The plan of Cognizant Outreach has been to distribute 1,43,000 school notebooks valued at Rs 30 lakhs to over 20,000 students of 22 schools (in and around Chennai) from the beginning of the academic year this June.
Receiving the first set of notebooks, G.K. Murugan, Head Master, Panchayat Union Primary School, Narayanapuram (near Pallikaranai), said, “There are no words to describe the happiness of the students, who own a new set of notebooks. With Cognizant planning notebook distribution right at the time of school re-opening, it makes it easy for these children to start their academic year on a high note. The commitment by the volunteers, who spend time with our students regularly and help to improve the school infrastructure, goes a long way in making a positive difference in the lives of these children.”
Cognizant Outreach, a social participation programme of Consulting, IT and BPO major Cognizant, has distributed 1,739 notebooks to more than 168 students in this school to kick off its notebook distribution drive in Chennai.
Jithendra Byni, Director, SAP Practice, who heads the Outreach council that partners with this school, was present to give away the notebooks to the excited children.
The Chennai Chapter of Outreach had initiated a notebook collection drive within the company where almost 35,000 of its associates in Chennai could, at the click of a button, make their contribution.
Funds collected
This year, the drive has helped the volunteers collect over Rs 24 lakhs from associates and the company contributed the remaining Rs 6 lakhs to procure the notebooks. The associates could contribute a minimum of Rs 100 or Rs 200 towards sponsoring a set of notebooks for a primary or a secondary school student.
This is Cognizant's third successive year of notebook donation to schools.
The Chennai Chapter of Outreach works with 22 schools (government, corporation and private ) on a continuous basis on projects such as improving school infrastructure, tutoring in select subjects, setting up computer labs, organising science awareness programmes and field trips, and conducting inter/intra school competitions.
