>> The Speech of Mr. A H Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation, At the Annual General Meeting of Roundtable India, at Cochin December 27, 2002

President of roundtable, Mr. Jaikumar Ramdass, Past President and other office bearers of Roundtable India and friends,

It gives me immense pleasure to be among so many young entrepreneurs and successful professionals across India. I am thankful to Round tTablers for inviting me to this event at Cochin.

But for some conflicts in dates, I had absolutely no hesitation in accepting this invitation. I genuinely admire the fact that so many professionals and business people are deeply aware of the huge problems before our country in the area of education and are actively taking concrete steps to address these problems than merely talking about it.

I was delighted to learn that the mission of Roundtable organisation is to educate one million children in the country by building some 2000 schools of which over 400 schools have already been constructed.

The association and partnership of Wipro or Azim Premji Foundation with Roundtable is not new. When Azim Premji Foundation wanted to launch its pilot initiative of using computer assisted learning in elementary schools of rural Karnataka, it was Roundtable Bangalore that came forward to refurbish the schoolrooms, upgrade the infrastructure and equip the rooms with necessary furniture.

When the unfortunate and devastating earthquake in Kutchch happened and the Team Wipro wanted to help the affected persons with funds of Rs. 20 Mln, we found Roundtable as the organisation we can depend on with the school construction project. Roundtable not only did an outstanding job of constructing quality schools - but also raised matching funds that were required to build these schools.

As you probably know, education is the only hope for our country to change its status of developing country into a developed country. We cannot make this change happen unless we ensure the 50 Mln out of school children are in the school and ensure that all children in school are learning.

Several state governments have launched initiatives to enrol large number of out-of-school children in school. In Karnataka alone, over 300,000 out-of-school children have been mainstreamed during the past three years. On the other hand, the national average drop out rate for children from 1-8 standard is as high as 58%. This means for every 100 children that get enrolled in standard 1, only 42 children remain in class 8. There are many reasons why children drop out. However, the most important of them is that children do not find it worthwhile to remain in the school. They find it threatening, boring and confusing. They do not learn enough.

Wipro and Azim Premji Foundation believe that a sustained Universalization of Elementary Education can be achieved only through dramatic improvement in learning in the school.

Thus Wipro has launched a Programme "Wipro Applying Thought in Schools" that focuses on enhancing the quality of learning for children in 3rd to 7th standard in some of the premier schools in identified metros and mini-metros. The objective of the initiative is to address key issues in the school that impact children learning in an interesting and innovative manner. This includes issues ranging from teacher training to administrative, pedagogical and academic interventions that impact children's learning.

In Azim Premji Foundation, we are working in rural Government schools in identified geography with complete focus on improving quality of learning in these schools. For the next 24 months, we will be working in about 3700 habitations in northeast Karnataka, 2000 habitations in Andhra Pradesh and in about 300 slum schools in Gujarat. Our work addresses the various issues in learning at three levels:

At the first level, we have launched a comprehensive learning guarantee Programme that aimed at identifying schools that are achieving learning guarantee, identifying the reasons of why they are achieving it, recognising the same, incentivising the schools and communicating the reasons for their achieving the Learning Guarantee to all other schools in the region.

At the second level we have specific interventions such as developing competencies for multigrade teaching among teachers, remedial teaching for the under achievers in the school and using computer assisted learning to attract, retain and excite children in the school.

At the third level, we have interventions that would build capacities for a sustained Universalization of Elementary Education in the geography we work in. These include training all the education officers who have a critical role in education, training the school committee members who are most important stakeholders in education to enable them to carry out decentralised planning for the school improvement, and developing a powerful education MIS package that can help the Government make on-line decisions in education.

Our approach is that every Programme must have a formal and tight partnership with the Government and the community. It must be a large initiative, must focus on learning improvement, and finally there must be a definite time bound plan for transfer of ownership to the relevant stake holder.

The partnership with the Government is critical since it is only the Government that has the resources, the experience, the organisation and the reach. There are over 678,000 Elementary schools across the country that educate 136 Mln children in the age group of 6to 14 years. The total expenditure of the Government on elementary education is Rs. 2,300 crores out of which 95% gets spent on teachers' salaries. Our aim is to develop large proofs of concept that can be internalised in the Government system.

Our budget for the next 12 months is about Rs.50 crores. What we bring to the table is our passion, our sincerity, our result orientation, our process orientation and our quality orientation.

It is necessary that we develop the result orientation and accountability in the system to get the best results for the existing spend levels. Organisations such as Azim Premji Foundation and Roundtables can bring in the required professionalism and entrepreneurial spirit in the education field. It distresses me no end when I read in the newspapers that education is the third highest in the ladder of corruption in the country. We must collaborate with the Government and bring in the required dramatic change in the system.

Azim Premji Foundation is an organisation with the Vision to catalyse change. We made it clear to the Government right in the beginning that we do not intend to substitute the Government efforts. Our experience with the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh Government is extremely encouraging. We have found that there are excellent officers in the Government who are in no way qualitatively inferior to some of the best talent in the corporate world.

I have heard a lot of good things about Roundtables as an organisation. I have heard about members forgetting their business and profession when they get obsessed with the social project in hand. In fact, I have heard that some members raise their own funds when they cannot get adequate support from the organization for projects they really believe in. And this is the difference that attracts me to this organisation.

The task at hand is complex and multifaceted. It requires many like-minded individuals and organisations to come together and address issues together. We are already partnering with a number of committed and high integrity organisations. I am sure, there is a scope for the Azim Premji Foundation and Roundtables to join hand in education - especially since there is a significant synergy in our goals.

Education is the foundation on which we can build our country. It has to be the first national priority. It is an investment, which has the biggest multiplier. Let me share a story I am very found of.

There was once a poor Scottish farmer named Fleming. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you, " said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment the farmer's own son came to the door of the hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If he's anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him?

Penicillin.

This is not the end. The nobleman's son also made a great contribution to society. For the nobleman was none other than Lord Randolph Churchill. And his son's name was Winston Churchill.

The story also brings out another important truth. Education is the greatest gift one that anyone can receive because it has a cascading effect on the Society at large.

I wish, the roundtable AGM all the very best and once again thank you for inviting.

Azim Premji

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