Lina Ashar, the promoter-chief executive of Kangaroo Kids preschools and Billabong High International schools, was adjudged ‘Leading Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ in the third edition of Women Leaders in India Awards, 2011, staged at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Mumbai.
The annual award ceremony showcases achievements of successful women leaders, entrepreneurs/professionals and acknowledges exceptional women leaders in seven sectors of the Indian economy. Speaking on the occasion, Ashar said: “I accept this honour on behalf of more than 1,000 women who work with me to make joyful learning a reality. Someone once said, ‘A dream can turn to dust or magic depending on the talent that rubs against it’. I am thrilled to have so many passionate and committed women who strive everyday to make my dream real.”
Today Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd comprises 55 Kangaroo Kids preschools and 14 Billabong High international schools in 24 cities across India, as well as preschools in Dubai and the Maldives Republic.
Ryan Foundation hosts 11th ICFPA
The Ryan Foundation, promoted by Dr. Augustine F. Pinto and Mme Grace Pinto and the Ryan International Group of Institutions, hosted the 11th International Children’s Festival of Performing Arts (ICFPA) in association with ICCR (International Council for Cultural Relations) and National Bal Bhawan, New Delhi. The President of India, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil formally inaugurated the five-day festival on December 8. The highlight of the inauguration ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan was planting of a sapling in unified soil brought by each student delegation from participating countries.
Over 12,000 children from 28 countries including Brazil, Finland, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe besides India, participated in the festival whose theme this year was ‘The World is my Playground’. The children showcased a wide variety of performing arts including theatre, puppetry, folk and traditional dances of the participant nations, providing an ideal platform for cultural exchanges and inclusivity, multiculturalism and education through the creative arts integrated with technology.
“During the past 11 years ICFPA has played an important role in enabling children of different countries to cross the barriers of race and socio-economic strata — making an important contribution to world peace and conflict resolution,” said Mme Grace Pinto, speaking at the closing ceremony of this unique children’s festival.
YFM prepares for market leadership
The Gurgaon-based YFM Youniforms Supplies (P) Ltd (estb.2009) has spearheaded a quiet revolution in K-12 education by introducing standardised school uniforms. Promoted by Delhi-based entrepreneur Sachin Sahni, an alumnus of Kurukshetra University who acquired 11 years of experience in the textile industry prior to starting YFM Youniform Supplies two years ago, the company claims leadership of the emerging national market for school uniforms.
“The school uniform business is highly fragmented, disorganised and parochial. YFM is changing the paradigms of this small-scale industry by going national and introducing new quality norms for school uniforms which are bespoke and delivered on time. We believe that investing in brand-building, quality manufacture and timely delivery of school uniforms will establish our leadership in a national market growing at 20 percent annually,” says Sahni.
In a spirit of enlightened self-interest Sahni has teamed up with the NGO Rasuli Kanwar Khan (RKK) Trust in village Nai Nangla, Mewat, Haryana for the manufacture of YFM uniforms. The RKK Trust promoted by former Unilever director Mehmood Khan, provides employment to rural women to prepare and finish uniforms for YFM Youniforms. “This is a win-win equation for YFM and the RKK Trust. Under this arrangement both parties benefit. YFM Youniforms wins because the production skills of RKK Trust are excellent. The women employees of RKK Trust will receive steady incomes and be able to educate their children,” says Sahni.
All India Camel Colour Contest 2011
Shortlisted entries for the All India Camel Colour Contest 2011 were adjudicated in Mumbai by a special jury comprising John Douglas, artist; Zil Botadkar, antenatal care consultant and Sheetal Gattani, artist on December 8. The jury selected 100 national winners from 2,100 regional prize winners who were selected from 4.8 million participants from 6,577 schools countrywide against 3 million entries from 4,700 schools in 2010.
The All India Camel Colour Contest (AICCC) inaugurated in 1973, is one of the country’s most popular art contests which arouses great enthusiasm. It is conducted by the Mumbai-based Camlin Ltd (estb.1931, renamed Kokuyo Camlin Ltd in 2011), which inter alia manufactures a range of school, art, hobby and office stationery. The company has applied to the Guinness Book of World Records to acknowledge the All India Camel Colour Contest as the world’s largest schools art event.
Entries for AICCC are invited from all Indian schools to promote art and art awareness among students. Since it was inaugurated 35 years ago, it has become a fixture of school calendars across the country and has played an important role in shaping the artistic sensibilities of two generations. The annual contest is open to pre-primary to class X students — divided in five groups — every year. Contestants get an opportunity to win prizes at the school, regional and finally national levels following a process of elimination. Prize-winning paintings of regional and national rounds are showcased in exhibitions in major cities countrywide where artists are awarded trophies, certificates and prizes.
In the All India Camel Colour Contest 2011, institutional prizes were awarded to the Durgapur Public School and St. Mary’s Convent Senior Secondary School, Ajmer.
Dell Foundation-GRAS Academy initiative
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) has made an undisclosed equity investment in the Delhi-based GRAS Academy, which imparts vocational and skills development education to youth. GRAS Academy has set a target to train 1.3 million youth — many of whom are school dropouts and from underprivileged backgrounds — in different trades during the next decade.
“Through our extensive experience and MSDF’s support, GRAS Academy skills training and employment centres will create entrepreneurs out of youth, increase their income generation potential, leverage their prior education and personal talent, and motivate them to participate in productive activity,” promises Gautam Sen Gupta, promoter-director of the academy.
Adds Debasish Mitter, portfolio director (education) of MSDF: “The Dell Foundation’s equity investment will help by significantly scaling up the current operations of GRAS Academy, and will enable high quality training to be offered in retail, information technology/IT-enabled services, banking, financial services, insurance and education sectors through GRAS Academy’s 325 centres.”
IIM-B’s persons with disability conclave
The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) and the Bangalore-based Fourth Wave Foundation, has scheduled a national conference, ‘Enabling Access for Persons with Disabilities to Higher Education and the Workplace: Role of ICT and Assistive Technologies’ at the IIM-B campus on January 20-21.
The objective of the conference is to identify and share best practices that enable persons with disability to access educational institutions and workplaces through ICT and other interventions, and to convene key players in this field to deliberate on and showcase solutions and enabling technologies. “India has one of the highest proportions of disabled people in the world. As per the National Census (2011), 6-7 percent of India’s population is challenged with both physical and learning disabilities. With such a large population of persons with disabilities in India, there’s urgent need to create awareness and take action to provide a dignified life to our fellow citizens. This event emerges from an urgent need to generate action in the fields of higher education and employment for empowerment of persons with disability,” says a Fourth Wave Foundation spokesperson.
According to an IIM-B spokesperson, the conference — a part of the ‘Never-the-less initiative’ of IIM-B, promoted with the support of Mphasis and HP — expects participation from over 400 stakeholder representatives and key decision makers in higher education institutions, related government departments and corporations, researchers, entrepreneurs and NGOs working on inclusion and diversity agendas, apart from trade bodies and persons with disability. “There will be deliberations on enabling workplace environments, collaboration, and adoption of open standards on copyright issues at policy formulation and technology adoption levels. Apart from presentations by thinkers and doers in the space of disability rights, the event will showcase demos, educational material and posters on best practices and enabling technologies,” she adds.