I visited the Bharti Foundation yesterday – both their corporate office in Vasant Kunj and two of their projects in Rajasthan. Bharti is Airtel’s CSR wing – a reflection of Rakesh and Sunil Mittal’s stated commitment to social change through education.

At the moment, they have set up 153 schools in four states. Approximately 2/3 are straight Bharti Schools; the other 1/3 are in collaboration with the government.

When I first heard of the government part of the project, I was quite excited. I thought the idea was that Bharti would adopt government schools and improve the standard of education being offered in government schools through teacher-training, better monitoring, infrastructure and accountability. That’s what’s happening, but minus the government teachers. In a peculiar twist, government school buildings in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and UP have been handed over to Bharti,  children included. The teachers, however, have been transferred to other schools in the district (where, in the strange logic of the government bureaucracy, they continue to do nothing much of anything at taxpayers’ expense).

Bharti then found its own teachers (local people with college degrees but not necessarily in education), trained them and moved them into the buildings which they renovated, including getting the toilets in working order, and adding electricity and running water.

The results are remarkable.

On our visit, we spoke with parents (only men, unfortunately) who said the school was totally different now. The government teachers, they said, had been engaged in just about everything BUT teaching: some were property dealers, some had their own tuition centres. They came when they felt like it, and accordingly, so did the children. Now, the dads said, the children were in their places on time, faces washed and hair combed, every day. The teachers insist on proper behavior and the kids are actually learning.

Inside the classrooms, I was amazed to see wonderful teaching methods being used. The classrooms were genuinely interactive; the children were engaged, the teachers were working hard. Difficult concepts (fractions, lowest common denominator, sets) were being taught using an activity based approach and you could almost see the children’s minds working. Their eyes were bright and sparkling. It was a pleasure to watch.

This little boy (one of the many children who are too young to attend school but who trail along behind their older sibs and are allowed to sit in the kindergarten and soak up the general atmosphere) caught my eye:

Here he is checking his work. . .

comparing it with his friend’s. . .

presenting it for approval to the teacher and then, brimming with confidence,

offering his considered opinion to a classmate and finally . . .

helping his friend to also get it right.

All in all, a great example of what learning is about. Well done, Bharti!