Infosys co-founder SD Shibulal: High secondary school dropout rate remains a major challenge in India. peppermint

SD Shibulal, one of the seven founding members Infosys, Now the Shibulals lead the family philanthropic initiative, which recently completed 25 years. Shibulal is also the patron of a non-profit called Mantra4Change, which recently launched Shikshagraha, a people’s movement focused on transforming government schools across India by collaborating with district leaders, women and youth.

Shibulal removed from the post of CEO and MD at Infosys In July 2014, spoke to peppermint About his philanthropic journey. For decades, the 69-year-old Shibulal He has worked in various fields including education and health care. Edited excerpts from the interview:

Question- You are such a person whose name still resonates in the IT world. Do you see the world changing with this IT advancement?

Technology has become a big part of our lives. There is no activity in our lives that does not involve technology. Be it healthcare, retailing, manufacturing or travel, any part of human life activity today involves technology.

And I believe that will continue to happen. New technology Will emerge and new forms of technology will emerge. Some of this will increase our productivity. Some will increase our convenience, some will help. So, I see technology continuing to play a huge role in our lives.

Q. Your family started philanthropy in 1999 with the first scholarship scheme in Kerala. What was the driving force behind this initiative?

Well, to add to the previous question, technology plays a big role in philanthropy. We use technology heavily in most of the things we do CharityIncluding scholarship programs.

Now, talking about the scholarship program. me and my wife Kumari Shibulal I was always thinking about it. There are many fields that one can get involved in and in a country like India, there are challenges in almost all fields.

Enrollment ratio in schools

If you look at our gross enrollment ratio in schools, we have done well; We have probably reached 80 percent enrollment ratio in middle schools. But if you look at our enrollment ratio higher educationIt falls somewhere around where it was 25 years ago – closer to 20 to 22 percent.

Now, if you compare that number with any other developed country or even developing country, it is below the limit. This made us believe that higher education is an area where we can make a difference. We decided to start a scholarship program for higher education.

Question- How did this happen?

By this year, we will complete 50,000 Scholarships. With 90,000 applications being selected by 3,000 people, ultimately, it all comes down to merit. We have thousands of kids who have accomplished different things and moved on. We have people who are doing their PhD abroad. We have people who are working in various corporations in India.

Question- One of the major programs run by you is called Shikshagraha. Please elaborate

During the journey from 1999 to 2012, we realized various aspects and various challenges of our education system. In 2017, we launched ShikshaLokam, which focused on leadership, capacity building and leadership for caring work.

Today there are about one million public schools in India 150 million children enrolledOur secondary school dropout rate is still very high, around 12 to 13 percent.

ShikshaLokam Introduced the concept of micro improvements. We found that, as an organization, we needed partners, so we created the concept of collective action. We transformed schools by building capacity and leadership, driving a series of micro reforms and collective action.

And Shikshagraha is, in a way, the culmination of all this at the next level. Correct? Creating a network, creating a movement that will implement these philosophies, these methods in selected districts across the country.

Question- How does it work?

Shikshagraha will partner with local NGOs, people working in those districts and people who understand the district, leadership, government priorities and the environment.

Parents, students, teachers, headmasters and DEOs will partner with them. All the knowledge, methodology and how to make schools better together, right?

And together bring change in the district. If we could do this across the country it would be a phenomenal change.

Question- What are some success stories of this initiative?

Punjab is a good example of this. When we started working with Punjab, the state was ranked one of the lowest National Achievement Survey And performance grading indexAlthough I am not using the words exactly right.

We have worked closely with local organizations and the Punjab government in Punjab. Over the past few years, he has been ranked number one in the index. So, great example to consider.

Punjab was basically seeing a decline in enrolment. Through this initiative, we were able to reverse the decline in enrollment. But in the period that we were working there, we were able to reverse the decline in enrollment.