Nihar Shanti Amla offers free access to education to students in rural India through their ‘Padhai Par Lockdown Nahi’ campaign

~Uses technology to connect students in rural areas with urban adults to help them learn spoken English 

~Opens up school curriculum learning through virtual classes on Pathshala Funwala app 

Mumbai, May 5^th 2020: Driven by the conviction that children’s education is the cornerstone of progress of our country and should not get hampered under any circumstances, Nihar Shanti Amla has announced a Covid-19 special campaign called ‘Padhai Par Lockdown Nahi’. 

As part of the initiative, Nihar Shanti Amla, is ensuring that the students can learn English being at home through their ‘Phone Uthao India ko Padhao’ program that was launched last year. The brand has also made virtual classes available through the Pathshala Funwala app available on Google Playstore. 

Through the ‘Phone Uthao India Ko Padhao’ program, children in rural areas get to learn and practice spoken English. Students can call on a tollfree number and continue learning their English modules by phone conversations with an urban adult (volunteer). Given the current scenario where people are working from home and may have extra time at hand to help out, the brand is inviting educated, urban consumers to volunteer just 10minutes a week of their time and help these students practice spoken English through phone conversations. 

In order to extend this program and add other learning opportunities virtually, Nihar Shanti Amla has also partnered with AAS Vidyalaya to bring the school curriculum for 2 months on the Pathshala Funwala app. For now, school syllabus for 6th- 10th grade with the curriculum designed as per CBSE, UP and NOIS board is available on the app. For the benefit of students, the lessons are taught using Hindi and English as the conversational language. Further, sessions are in the form of videos, which are approximately up to 15 minutes long. Students also have the option of interacting with teachers on the app for better understanding and clarification of lessons taught. 

Commenting on these initiatives, Koshy George, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited said, “Nihar Shanti Amla has always believed that education is the foundation of the nation’s growth. COVID-19 pandemic has posed serious challenges to continuity of learning. We understand this and to ensure that learning doesn’t stop even during the lockdown, we have launched this program. It gives an opportunity to urban adults sitting at home to teach spoken English to a rural child who can access it anytime, anywhere through a simple, convenient phone based intervention. We have also partnered with AAS Vidyalaya to make other subjects available free on the Paathshala Funwala app. It covers 6^th-10^th grade curriculum designed as per CBSE, UP& NOIS board. We believe that through these initiatives, together we all can make a difference to these children’s lives and strive towards building a confident, educated young India.” 

Nihar Shanti Amla has been continuously strengthening its mission to educate underprivileged children in far-flung areas by integrating the best of technology to not only reach, engage with and educate the children, but also improve the education outcomes.  

Over the past few years, Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala has led massive rural outreach programmes that have positively impacted 7500+ villages with call volumes of 10 lakh from 3 lakh children in these villages in the past year.  

About Marico Limited 

Marico (BSE: 531642, NSE: “MARICO”) is one of India’s leading consumer products companies, in the global beauty and wellness space. During 2018-19, Marico recorded a turnover of about INR 73.3 billion (USD 1.05 billion) through its products sold in India and chosen markets in Asia and Africa.   

Marico touches the lives of 1 out of every 3 Indians, through its portfolio of brands such as Parachute, Parachute Advansed, Saffola, Saffola FITTIFY Gourmet, Coco Soul, Hair & Care, Nihar Naturals, Livon, Set Wet, Set Wet Studio X, True Roots, Kaya Youth O2, Mediker and Revive. The international consumer products portfolio contributes to about 22% of the Group’s revenue, with brands like Parachute, Parachute Advansed, HairCode, Fiancée, Caivil, Hercules, Black Chic, Code 10, Ingwe, XMen, Sedure, Thuan Phat and Isoplus.