Marico Limited signs an MoU with the Government of Bihar under its Nihar Shanti Paathshala Funwala initiative
Mumbai, November 2021:Marico Limited, one of India’s leading FMCG companies, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Bihar under its flagship initiative, Nihar Shanti Paathshala Funwala. The MoU was signed by Prabodh Halde, Head – Technical Regulatory Affairs from Marico Limited, Mr. Vijay Kumar Himanshu, Director (SCERT), Department of Education, Government of Bihar and Mr. Ayush Jain, Head of Operations from LeapForWord in the presence of Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Education & Cabinet Secretariat department, Government of Bihar among other dignitaries.
The agreement – which aims to bridge the academic gap, bolster grade appropriateness in English for students, and create a scalable and sustainable model that benefits the whole state – will be effective until 2024 in all 38 districts across Bihar.
A unique and innovative pedagogical approach, The English Literacy Programis a 4-level, structured, modular, and measurable program that can be taught in any local language irrespective of the teacher’s existing English-speaking capabilities. As part of the program, Marico Limited, along with its NGO partner LeapForWord, will equip government schoolteachers(grade 2 to grade 8),who generally communicate and teach in regional languages, with simple teaching techniques that help children to develop reading, spelling, comprehension, and sentence structuring capabilities.
As part of the program, Marico Limited along with LeapForWordwill train and certify all eligible teachers under The English Literacy Program while also providing them with high-quality digital Teaching and Learning material (TLM) to improve the in-class teaching experience. The company will also complement the state’s efforts in imparting English language education by linking the teaching techniques under the initiative with content from the SCERT textbooks for practice. In doing so, Marico aims to enable the progress and learning for school-going children by providing quality education, irrespective of socioeconomic and regional barriers
Speaking about the initiative, Udayraj Prabhu, Executive Vice President – Business Process Transformation & IT at Marico Limited, says, “Marico Limited’s Nihar Shanti Paathshala Funwala has always championed the cause of children’s education and progress. This association with the Government of Bihar is in line with our commitment to providing quality education across India and positively impacting learning outcomes. Through this partnership, we intend to complement the Education Department’s efforts and provide some valuable tools to the teachers in Bihar to help them to effectively nurture specific English capabilities amongst their students.”
The brand launched Nihar Shanti Paathshala Funwala – which helps children learn English anytime, anywhere, free of cost – to further its cause of supporting and bettering children’s education. Since 2012, Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala has played a pivotal role in supporting the education of underprivileged children in far-flung areas by integrating the best of technology to not only reach, engage with, and educate children, but to also improve education outcomes. As a brand, Nihar Shanti Amla has also remained true to its purpose of providing underprivileged children with opportunities and access to education by contributing 5% of its profits towards the same. Further, Marico has previously signed MoUs with the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.