For development of Tamil Nadu schools, Rs 7,000 crores of CSR funds can be tapped into: Study

The study, titled Mapping Donor Interventions and Support in the School Education Space in Tamil Nadu, attempted to map this donor support rendered to school education
Picture for representational purpose only | (Pic: Express)
Picture for representational purpose only | (Pic: Express)

A total of Rs 7,000 crores of corporate social responsibility funds can be tapped into to develop the government schools in Tamil Nadu, found a study by UNICEF and the school education department. The study was done after the school education department started the Namma School Foundation scheme to promote private companies to contribute to the development of government schools.

The study, titled Mapping Donor Interventions and Support in the School Education Space in Tamil Nadu, attempted to map this donor support rendered to school education across the state in the year 2019-20. This will help to strategise the fundraising for the department in the upcoming years.

According to the study, 4,101 schools out of 37,558 reported that they received support during the three years while there was no data provided by the remaining 26,847 schools. The 4,101 schools received support worth Rs 116.57 crore across the three financial years with Rs 49.34 crore in 2019-20 being the highest. This decreased to Rs 30.48 crore in 2020-21 due to COVID-19, however, recovered by 15% the next year.

Higher secondary schools have received the maximum support (38%) followed by primary schools (28%). The study also showed that the support received by the schools is linked to the extent of regional development and industrialisation resulting in higher donor engagement in northern and western Tamil Nadu, than in southern districts of the state.

As per the data, districts such as Chennai, Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Tirupur and Salem have seen maximum donor support. Corporates and NGOs account for around 70% of the total support provided while physical infrastructure and amenities have been the most dominantly supported theme across all locations.

About 50% to 60% of the top 500 companies which have a presence in the state have corporate social responsibility funds of Rs 7,000 crores that can be tapped into and education received more funding than the combined funding for Healthcare and Rural Development projects, the study further pointed out. "At present, there is an uneven distribution of corporate social responsibility funds provided to the schools. There is also the chance of duplicity in which the money is spent on the same things over and over again. The Namma School Foundation will make the spending of these funds more uniform and help the government schools to develop uniformly with a concentration on improving the quality of education provided to the schools," said a school education official.

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