Bharti

Hon’ble President of India inaugurates Bharti Foundation’s Satya Bharti School

• ● Bharti Foundation’s flagship program to benefit over 2,00,000 children across the country by giving them access to quality
• ● education through innovative teaching material and classroom processes
• ● The program is an innovative Public-Private-Partnership model in the area of education
• ● Schools to provide free primary education, mid-day meals, books & stationery, uniforms to underprivileged students

Jodhpur, June 21, 2008: Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the Hon’ble President of India today inaugurated the Satya Bharti School at Village Lordi Dejgara, Dist. Jodhpur, set up under the aegis of Bharti Foundation’s Satya Bharti School Program. The flagship Program of Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, aims to provide quality education to underprivileged children in rural India.

Under the program, Bharti Foundation will set up 500 Satya Bharti Primary Schools and 50 Senior Secondary cum Vocational Training Schools in villages across India. Also present at the occasion were Mr. Rajan Bharti Mittal, Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

On the occasion, Mr. Rajan Bharti Mittal said “While India makes impressive strides with its rapid economic growth, 300 million children in the age group of seven years and above do not have access to education. At Bharti, we believe that education is the single most important tool to bring about social and economic transformation and children in rural India must get an equal opportunity for education. With the Satya Bharti School Program, we are committed to make a difference and bridge the education divide between the urban and rural pockets of India, taking forward the agenda of inclusive economic growth.”

The promoters of Bharti and its associates have committed a corpus of Rs. 200 crores for Bharti Foundation’s projects, in particular, for the Satya Bharti School Program’s roll out across the country. The Satya Bharti School program is an innovative model of public-private partnership in the country where even people from village communities have played an important role. It aims to make available high-quality education to the underprivileged, out-of-school and migrant children especially the girl child. Currently 161 Satya Bharti Primary Schools are operational across the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand with more than 13,000 children and over 560 teachers.

By 2010 Bharti Foundation aims to reach out to more than 2,00,000 children through 500 Satya Bharti Primary Schools and 50 Satya Bharti Senior Secondary cum Vocational Training Schools across the country. Apart from the regular curriculum, these 50 Satya Bharti Senior Secondary cum Vocational Training Schools will impart professional skills to the students and equip them for future employment opportunities within their own villages and communities.

Bharti Foundation has already setup 25 Satya Bharti Schools in Districts Jodhpur, Jaipur, Alwar and Pali and has also adopted 49 Government Primary Schools under its School Improvement Program in Amer and Neemrana. Dr. Abhishek Singhvi, MP, Rajya Sabha has allocated Rs. 25 Lacs under the MPLADS Scheme for the construction of 3 Satya Bharti Schools including the one in Lordi Dejgara.

The curriculum and teaching-learning processes at the Satya Bharti Schools are designed to help children acquire skills to explore, question, reason, communicate effectively and acquire values that help them stay rooted to their culture and connected with the society. The education initiatives of Bharti Foundation involve working closely with the government and local community. Bharti Foundation works towards creating a sense of participation among the community members, instilling in them a sense of ownership towards the school.

About Bharti Foundation

Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises was set up in 2000. The main focus being to help underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential. For over eight years, the Foundation has been creating and supporting programs that bring about sustainable improvement in the field of education.

Bharti Foundation implements education programs in the field of both primary and higher education. The primary school program is designed to help students garner skills to explore, question, reason, communicate effectively and acquire values that help them stay rooted to their culture and connect with the society. The senior school program will train the students in professional skills to equip them for future employment opportunities within their own villages and communities. In addition to the above two flagship programs Bharti Foundation has also initiated and set up 26 Bharti Computer Centres and Bharti Library and Activity Centres across the country in association with organisations like Pratham Infotech, Kalakar Trust and Adharshila.

In order to provide education and training opportunities to young people and develop future leaders and entrepreneurs, Bharti Foundation has set up the Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management at IIT Delhi. and partnered with IIT, Bombay to set up the Bharti Centre for Communication. The Bharti Scholarship and Mentorship program has also been instituted to support academically brilliant students from financially weak backgrounds.

About Bharti Enterprises

Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, financial services and retail. Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company, is one of India’s leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 69.15 million customers as of end of May 2008, spanning Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. Bharti Airtel has been ranked amongst the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007. Bharti Teletech is the country’s largest manufacturer and exporter of telephone terminals. Bharti has a joint venture - FieldFresh Foods (P) Ltd – with Del Monte Foods India Pvt. Ltd., to offer fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in the domestic as well as international markets including Europe, USA and Middle East. Bharti has a joint venture - Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd. - with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. Bharti also has a joint venture for an asset management company - Bharti AXA Investment Managers Private Ltd. - with AXA IM and AXA APH. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business under a company called Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. It also has a joint venture - Bharti Wal-Mart Private Ltd. - with Wal-Mart for wholesale cash-and-carry and back-end supply chain management operations in India.