Author: Smile Team

Co-founder of Smile Foundation Santanu Mishra has been honored as one of the ‘India CSR Top 10 Impact Leaders of India’ during the ‘India CSR Leadership Summit – 2021’, organized by India CSR Network on January 16, 2021.

He received the prestigious ‘Impact Leader Award’ for his remarkable contribution in building a Resilient India during COVID-19 pandemic.

Santanu Mishra, also a Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation, under his leadership began its India Shares campaign in April 2020 as a response to the massive crisis emerging due to the first of its kind pandemic of COVID-19.

The campaign used a multi-pronged approach to ensure the vulnerable sections of society were able to receive essential services food and sanitation supplies.

Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder, and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation was awarded for being one of the impact leaders of 2020 by the India CSR Network at 9th India CSR Awards.

Smile Foundation began its ‘IndiaShares’ campaign on 6th April 2020 as a response to the massive crisis emerging due to the first of its kind pandemic of COVID-19. The campaign used a multi-pronged approach to ensure the vulnerable sections of society were able to receive essential services – food and sanitation supplies.

The summit was attended by dignitaries and representatives from Government, Civil Society, Think Tanks & Corporates. Other awardees felicitated for the contribution in 2020 included- Sonu Sood, actor and philanthropist; Shallu Jindal, Chairperson, JSPL Foundation; Atul Satija, Founder, The Nudge Foundation; Prashant Prakash, Partner at Accel India; Madan Padaki, CEO & MD of Head Held High Services; Kaushlendra, Founder of Kaushalya Foundation; Ankit Kawatra, Zomato Feeding India; Ravindra Sathe, Mentor- CoWin Network, and Ashif Sheikh, Founder, Jan Sahas.

India Shares, an initiative started to combat hunger amongst Smile foundation’s most vulnerable beneficiaries, is running successfully with the contribution of supporters from all walks of life. Smile Foundation has already covered 23 states in the country through a dry ration distribution program and has served more than 25 million meals to over 2.78 lac families so far. A survival kit typically includes: Rice, Dal, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Chilli Powder, Turmeric Powder, Dalia Flour, Liquid Handwash, Disinfectant Soaps, Masks, Sanitary Napkins and Biscuits (for children).

A telephonic and digital Health Awareness Initiative providing counseling on physical as well as mental wellbeing to the most vulnerable during COVID-19 called ‘Batoon Batoon Mein Sehat’ is being executed as part of the campaign.

40,000 people have been counseled and the aim is to reach 200,000 people. The multi-pronged approach also includes #HealthCannotWait – an initiative to take primary healthcare to the doorsteps of the less privileged children and families and promote a health-seeking behavior among them. At present, 1 million people are benefitting from the health services, with an aim to reach 2 million people.

Smile Foundation, is an NGO in India directly benefitting over 15,00,000 children and their families every year, through more than 400 live welfare projects on education for poor children, healthcare, livelihood and women’s empowerment, in over 2,000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Adopting a life cycle approach of development, Smile Foundation focuses its interventions on children, their families and the community.

India CSR Network is a leading media organisation on Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability, and related issues in India. The digital platform offers insights on Corporate Governance, Business Responsibility, Human Rights, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Workplace Safety, Industry 4.0, CSR 2.0 and other Socio-Economic issues.

The ‘India CSR Awards’ is certainly an inspiration to the leaders who are committed to driving transformations in the society with their dedicated service and commitment in the areas of sustainability and CSR.

Such acknowledgement and felicitations are aimed at recognising the industry leaders who are raising benchmarks by bringing transformative change in the society through innovation and excellence.

India CSR wishes him a happy and healthy life ahead to carry on his mission to make a positive contribution to a larger good in India.

The teachers at the local government school in Parpada did not want their students’ education to suffer, so with the help of the head of the village, they set up 20 loudspeakers across the hamlet. “We visited each and every house and encouraged the students to join the loudspeaker class. We also requested their parents to sit with them while the class was going on to make sure their child did not get distracted and paid attention. Parents were quite supportive and thankful of this decision,” recalls Raval who is the vice principal of the school and has been teaching the village students for 27 years now. The school has about 200 students.

Classes commenced in June and seven teachers head to the panchayat office one by one to teach the students from classes 3 to 8. They take six classes every day, with each class lasting half an hour. To make sure that the students are on the same page, teachers repeat instructions three times as the students, sitting at home or in a public space, listen.

Raval and the teachers do face some challenges while teaching through loudspeakers. “Teaching without making eye contact with the students becomes difficult at times. We don’t know if the students are able to understand what we’re trying to communicate. I teach mathematics and have to keep trying different ways to teach them, because this subject is tough to teach without a blackboard,” says Raval, who invites the students to come and see him after school hours if they find it difficult to grasp the lessons. “A lot of students come to me to get their queries resolved. Despite all the challenges we are ensuring that the learning continues,” he adds.

To make sure students are paying attention, Raval at times randomly calls out a student’s name, which gets their attention and also makes them feel special since their names are being called out on a loudspeaker with the entire village listening in.

Teachers at schools in urban areas, where the transition from classroom to virtual learning has been more or less smooth, faced other challenges. It was a task to adapt to teaching online given that many of them were new to these technologies. They also had to redesign the teaching structure and syllabus from that of a traditional classroom to online. Keeping students engaged is a task wherever they are, and when they are not in a classroom, it’s a bigger challenge.

“It was a task to design effective teaching material to suit the new way of teaching and successfully implementing it to get the desired results,” says Garima Gupta, 45, an English teacher at a leading school in Noida, Delhi, who has been teaching students online since April. “Students were excited as well as confused, and it was a challenge for us to control these inquisitive minds who aspired to explore and experiment,” she adds.

Where teachers struggled with technology, it became difficult for them to take control of the situation, as students, making the most of the new experience, got up to mischief. “With time I learnt that making the sessions innovative and interactive helps keep the students attentive in my class. Also, one cannot deny the role of parents, who despite their own personal and professional challenges, monitor these kids. Yet at times, making these students switch on their camera is still a Herculean task,” says Gupta, laughing.

The youth of the country are a dynamic population that plays a crucial role in the nation’s growth and development. They form strong pillars of the social and economic growth of communities. One in every third person in India is below the age of 24. This creates a large pool of human resources with high untapped potential for development. A nation’s productivity and development depend on the skills that its workforce holds. As a result of the demographic dividend, the youth will be key to building a strong economy. With an abundance of natural resources, improving world-class infrastructure, and policies that support self-reliance, India is on a path to breaking barriers and positioning itself among world leaders. At the heart of this progress are the people, especially the youth who are the principal resource contributing to national growth.

However, according to UN reports, young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than other adults and are continuously exposed to low quality of jobs, greater labour market inequalities, and longer and more insecure school-to-work transitions. With the onset of the global pandemic, the youth of the country were subjected to a disconnect from quality education and work opportunities as economic activities plunged. As per the results of the latest quarterly Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, around 23 per cent of urban youth in the 15-29 age group remained unemployed in January-March 2021. As per data from independent economic data agency CMIE, India’s labour participation ratio has fallen to 40.15 per cent in November 2021, i.e., 60 per cent of employable people in India have fallen off the job market. These factors make it important to help the youth of the nation access training and skill development opportunities through public and private initiatives.

Fresh graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to seek employment due to lack of appropriate skills and experience required in the job market. Widening skill gap is the major reason for growing inequality in job opportunities and increasing unemployment among youth. There is a growing need to restore the balance between demand and supply of skills in the market. Skilling and training of youth for 21st-century employability skills and capabilities will help create a skilled workforce that can contribute towards socio-economic growth. The youth must be trained in real-time market-oriented skills that encompass soft skills as well as technical skills rather than specific skills taught in isolation. Holistic skills training will not only help the youth get employed and participate in the workforce but will also allow them personal growth and a climb up the social ladder.

At the core of skilling is basic education. The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) is a step in the right direction as it aims to address the skilling of the youth to prepare a workforce that is fit for industrial revolution 4.0. Focus on vocational training will allow students to grow in sectors of their interest and help them tap their true potential to contribute fully to the nation’s development. While the NEP 2020 is at work, there is a need to address skilling and training for the youth who are currently looking for employment and skill acquisition. Given the rise in digitization across India, remote and virtual-mode learning needs to be leveraged to reach out to youth in semi-urban and rural India to provide skilling opportunities that can enhance talent and help provide access to employment opportunities, leading to the development and growth of communities. Skilling fresh graduates and those who lack the skills required for the job market and upskilling those looking to move industries or move upwards in their current sector will be a definite addition to the quality of the national labour force.

Make no mistake, skilling and training will be key in forming a world-class workforce that aids the Indian economy’s ascendancy. Addressing the skilling and training needs of India’s youth will also help our country achieve its sustainable development goals of reduced inequality, decent work and economic growth, and poverty eradication and overall wellbeing. We need to take steps now to harness the true potential that the youth of India hold so that our country is able to realize its demographic dividend.

The article is written by Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.

The pandemic has brought many unavoidable and abrupt changes in the sphere of education. The education system across primary, secondary, and higher learning has been disrupted, leaving students with major learning gaps and many without access to learning tools. Efforts have been made to mitigate these hardships, wherein educationists, social entrepreneurs, organisations, and government establishments have led the way in transforming the education landscape of India.

Traditional to digital

India has the world’s second largest education system, consisting of government-run, public, and non-government schools across urban and rural India. Up until now, with low adoption of digital education, India’s education system followed traditional methods of learning. However, this changed with the pandemic, as both private and public institutions adopted technological aids to offer what was best for students with new educational tools and innovations.

Students were quick to transition from four-walled classrooms to learning from screens. To address the issues of lack of digital access in rural and semi-urban India, the private and social sectors came forward to complement government efforts through interventions that allowed children from all sections of the society to access digital devices and internet connectivity, helping pupils transition from traditional methods of learning to the digital mode.

Shift in strategy

As we battle the pandemic, some tectonic shifts have taken place. India has fully vaccinated more than 61% of its eligible population. This success has made it possible for all educational institutions to think about and plan reopening. It is now important that as educationists, we ensure a smooth transition back to the classrooms by adopting a hybrid method of teaching and learning, while preserving gains from digitisation of education.

Need of blended learning

Students were among the worst sufferers of the pandemic, as their education came to a sudden halt with schools shutting down. While most shifted to digital learning, for the lesser privileged students, this transition came with numerous challenges. A sample survey of over 40,000 children at education centers across the country suggests that nearly 60% did not have access to smartphones. Home learning was not easy for them either, as many of them are first generation learners and cannot expect support and guidance from their parents.

We used a blended learning approach, where we used a variety of ways that were customised as per the individual needs of children, including digital learning, normal phone-based learning, community cluster classes, door-to-door visits, as well as radio and television-based learning programmes. Through these, we made efforts to help children continue their education. Special emphasis was paid on the mental and emotional well-being of children through engaging activities, music, art, yoga, and even one-on-one counseling when needed.

The pandemic also disrupted skilling of youth, along with forcing the market to generate new requirements. This has also been highlighted in the focus given to skill development and vocational training in NEP 2020.

There is need to work collaboratively to help our children and youth get dynamic growth and education. On the brighter side, the pandemic has preponed many innovations in teaching and learning. For example, the hybrid model of education seems to be the new normal as we prepare our children for the immediate future.

(The author is co-founder and executive trustee, Smile Foundation)