INNOVATION @ GRASSROOTS

The VidyaGyan schools, one of the flagship initiatives of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, provide free education to some of the brightest rural students, through teaching methodologies, academic vigour and world-class facilities which are at par with the country’s best schools. VidyaGyan currently has over 1,200 students at two schools in Bulandshahr and Sitapur in UP. Last week, the schools completed three years of successful operations to create future leaders from India’s rural heartland. The Shiv Nadar Foundation plans to build three VidyaGyan schools in Uttar Pradesh, which would finally have around 4,200 students.

“My father is a product of education. It is his way of giving back to society,” says Roshni Nadar Malhotra, executive-director & CEO, HCL Corporation and Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation. Roshni, who is the daughter of HCL founder, brings a global outlook, strategic vision and passion for social enterprise and institution-building to her varied roles at HCL and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. She is the driving force behind the VidyaGyan schools, an initiative which she calls “social investment and a radical idea to transform meritorious rural children from economically challenged backgrounds.” As a representative of the Foundation, she has also been involved in a joint initiative with the Rajiv Gandhi

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