Infosys co-founder SD Shibulal: High secondary school dropout rates remains a major challenge in India

SD Shibulal, one of the seven founding members of Infosys, now leads the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives, which recently completed 25 years. Shibulal is also the patron of a non-profit called Mantra4Change, which recently launched Shikshagraha, a people’s movement focused on transforming government schools across India by collaborating with district leaders, women, and youth.

Shibulal, who stepped down from the post of CEO and MD at Infosys in July 2014, spoke with Mint about his philanthropic journey. For decades, the 69-year-old Shibulal has worked in various areas, including education and health care, to name a few. Edited excerpts from the interview:

Q- You are somebody whose name still resonates with the IT world. Do you see the world changing with this IT advancement?

Technology has become a big part of our life. There is no activity in our lives where technology is not involved. Whether it is healthcare, retail, manufacturing or travel, any part of any activity in human life, today technology is involved.

And I believe that will continue to happen. New technology will emerge and new forms of technology will emerge. Some of it will enhance our productivity. Some will enhance our convenience, and some will help. So, I see technology continue to play a very big part in our lives.

Q- Your family started philanthropy back in 1999 in Kerala with the first scholarship scheme. What was the driving force behind this initiative?

By the way, to add to the previous question, technology has a big role in philanthropy. We use technology heavily in most of the things we do in philanthropy, including the scholarship program.

Now, talking about the scholarship program. Me and my wife Kumari Shibulal had been thinking about it forever. There are many areas one can get involved in and in a country like India, there are challenges in almost all areas.

Enrolment ratio in schools

If you look at our gross enrolment ratio in schools, we have done well; we have probably reached an 80 per cent enrolment ratio in middle schools. But if you look at our enrolment ratio in higher education, it drops to somewhere around that time, which was 25 years back – close to 20 to 22 per cent.

Now, if you compare that number with any other developed nation or even developing nation, it is below the limit. That led us to believe that higher education is an area where we can make a difference. We decided to start the scholarship program for higher education.

Q- How did it go?

As of this year, we would have completed 50,000 scholarships. With 90,000 applications getting selected by 3,000 people, finally, it all comes down to merit. We have thousands of children who have completed and gone on to do various things. We have people who are doing PhD abroad. We have people who are employed in various corporations in India.

Q- One of the flagship programs that you run is called Shikshagraha. Please elaborate

Through the journey from 1999 to 2012, we came to understand various facets of our education system and various challenges. In 2017, we started ShikshaLokam, which focused on leadership, creating capacity and leadership for care to work.

India today has about a million public schools with approximately 150 million children enrolled. Our secondary school drop rate is very high, about 12 to 13 per cent even today.

ShikshaLokam introduced the concept of micro improvement. We figured out that, as an organisation, we needed partners, so we created the concept of collective action. We transformed the schools by building capacity and leadership, driving chains through micro improvements and collective action.

And Shikshagraha is in a sense the culmination of all of this into the next level. Right? creating a network, creating a movement which will execute these philosophies, these methods in across the country in chosen districts.

Q- How does it work?

Shikshagraha will partner with local NGOs, people who work in those districts and who understand the district, the leadership, the government's priorities and the environment.

The parents, the students, the teachers, the headmasters, and the DEOs will partner with them. With all the knowledge, the methodology, and the work with them on how to improve schools, right?

And jointly create transformation in the district. If we can do this across the country, it will be a phenomenal change.

Q- What are some of the success stories of this initiative?

Punjab is a good example. When we started working with Punjab, the state was rated one of the lowest in the National Achievement Survey and Performance Grading Index, though I may not be using the terms exactly correctly.

We have jointly worked in Punjab with local organisations and the Punjab government. In the last couple of years, they are rated number one in the index. So, very good example to consider.

Punjab was basically witnessing drop in enrolment. Through the initiative, we were able to reverse the drop in enrolment. But during the period in which we were working there, we were able to reverse the drop in enrolment.