CAREER LAUNCHER JOINS HANDS WITH SKS MICROFINANCE TO LAUNCH ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOLS IN RURAL INDIA

• 533 center leaders attend the meeting
• Center leaders of 5 branches - Sangareddy, Shankarampet, Jogipet, Narayankhed and Tandur participate

Siddipet, Hyderabad - July 9, 2008

In a bid to redefine education standards in rural India, Career Launcher, one of South Asia’s leading education corporates, and SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance institution have come together to launch 10 English medium schools in Nalgonda, Khammam, Rangareddy and Medak districts of AP.

The SKS-CL Academy, in the pilot phase, will provide primary education till third standard using the national open school syllabus with special emphasis on technology. While Career Launcher would manage and run the schools, SKS Microfinance would support the marketing of the schools and provide education loans for students.

District Collector, Piyush Kumar and District Education Officer, Satyanarayan Reddy graced the occasion.

While speaking on the occasion, Satyanarayanan R, Chairman Career Launcher Group, elaborated, “Our mission is to democratize quality education and work towards capability building of the entire nation. That is why we have set up key interventions across a child’s educational journey, from the point of time she steps into a playschool to the time she embarks on a career after passing out of a top B-school. It is the acute lacuna of quality education in rural areas which made us opt for this venture.”

“This is one more step towards Career Launcher’s objective of making quality education accessible to the four corners of the country, “he added.

Sharing information about the company’s foray into primary education, Ms. Mamta Bharadwaj, VP, Communications, SKS Microfinance said, “We have opened the schools to cater to the aspiration of our members. The children will not only be provided with English medium education, but will also have access to computers. We have partnered with Career Launcher to ensure these schools provide quality education that matches the urban schools.”

In order to make the initiative inclusive and to ensure that lack of finances does not come in the way of quality education for the needy, there is provision of securing easy loans as well. SKS members can opt for an education loan of Rs 3100/- to provide quality education to their children. The school will run at a fraction of regular fees and the monthly fee for KG and Class I is Rs 175 only. The SKS-CL Academy is open to children of non-members as well.

Since its inception in 1995, Career Launcher has continuously come up with unique and innovative models, aided by its technological expertise and the domain-specific knowledge of the CL-ites, to deliver high quality education at affordable prices. This model has now been customised to get the best out of Career Launcher’s background and expertise in education combined with the reach of SKS.

“These schools would also be leveraged to provide further enhancements for social development and build an enterprise culture in the village”, asserted Nandini Sood, Head CL Rural Academy initiative.

About Career Launcher: Founded in 1995 by a group of IIT-IIM alumni, Career Launcher has a presence in over 130 locations across India, US, Singapore and the Middle East. Career Launcher has initiatives that run from play school to regular K-12 schools and also a Business school. Apart from these Career launcher has interventions for employability enhancement through vocational training and is also supporting state run livelihood programs in the country. The organization is driven by the philosophy of making everyone realize their potential and achieve their dreams.