SABIC Restores Government Primary School at Sompura in Karnataka

SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals, inaugurated the newly renovated, school building of ‘Government Primary School’, located at Sompura near SABIC Technology Center (STC) site Sarjapura, under SABIC’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative in collaboration with its NGO partner Rotary Bangalore South. Chief Guest, Tanvir Sait, Minister of Primary and Secondary education, Government of Karnataka and dignitaries from the state government, education department and panchayat, graced the event.

Tanvir Sait, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Government of Karnataka, who couldn’t make it to the inauguration event, sent his best wishes and appreciating SABIC said, “I highly appreciate SABIC’s efforts to carry out the construction of dilapidated school under their CSR Initiative in collaboration with Rotary, which is a great example for other corporates to follow.”  

SABIC, in collaboration with Rotary Bangalore South, embarked upon the renovation and reconstruction of Government Primary School in 2016. The deterioration of the school building due to its age, mainly catering to the children from less privilege rural backgrounds, had led to a drop in students’ strength over a period of time.

Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President, SABIC, South Asia & ANZ said, “The modernization and restoration of the school demonstrates SABIC’s commitment to continually improving the lives of the communities it operates in, as well as its support of education. SABIC has been supporting education in many ways including school infrastructure upgradation in Bengaluru and Vadodara. Renovation of theschool building in and around Sarjapura has helped us in providing better learning environment to the children. With the restoration of the school, SABIC aims to provide equal access to education and reduce the infrastructure gaps to provide better facilities for students from less privileged rural back grounds. ”

SABIC undertook the reconstruction of the school over a period of 7 months, which included reconstruction of classrooms, principal’s room, renovation of kitchen area, construction of separate toilets for boys and girls, renovation of new assembly area for morning assembly, new play area equipment for the playground, purification system for providing drinking water facility for the school, installation of CCTV security cameras and finally the whole structure was painted to give the school a new life. Apart from the reconstruction of Sompura lower primary school, SABIC provided drinking water filters, benches, school bags, note books, library books, almirah for library, in 10 schools in the nearby areas. We also donated an E-Learning system in two schools in Sarjapura, Anekal Taluk to help improve the education facilities.

Kishan Gurram, Director & Site Head, SABIC Technology Center, Bengaluru reiterated SABIC’s commitment to education by stating that after renovation of the school, students’ strength has increased and it has also helped provide a conducive and safe learning environment for the children.

With employee engagement at the core of SABIC’s corporate social responsibility, SABIC employees volunteers across India spent over 350 hours volunteering for the initiative in last two years, working closely with the program partners and supporting with on-ground logistics. This school was also included for various CSR activities that are organized by SABIC in schools such as They See, They Learn, vision screening program of SABIC, health check camps, Teacher’s Day education awareness activities and school bags distribution.

PP Sridhar BR, Ex- President Rotary Bangalore South said, “We have been partnering with SABIC on the modernization and restoration of schools in Sarjapura for the past 3 years and the impact generated through the efforts is noteworthy. Primary education is an important area that requires urgent attention and is vital for strengthening the education system in our country.”

In alignment with SABIC’s global CSR policy, SABIC in India focuses its CSR efforts on the promotion of education, with special attention to less-privileged children and youth. As a part of our CSR efforts to support sustainable education, SABIC has in the past restored and upgraded schools with enhanced infrastructure and is working on more such projects. SABIC runs several initiatives in coordination with CIPET at either end of the know-how spectrum supporting the National skill development objective.

SABIC in Asia, through our signature Lights of Our Future program, with a syllabus created by SABIC employee-volunteers, teaches young children about saving water, conserving energy, managing waste, and reducing our carbon footprint. The program has reached more than 2,100 students in Singapore and China this year.