Wipro Foundation

The challenges arising out of our education system are multifaceted. These range from high dropout rates, poor learning-levels, inequity in access to quality education, high prevalence of rote-learning, marks orientation, lack of accountability, and inadequate teacher preparation. These issues are systemic in nature and require deliberate, long-term, and sustained planning to build capacities and create public awareness and engagement.

We build the capacities of important actors in the school education system to bring about the desired reform. We firmly believe that education is an enabler of social change. We envision a democracy where every citizen is empowered, not only in an individual capacity but also in the ethics of equity, the essentiality of diversity, the ethos of justice, and is thus driven by social sensitivity.

Schools are the spaces that nurture these principles, capabilities, and values. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and public institutions have played a critical role in improving school education through sustained work and a wide range of creative interventions. Their work has had a direct impact on the ground and has also led to shifts in educational discourse and, to a lesser degree, in practice. There is a burgeoning need for CSOs to address the evolving challenges of school education in the country.

Our approach is to support such organizations engaged in school education to elevate the school learning experience. We do this through various means, such as –

* Grants to enable these organizations to do focused on-the-ground work
* Capacity building in educational, operational, and organisational areas
* Mentoring support from domain experts and experienced practitioners
* Facilitating an active community of educational organizations

Our work in the Higher Education arena has been around the relevant requirements of particular times. Over the years, we are involved in several initiatives that address different groups’ needs, ranging from access to quality education to work-readiness.

Access to primary healthcare is a key determinant of an individual’s future trajectory in life. Poor access to standardized primary healthcare services has always been a major issue in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities of India. The situation, especially in the villages and rural areas, continues to be distressing. On the other hand, increased migration in cities has burdened public healthcare facilities — sanitation and basic healthcare facilities are often inadequate.

Some of the common issues that disadvantaged communities face are the lack of awareness of healthcare, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, and inadequate access to primary healthcare facilities. Through community initiatives, we aim to address the accessibility and availability issues related to primary healthcare services, including maternal and child health, adolescent health, nutrition, community health, hygiene, and sanitation.

The issues around ecology define the struggles of humanity. As a part of Wipro’s deep commitment to ecological sustainability, Wipro has been involved with multiple environment-related programs both within our business ecosystem and in the civic and social sectors outside. Commonly called eco-eye, the inception of our sustainability program goes back to 2008. The four pillars of our program are: Carbon Mitigation and Energy Efficiency, Responsible Water, Waste and Pollution Management, and Biodiversity.

Our programs’ governance model is driven by the principles of rigorous goal-setting, the involvement of multiple internal and external stakeholders, and a boundary-less perspective of environmental challenges that go beyond regulatory compliance and the business ecosystem.

In the last 20 years, we have set up a corporation-wide sustainability program at Wipro that involves employees, customers, suppliers, investors, the government, communities, and the education system. As a part of this charter, we have defined aspirational goals on dimensions such as GHG emission reduction, Water, Waste, Biodiversity, People Diversity, Supply Chain, Education, and Community Engagement.

Through our community ecology initiative under Wipro Cares, we focus on creating an ecological balance in our proximate communities by taking up projects that benefit proximate underprivileged communities, directly help improve their Health, Education, and/or Livelihood conditions, and positively impact the environment.

Public spaces build a strong sense of community and encourage dialogue.

‘Public Spaces in Cities and Communities’ became a part of our CSR engagement in 2018. Fostering inclusive public spaces in our cities such as space for arts, sports, theatre, etc., that are designed to be accessible to the public at large.

The role of public spaces in cities and communities in creating and fostering important human values of social integrity, inclusion, democracy, and empathy is well established. Public spaces build a strong sense of community, increase feelings of safety and security, and encourage community members to participate in collective affairs and undertake acts of civic responsibility. One way of increasing civic participation is by creating and preserving public spaces in our cities. The concept of ‘public space’ here refers to not just physical spaces like public parks or lakes but intellectual and social spaces that are inclusive in spirit.

Natural catastrophes, pandemics, and social disruption are an unfortunate fact of life, especially in a climatically, geologically, and ethnically diverse country like India. The disadvantaged sections of society are the most affected during these calamities as their livelihoods’ already fragile nature gets disrupted further. ​

Over the years, we have engaged in several short-term relief aids and long-term rehabilitation projects with communities impacted by disasters. In the past, we have helped rebuild the lives of people affected by Karnataka Floods, Bihar Floods, and Odisha Floods.