build capacities for a sustained Universalization of Elementary
Education in the geography we work in. These include training all the
education officers who have a critical role in education, training the
school committee members who are most important stakeholders in
education to enable them to carry out decentralised planning for the
school improvement, and developing a powerful education MIS package
that can help the Government make on-line decisions in education.
Our approach is that every Programme must have a
formal and tight partnership with the Government and the community. It
must be a large initiative, must focus on learning improvement, and
finally there must be a definite time bound plan for transfer of
ownership to the relevant stake holder.
The partnership with the Government is critical
since it is only the Government that has the resources, the experience,
the organisation and the reach. There are over 678,000 Elementary
schools across the country that educate 136 Mln children in the age
group of 6to 14 years. The total expenditure of the Government on
elementary education is Rs. 2,300 crores out of which 95% gets spent on
teachers' salaries. Our aim is to develop large proofs of concept that
can be internalised in the Government system.
Our budget for the next 12 months is about Rs.50
crores. What we bring to the table is our passion, our sincerity, our
result orientation, our process orientation and our quality
orientation.
It is necessary that we develop the result
orientation and accountability in the system to get the best results
for the existing spend levels. Organisations such as Azim Premji
Foundation and Roundtables can bring in the required professionalism
and entrepreneurial spirit in the education field. It distresses me no
end when I read in the newspapers that education is the third highest
in the ladder of corruption in the country. We must collaborate with
the Government and bring in the required dramatic change in the system.
Azim Premji Foundation is an organisation with the
Vision to catalyse change. We made it clear to the Government right in
the beginning that we do not intend to substitute the Government
efforts. Our experience with the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
Government is extremely encouraging. We have found that there are
excellent officers in the Government who are in no way qualitatively
inferior to some of the best talent in the corporate world.
I have heard a lot of good things about
Roundtables as an organisation. I have heard about members forgetting
their business and profession when they get obsessed with the social
project in hand. In fact, I have heard that some members raise their
own funds when they cannot get adequate support from the organization
for projects they really believe in. And this is the difference that
attracts me to this organisation.
The task at hand is complex and multifaceted. It
requires many like-minded individuals and organisations to come
together and address issues together. We are already partnering with a
number of committed and high integrity organisations. I am sure, there
is a scope for the Azim Premji Foundation and Roundtables to join hand
in education - especially since there is a significant synergy in our
goals.
Education is the foundation on which we can build
our country. It has to be the first national priority. It is an
investment, which has the biggest multiplier. Let me share a story I am
very found of.
There was once a poor Scottish farmer named
Fleming. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he
heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and
ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a
terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming
saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse
surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced
himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
"I want to repay you, " said the nobleman. "You
saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the
Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment the
farmer's own son came to the door of the hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the
farmer replied proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give
him a good education. If he's anything like his father, he'll grow to a
man you can be proud of." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's
son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and
went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander
Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterwards, the nobleman's
son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him?
Penicillin.
This is not the end. The nobleman's son also made
a great contribution to society. For the nobleman was none other than
Lord Randolph Churchill. And his son's name was Winston Churchill.
The story also brings out another important truth.
Education is the greatest gift one that anyone can receive because it
has a cascading effect on the Society at large.
I wish, the roundtable AGM all the very best and
once again thank you for inviting.
Azim Premji
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