Marico Limited’s Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala initiative in Partnership with LeapForWord hosts the National Word Power Championship

Adding a spotlight to the importance of enabling English education of children in regional India, the competition aimed to highlight the best students, with 7 winning the grand prize

Mumbai, April 29, 2022: Marico Limited, one of India’s leading FMCG companies, has partnered with LeapForWord, to organise the largest English language competition in India, ‘Word Power Championship’ under their Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala Initiative. The all- India competition, saw 60360+ students compete at a national level from regional language schools in states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra between grades 2-5.  The finale event took place in Mumbai on 24^th April and Seven participants have been awarded as winners.

The Word Power Championship is based on the US ‘Spelling Bee’ program arguably the only English language competition in India designed exclusively for students in regional language schools. An annual event to celebrate the accomplishments of students who have participated in the English Literacy Program, the Word Power Championships this year saw some spirited competition between the participants. They have reached this stage by successfully clearing 4 hurdles - Elimination, Quarter Final, Semi-Final and State Finals. Total 3 rounds were conducted on reading, spelling and vocabulary and all the rounds were buzzer rounds with a countdown timer. A total of 60000+ students participated in this competition with 7 of them earning the right for competing in the Finale round of the National Championship.

Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer & CSR Head, Marico Limited, along with Pranil Naik, Founder, LeapForWord were present for the entirety of the event. 

Speaking on the occasion, Amit Bhasin, Chef Legal Office & CSR Head, Marico Limited said, "LeapForWord has been our trusted partner in helping us further the English Literacy Programme across India. With them, Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala has been able to create a positive, lasting change in students’ and teacher’s lives, by giving them the tools to properly teach and learn English. It has been especially rewarding to see the fruits of our efforts through the Word Power Championships, where we proudly witnessed all these young students display their skills and learnings.”

Marico launched Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala – which helps children learn English anytime, anywhere, free of cost – to further its cause of supporting and bettering children’s education. Since 2012, Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala has played a pivotal role in supporting the education of underprivileged children in far-flung areas by integrating the best of technology to not only reach, engage with, and educate children, but to also improve education outcomes. As a brand, Nihar Shanti Amla has also remained true to its purpose of providing underprivileged children with opportunities and access to education by contributing 5% of its profits towards the same. Further, Marico has previously signed MoUs with the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Since March 2020, Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala has successfully trained over 1.3 lakh teachers across 64,000 schools while improving access to English learning for more than 10 lakh students from over 31,000 villages in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar