In Pic: Mr. Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd, Mr. M. Selvaraaj, DEEO, Namakkal District, Mr. Gopal Mahadevan, Chief Financial Officer, Ashok Leyland and Ms. Nooria Ansari, President, Learning Links Foundation.
Ashok Leyland extends its ‘Road to School’ project for 45 Schools in Namakkal District
* Will cover four educational blocks - Namakkal, Mohanur, Paramathy and Erumapatti
* This initiative will benefit 4700 students of Namakkal District
* With this, ‘Road To School’ program will reach out to 19700 students this year
Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, July 2017: Ashok Leyland, flagship of the Hinduja Group, and the 2nd largest commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturer in India, today announced the extension of its corporate social responsibility project, ‘Road to School’, for 45 schools in Namakkal district.
After Shoolagiri, Anchetty, Minjur and Puzhal towns, Ashok Leyland will help improve the primary and middle school education in government schools in Namakkal District covering four educational blocks viz. Namakkal, Mohanur, Paramathy and Erumapatti. With this addition (4700 students), the project will positively impact 19700 students in the current year.
Sharing his views on the occasion, Mr. Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd., said, “At Ashok Leyland, we believe that education is the best social leveler for our society. The least we can do for our future generations is to help them learn and make them well-educated citizens of this country. Following this belief, about a decade ago we started contributing our bit in the field of education with “Road to School” initiative in Shoolagiri and Anchetty districts. Today marks another milestone for us as we add another 45 schools from Namakkal district. We are very happy and humbled that we will be able to make a positive difference for another 4700 children, in our own small way.”
Mr. N.V Balachandar, President – HR, Communication and CSR, Ashok Leyland,has been leading this project and has seen it grow and affect so many children’s lives for the good. He said, “Education has been the most important initiative and it has been a very fruitful journey for us and our project, “Road to School’. We have seen the remarkable difference in the children under this project and we are thrilled that children from Namakkal will now be part of this family. It will help us nurture both scholastic and co-scholastic development of children from government schools in remote locations covering health, hygiene, physical and emotional development including sports. This project is very close to us and we have taken this as our duty and responsibility to pursue such initiatives to benefit the industry and society at large.”
‘Road to School’ program has already achieved significant success in its limited years of implementation. Key outcomes of the program are:
* Over 20% improvement in learning levels of students from class II to class VII, as measured by Base Line and End Line tests
* Approximately 20% reduction in dropout rates and increase in attendance and punctuality
* Remarkable improvement (over 35% ) in reading skills as measured by standard reading tests
* Remarkable improvement in health and hygiene practices in 70 % of the schools
* Increased community, SMC and parents participations in students academics
To achieve this success, there is a very scientific, process-oriented approach for maximum impact. Some of the key features of this program are:
* Teachers are well qualified (B.Ed with teaching experience), full time resource, appointed in all Schools for a period of three years
* Health personnel are well qualified and well trained
* Cluster and project managers are appointed for smooth implementation of the project
* Customized Learning Enhancement and Practice (LEAP) content and worksheets for children are made available to plug grade level / age level learning gaps. The LEAP content is in spirit of current syllabus prescribed in Tamil Nadu state
* Comprehensive assessment practices with rapid tests, skills tests, base line, mid line and end line tests in all schools to monitor the progress
* Multiple training programs for project staff, school teachers and Head Masters
* Provision of Math kit, Science kits, Laptops, internet for technology integration
* Provision of Mobile Library and Fun bus for students for extra-curricular experiences
* Holistic Wellness program with focus on Health, Hygiene, physical and emotional development
* Comprehensive Health Checkups for all students in partnerships with well-known hospital chains
* Community based events, national and international day celebrations in schools with support of Ashok Leyland volunteers
* Provision for sports kits, Tube lights and Fans for school development
In the year 2016, the ‘Road to School’ program was extended to 108 schools - 72 schools in Anchetty Cluster and Shool agiricluster; 36 schools in Minjur and Puzhal, near the Ashok Leyland Mother Plant and Technical Research Center in Chennai. Before today’s extension, the program was impacting around 15000 students annually on education, health, and wellness enhancement.
