In line with its commitment to support community development, Schaeffler India, a leading industrial and automotive supplier, today held an inaugural ceremony of the newly constructed Boys Hostel for Lok Vidyalaya school in Lamdapura village near Savli. The objective behind this initiative, which is fully funded by Schaeffler India, is to provide a much safer and healthier educational environment to the underprivileged boys and to expand their overall educational opportunities. This is in line with their flagship CSR initiative ‘HOPE’and its vision of building a nation that is self-sustaining and prosperous by creating a pool of equal opportunities for the young children.
The inaugural function took place at Lok Vidyalaya School and was inaugurated by Harsha Kadam, CEO Schaeffler India and President, Industrial Business and Santanu Ghoshal, Vice President – Human Resources & Head – CSR, Schaeffler India, Schaeffler India. The Lok Vidyalaya school was adopted by Schaeffler India a few years ago and the newly built Boys‘ Hostel can accommodate approximately 156 students. The facility is built providing facilities that are at par with any modern urban schools. The hostel facility includes bunk beds for students with individual storage cupboards, a common dining hall, well-equipped kitchen and storerooms and proper common toilet facilities on each floor.
Sharing his thoughts on the same, Ghoshal said, “At Schaeffler, along with our business operations in the region, we deeply believe in contributing and making a positive impact in the societies around us in which we serve. These people of these villages have become like a second family to us at Schaeffler India. While we had already previously built a girls hostel at the Lok Vidyalaya school, it gives me immense satisfaction to inaugurate this new facility for the boys as well. We hope that this will bring about an even further improvement in the number of enrollments at the school. We are positive that we will be able to bring about an even greater change in the community, empowering the rural population to grow in a better and progressive environment”.
,
Since the involvement of Schaeffler India, the effect on student enrollment has really inspired the student retention ratio to increase to 90 per cent with a male-female ratio of 60:40. In fact, before the boys’ hostel, Schaeffler India had previously built a girls’ hostel. Schaeffler India’s efforts towards supporting the education of lesser privileged students at Lok Vidyalaya School also recently received appreciation in the form of ‘Diamond’ awards – the highest award for “Par Excellence Performance” at the Third HR / CSR Virtual Convention 2020-21 organized by the Vadodara chapter of the Quality Circle Movement in India (QCFI).