Ambani’s Reliance Foundation May Adopt 5000 Govt Schools

Maharashtra school education minister Deepak Kesarkar on December 2 announced that a the government is planning to give a major upgrade to 5,000 government-run schools in the state.

According to some media reports, Reliance Industries Limited led by Mukesh Ambani might take charge of those schools in Maharashtra. The corporate’s charity arm, Reliance Foundation is expected to adopt the schools.

Kesarkar further stated that the business group told Chief Minister Eknath Shinde that it would be willing to manage at least one school at a school center, which has eight to ten institutes. If the plan comes to action, Reliance will have to spend a lot of money over the next few years updating the buildings and offering instruction at these schools. 

The change occurred after Maharashtra unveiled a plan to allow corporations and philanthropists to adopt government schools for five or ten years in exchange for a commitment to invest between INR 50 lakh and INR 3 crore in these establishments. The guardian organization will be able to link their names to their adopted schools during this time. The program's goal is to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) donations to charitable causes more efficient.

According to the minister, there is a great deal of opportunity for the state to draw in private charity. Business houses invest thousands of crores on health and education annually. In contrast, the state's resources are restricted. Although the district administration allots funds for school modernization, Kesarkar claimed that this is insufficient.

The scheme, which went into effect in September, states that guardian organisations and individuals are limited to offering assistance in the form of goods and services. These include basic amenities like water tanks, toilets, and protection walls, electric appliances, educational materials like desks, books, and boards, digital equipment like computers, tablets, and smart TVs, healthcare facilities, and counseling and training for teachers and students.

However, the government has made it clear that funders would not be permitted to have any influence over how these schools are being run. According to a government decision about the initiative, the donations will be unconditional and will not impose any duties on the school administration. The donors will also not be entitled to ownership of the items they offer, but would instead be responsible for making periodic maintenance arrangements for them.

A few educators have voiced concerns over the program. They think it will make educational disparities worse while enabling the government to exit the field. They express concern about the program's viability as well, citing previous incidents in which teachers were not taught to use donated educational supplies, leaving them unused.

The names of the students who were awarded the Reliance Foundation Undergraduate Scholarships for 2022–2023 were announced in May 2023. Five thousand first-year undergraduate students got a scholarship of up to INR 2 lakh.

Undergraduate scholarships from the Reliance Foundation are given to students in any field of study based on merit and/or financial need. The engineering/technology, science, medicine, commerce, arts, business/management, computer applications, law, education, hospitality, architecture, and other professional degrees are among the streams from which this year's scholars were chosen.