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  Social Responsibility

Company Feature
Published on: April 5, 2022, 11:25 a.m.
Classrooms go live, thanks to Airtel
  • View and learn: Airtel’s service helps students prepare for competitive exams

By Business India Editorial

Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel), one of the largest homegrown consumer brands to have emerged out of India, has grown to become a global communications solutions provider over the last 25 years, with over 471 million customers in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. Airtel connects with millions to transform their lives for the better through multiple services offered across its four business segments – mobile, home, digital TV and Airtel business services.

Airtel believes in growing together with the nation and society. Strengthening the education system is an essential investment for India’s future and Airtel has made efforts to contribute towards it. Increasing awareness for girl education and education in rural areas are key points being promoted by Bharti Airtel in collaboration with education partners.

The new age India is committed to ensure that each child gets the opportunity they aspire for. 

Children of upper primary, secondary, and senior secondary school (Class VI to XII) need access to affordable quality education. Also, children aspiring for higher studies like medical/engineering need to prepare for highly competitive entrance examinations, for which they need access to technical education.

It was observed that children were deprived of these due to constraints like: financial problems (inability to pay for the cost of education); accessibility issues (education being not available in a village, district or city); lack of Internet access (students in small towns and villages having limited or no access to Internet); distance/timing issues (children not able to travel long distances due to lack of adequate infrastructure or timings being not suitable, considering safety threats of travelling at odd hours, etc. This was a bigger problem for female children).

Identifying right partners

Airtel did a complete research to identify the right segment and identified right partners to drive this project. It used its technology to record the lectures and telecast it around the country with DTH connectivity. It gathered the right set of information and launched this service in India.

Airtel collaborated with leading institutes such as Vedantu and Aakash Edu TV, which impart quality education for such aspirants. Using its DTH (Direct to Home) platform, the company telecast education content via a dedicated channel, which enables students across India to access it using their Airtel set-top-box. They can view and learn live. This service covers Live telecast of classes along with real time doubt resolutions over ‘WhatsApp’.

Initially, parents are rigid in terms of online coaching and TV viewing hours. But Airtel helped them understand the advantages of this service to overcome this challenge. Within a short time of launching this service, the company achieved a subscriber base of 41,000, of those who actively pursue this service.

Airtel’s DTH platform is subscribed by 17.72 million users and, with greater awareness of these initiatives, the tally of active subscribers for this facility is likely to grow significantly.

Vedantu enables students to learn Live with some of India’s best-curated teachers. Its USP is its quality of teachers – about 500 of them, who have taught more than 1 million hours to 40,000+ students spread across 1,000+ cities from 30+ countries. Vedantu is founded by IITians, with over 13 years of teaching experience and having taught over 10,000 students.

Aakash Educational Services aims to help students in their quest to achieve academic success. It has a centralised in-house process for curriculum and content development and faculty training and monitoring, led by its National Academic Team. 

Airtel plans to contribute towards CSR through the constant support to Bharti Foundation, the group’s philanthropic arm, which brings quality education to underprivileged children in rural India, through Satya Bharti Schools. Over the years, the Foundation has positively impacted the lives of over 450,000 students across 18 states of India.

Despite the pandemic, Bharti Foundation has ensured that majority of these children are not deprived of learning opportunities. It has made classes accessible for them through digital channels. These initiatives are undertaken in collaboration with other organisations and the government. 


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