The Union Ministry of Education is trying to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) money work harder for government schools. Its Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL) hosted a National CSR Meet for School Education in Gurugram, Haryana, on Saturday, 31 October 2026, using its Vidyanjali school volunteer platform as the bridge between companies, states and the schools that need help.
The meet brought together corporate organisations, State and UT nodal officers, DoSEL officials, the programme’s management unit and the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which runs the platform’s technology, with the stated aim of turning CSR into a more structured lever for improving school education.
Matching companies with school requirements
The centrepiece was a CSR-State interaction, a session designed to let corporate representatives and state officials network directly and discuss specific projects for schools based on the needs those schools have already identified on the platform. Rather than companies picking projects in isolation, the idea is to start from a school’s listed requirement and find a partner to fund or deliver it.
Corporate speakers in the technical sessions included the State Bank of India (SBI) and Bharti Airtel, who presented the work they have supported in school education and how their contributions have helped strengthen learning environments.
What states shared
- Andhra Pradesh: how it has implemented Vidyanjali across its schools.
- Karnataka: its experience with school adoption.
- Mizoram: the role of community participation in school development.
- Delhi: innovations and activities run under the programme.
Implementing agencies, including ChildFund India, SARD India, Inspiring Seniors Foundation and ETI Foundation, also spoke about what it takes on the ground to bring CSR partners and schools together. Additional Secretary, DoSEL, Archana Sharma Awasthi and Economic Advisor, DoSEL, A. Srija were among the senior ministry officials present.
How Vidyanjali works
Vidyanjali is DoSEL’s digital platform for strengthening government and government-aided schools through community and private-sector participation. Schools post what they need, and volunteers, organisations and CSR partners can respond with services, activities or assets. Its CSR framework has two main routes: a CSR Module for funding specific school requirements, and an Adopt-a-School Module for longer-term support to a chosen school.
Why it matters
Many government schools still lack basics such as working computers, labs and digital classrooms, and CSR funding in education has often been scattered across one-off projects. A national platform that lists verified school needs, and a forum that puts companies in the same room as state officials, could help steer that money towards gaps that schools themselves have flagged. The test will be whether these conversations translate into sustained, trackable commitments, especially for the digital infrastructure that new AI and computing curricula now depend on.
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