“We have started exploring some new initiatives in the areas of supplementing mid-day meals in government schools and setting up of creches in rural areas,” said Azim Premji, Chancellor of the Azim Premji University, speaking at the 11th convocation of the university on Sunday.
“In grant making, we now support over 600 grassroot organisations, working across a range of areas. In the past 13 years since the university has been established, we have built a solid foundation. Most of our 3,500 graduates are working in the social sector across the country, contributing to fields such as education, health, livelihoods, governance, and sustainability. Support to our partners, non government organizations (NGOs) through financial grants will continue to expand. This is a direct expression of our commitment to contribute to a more just, equitable, humane, and sustainable society. And each one of you is an integral part of this challenging pursuit,” he added.
“Our field institutions across 57 districts and over 300 block level locations continue to contribute significantly to the government education system. Our focus now is to help address the severe learning loss school children suffered on account of the pandemic. Our work with many state governments continues, across a spectrum of areas including assessment, curricular reforms, early childhood education, textbook development, teacher education, institution building etc. This work has the potential to bring about transformational changes in education,” Mr. Premji said.
He added that having started work in public health two years back, they have made a good beginning and now have three health centres operating in low-income settlements in Bengaluru, benefitting over 50,000 urban poor people.
“This will expand to more locations this year. We also started our health work in the field, beginning with the Dharamjaigarh block in Chhattisgarh and this work will also grow to other regions in the central belt of the country. We are starting a new ‘Masters in Public Health’ programme at Bhopal and are looking at setting up of a hospital and a medical college as part of the University at Ranchi,” he further said.
He conferred postgraduate degrees to 322 students in the ceremony.
