Big Four ask for more for slum kids

MUMBAI, MAY 28: Perhaps for the first time in the economic capital of the country, 80-odd representatives of various corporate houses att...

MUMBAI, MAY 28: Perhaps for the first time in the economic capital of the country, 80-odd representatives of various corporate houses attended a meeting at World Trade Centre today to fulfil a social obligation 8212; to help make Mumbai the first city in South Asia to achieve the feat of sending every slum-dwelling child to school by the start of the next millenium.

The meeting was held in response to an appeal issued by four giants of the Indian industry 8211; N Vagul, chairman of ICICI Limited, Dr A S Ganguly, chairman of ICI Limited, Ratan Tata of Tata Sons Limited and Kesub Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra amp; Mahindra Limited 8211; seeking help on behalf of a public charitable organisation called Pratham.

Pratham runs nearly 300 balwadis in Mumbai providing pre-primary education to 50,000 children from slums. Starting off in 1993 in a bid to initiate children between the age group of 3-5 years, the project really took off when ICICI took over the parental role from Unicef, which initially funded the project.

Vagul made a fervent plea for help at the meeting. 8220;There are 30,000 children in the slums who have no means of getting pre-primary education. We should see to it that they do not miss out because they are poor,8221; he said.

The combination of non-governmental organisations and corporate houses in social activities in not new. But what makes this effort different is the massive scale of operations undertaken by Pratham. The organisation plans to open up 4,000 kindergartens and cater to 70,000 children by next year.

Though the Brihunmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has allocated Rs 373 crore for education in its annual budget this year, it does not have any funds for setting up kindergartens in the city. According to Vagul, nearly 1,00,000 children enter the municipal schools every year with absolutely no pre-school education.

Though government figures put the cost of pre-primary education at Rs 180,000 crore, Vagul claimed corporates could get the same work done with just Rs 180 crore. 8220;Can the citizens of the city contribute to educate their own poor?8221; he asked.

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When posed with this question a few months ago, Sanjeev Mohta, an exectuive with HSBC Investment Banking, wrote out a cheque of Rs 12,000 immediately. Not only that, he sold the idea to his colleagues at HSBC, with great success. Last week on Tuesday, all their brokers at Bombay Stock Exchange paid a part of their commission to collect a fund for Pratham, an amount running into a few lakhs.

8220;Selling the idea to HSBC was easier than even selling shares of Hindustan Lever,8221; said Mohta, who felt education is an issue which appeals to everyone.

Meanwhile, the Standard Chartered Bank came up with its own contribution of Rs 3 lakh and also promised to set up a committee of volunteers to help Pratham in its activities.

If the bankers did their bit, the ICICI employees are not too far behind either. According to Vagul, the company has started a scheme wherein a voluntary donation ranging from Rs 20-1,000 can be made by the employees per month, which will go into a fund pool for the organisation. 8220;The ICICI is likely to contribute Rs 1.5 crore every year through this scheme,8221; he added.

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Vagul also called on ordinary citizens to join the project. According to him, a balwadi is run on an annual fund of Rs 6,000. 8220;I appeal to citizens to take over the finances of a balwadi nearby, so that they can see their money being utilised in front of their eyes,8221; he said.