Csr Report Final

FEATHERLITE GROUP

Report on CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES (2008 – 2009)

Corporate Office: KKMP Building 16 A Millers Road Vasanthnagar Bangalore

A Report on Corporate Social Responsibility About us FEATHERLITE, founded in 1963 by Shree Ramnarayan Chellaram as a small chair factory has grown over the years as a leading furniture manufacturing company in India. The company has most modern manufacturing facilities in Bangalore and Hosur. Featherlite employs 700 people. Client list of Featherlite is who’s who in IT and Corporate Sector. The company also has interest in real estate and owns several properties in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Mysore etc. The CSR Initiatives Since its inception, the group has been engaged in various Corporate Social Responsibilities activities, especially, supporting educational institutions for students

Below

Poverty

Line

(BPL).

Some

of

the

schools

for

which

infrastructure has been created/upgraded by Featherlite are as under: 1. Sri. Shishu Bhavan, Sri. Ram Gopal Verma High School, 2. Featherlite Pottery Town Government High School, 3. Sri Chokkalinga Vidyalaya Government High School - Hejjalla. Details of the initiates in two schools listed at no 2 and 3 are given in following pages.

A) Featherlite Pottery Town Featherlite along with Bangalore East Rotary Table 27 (BERT 27) took the initiatives to construct a new building for pottery school under its project “Freedom through Education”. The 30 year old dilapidated building having leaky tiled roof, ventilated rooms, situated in Slum Locality of Pottery Town was transformed due to the efforts put in by Bangalore East Rotary Table 27 (BERT 27) in collaboration with Featherlite. 12 classrooms were constructed with provision of toilets and furniture. The classrooms are capable to accommodate 250 children. The school offers both Kannada and English mediums. Children of the economically backward sections in Nagawara, Tannery Road and DG Halli slums study in this high school, which is run by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. The school has achieved 70% pass in 2008 SSLC Exam and after the construction of the building there is an increase of 20% in student population. Featherlite was the chief donor of the reconstruction and therefore school was named as Featherlite Pottery Town Government High School. Phase I was inaugurated by Governor of Karnataka, Rameshwar Thakur on 18th of June 2008. Phase II was inaugurated by Cine-Star Ramesh Arvind on 26th of March 2009.
Print media coverage of the inaugural programme is enclosed as Annexure – I.

Featherlite Pottery Town Govt. High School Coles Park, Bangalore

Front View of the School Building

A Classroom – Furniture provided by Featherlite

Function Hall

A Classroom

B. Sri Chokkalinga Vidyalaya, Hejjalla Sri Chokkalinga Vidyalaya a 100% government aided school is located across the road from the existing manufacturing of Featherlite Office SystemsHejjalla. The secondary school has 500 students, consisting 50% of girls and 50% of boys. There are 14 government teachers posted in the school. Featherlite has helped the school by providing Black Boards, Fans, Furnitures and got the entire school white washed. Repairs were also carried out including fitting new windows to ensure proper ventilates and safety of the students.
The appreciation letter received from principal of the school is enclosed as Annexure – II.

Shree Chokkalinga Vidyalaya Hejjalla, Bidadi, Dist. Ramnagar

Front View of the School Building

A Classroom – Furniture provided by Featherlite

A Classroom – Primary

A Classroom – Primary

ANNEXURE - I

Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Jun 18, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka News: ePaper | Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements | Advts: Retail Plus | Classifieds | Jobs | Obituary | Karnataka - Bangalore

School gets a makeover Nagesh Prabhu Entrepreneurs contribute to BERT- 27 initiative

It has twelve well-furnished classrooms Industrialists, realtors contribute Rs. 45 lakh

FAcelift: The Featherlite Pottery Town Government High School in Bangalore now has many facilities, including computers in classrooms BANGALORE: From leaky tiled roofs to concrete ones; from floor to benches and desks; from dingy classrooms to well-lit ones; from stuffy environs to well-ventilated rooms with fans; And now, computers in classrooms. This is the slow and steady transformation of a government high school in a predominantly slum locality of Pottery Town in the city.

The 30-year-old dilapidated school building has undergone a makeover in less than a year, thanks to the initiative of 21 young and service-minded entrepreneurs. Children of the economically backward sections in Nagawara, Tannery Road and DG Halli slums study in this high school, which is run by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. It is located on a four-acre plot, and a large portion of its land has been encroached. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Visveswara Hegde Kageri has promised to remove the encroachments and put up fencing. Bangalore East Rotary Table (BERT)-27 took the initiative to construct a new building for the school under its project “Freedom through education”. “We built 12 classrooms and provided toilets and other facilities to students and teachers with contributions worth Rs. 45 lakh from industrialists and real estate developers. All the classrooms have been well furnished,” says Prasad R. Deshpande, chairman, BERT-27, who took the initiative to reconstruct the building. The Government contributed Rs. 20 lakh towards the endeavour. Twelve classrooms were constructed to accommodate 243 children and 13 teachers. The school, which scored 62 per cent pass in the 2007 SSLC examination, offers both Kannada and English mediums. “When we started construction work, the school was in a dilapidated condition and basic amenities were missing. We convinced the local people about our project and told them that the school will change the careers of their children,” Mr. Deshpande said. “We are planning to have four more classrooms by constructing a third floor,” he said. BERT is sponsoring midday meals for nearly 250 children at Jakkarayanakere School. It also conducts regular medical camps in various schools. “This is our idea of corporate social responsibility,” Mr. Deshpande said. The Pottery Town school now has modern infrastructure, computer centre, library and toilets. The toilet block was sponsored by Bangalore East Ladies Circle 31 that has Megna P. Deshpande as the chairperson. “The number of students admitted to class VIII were 20 per cent more than last year. We can proudly compare the school to other private schools in the vicinity,” says headmaster Ashwath Narayan. Featherlite Products Limited was the chief donor for the project, and the school was named “Featherlite Pottery Town Government High School” according to an agreement signed with the School Development Committee.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Jun 18, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka News: ePaper | Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements | Advts: Retail Plus | Classifieds | Jobs | Obituary | Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Private sector should adopt Government schools’ Staff Reporter — Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

Greater participation: Governor Rameshwar Thakur interacting with students at the inauguration of the Featherlite Pottery Town Government School in Bangalore on Tuesday. Bangalore: The private sector should play a greater role in developing government schools, especially primary schools, in terms of infrastructure, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri said here on Tuesday, at the inauguration of the Featherlite Pottery Town Government High School. Lauding the efforts of the organisation, Round Table India, which, in collaboration with the State Government has built 12 classrooms at Featherlite High School, he said that the private sector should continue to “adopt” Government schools in this manner. In view of the high dropout rates among students, especially in classes five, seven and 10, Mr. Kageri said he has directed his department officials to convince parents to keep their children in school. Several parts of the State continue to have alarming dropout rates despite schemes such as midday meals, he added. Governor Rameshwar Thakur said that given the growing need for primary schools in the city, both the Government and the voluntary sector have to work together to fulfil the demand. “To enable children to take advantage of the changes and developments in curriculum and teaching, we need to invest more in teachers, without whose complete involvement, the idea of quality education will remain a distant dream. For this we need to revamp our teacher training establishments and ensure that good performance is adequately rewarded,” he said. The trend in urban and rural areas is for parents to send their children to private schools, Mr. Thakur added. “We must regularly introspect to find out what government schools can do to make education affordable and qualitative.” He added that civil society, the corporate sector and the State, had a role in ensuring quality education.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Archives | Feedback | Career Avenues

Deccan Herald » State » Detailed Story

Status of schools visited recently This school has become an institution exclusively for the children from the economically weaker sections, and the facilities are far from satisfactory. Featherlite Pottery Town Government High School, Pottery Town: The name Featherlite might give an impression that it is an English medium school, so it will be the best. But things are not so. This school has become an institution exclusively for the children from the economically weaker sections, and the facilities are far from satisfactory. No wonder, SSLC pass teachers are the lords here. Infrastructure: The Rs 3000 crores allocated by the state government under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan fell short to develop the school properly. The School now depends on the desks and other material supplied by charity organisations. And that include even the new high school building. Six teachers handle 282 students here. Government Kannada Upper Primary School, Murphy Town, Ulsoor: Acute staff crunch is the bane of this school, which otherwise boasts of a number of shields, won by the students and the teachers, promptly showcased to new-comers. Infrastructure: Since the school is located in an interior area of Ulsoor, rarely the school draws attention of philanthropists. So this is one of the poorly managed school. Teacher-student ratio: The school has a strength of 210 students, all of them coming from the nearby slums. The school has classes up to 8th Standard whereas the number of teachers is six. Left with no other option, students of two classes are always let out to play. The school thankfully has one BSc Pass teacher whereas it has four SSLC pass and 1 PU pass teachers. Government Primary School (Namma Oora Shale), Kadiraiyanapallya, Indiranagar: At first glance, one might fall for the school’s beautiful campus, huge play ground, enough play materials for kids, nicely maintained building, excellent furnitures for the students and computer. The biggest advantage of this school is that it has been adopted by the Hotel Leela Palace, who have developed it in their desired way. Infrastructure: Furnitures, playing materials, computer and the servant for the school are all arranged by the Hotel. The food students get here comes from their adoptors. The school can compete with any private school in terms of campus and infra-structure. However, the school has only two teachers. With classes from 1 to 5, the number of students has been reduced from 45 last year to 35 this year.

Event Name : Governor Rameshwar Thakur inaugurated the Featherlite Pottery Town government high school at Pottery Event Date : 17th June 2008 Event Description : Governor Rameshwar Thakur interacting with children during the inauguration of the Featherlite Pottery Town government high school at Pottery Town ,organised by east round table 27 and Bangalore east ladies circle 31 Photo Date : 17th June 2008 Photo Caption : Governor Rameshwar Thakur inaugurating the featherlite Pottery Town government high school at Pottery Town ,organised by east round table 27 and Bangalore east ladies circle 31,also seen in the picture Visveswara Hedge Kageri,Primary and secondary education Minister,RV Deshpande former Minister and others, in Bangalore on Tuesday 17th June 2008 Photo Credit : pics4news.com

INAUGRATION OF THE FEATHERLITE POTTERY TOWN GOVERNMENT HIGH SCHOOL “PHASE II”

The School Dear Members of Area and National Board, Sq.Legs,Ht's, Tablers and Circlers, It is indeed a very satisfying day today with the Inaugration of the IInd Phase of The Landmark Featherlite Pottery Town Govt. High School under the Chairmanship of Tr.Ajay Chandani and Chairperson Cr. Karishma Chandani ,a school built in patnership with the Government of Karnataka. We at BERT27 once again were able to carry on the tradition set by our predessors of providing infrastructure and support by providing another platform in the area of community service and also fulfilling the goal of our parent organization Round Table India - "Freedom Through Education".

The chief Guest Shri Ramesh Arvind with Chairman Tr.Ajay and Chairperson Cr.Karishma It is our pleasure to inform you that we have inaugrated the IInd Phase of the school today consisting of one auditorium, one classroom and a toilet block. The inaugration was carried out at the hands of our Chief Guest Shri Ramesh Arvind a versatile Actor and member of the film fraternity. Also present to grace the occasion were our Guests of Honour Area 6 Chairman Tr.Naveen Pishe and Area 6 Chairperson Cr. Lata Bhaskar who were kind enough to inaugrate the classroom and toilet block respectively and Shri Jawahar Gopal - Director Featherlite Group our chief Donor. We should also mention some names associated with the project firstly our Donors , Mr.Vijaykumar our contractor and his team, IPC Tr.Prasad Deshpande -our project conveynor,Mr.Abhay Jain, Mr.Kamath without whom this project wouldn't have been a reality. The Featherlite Pottery Town Goverment High School a Dream project turned reality , will cater to atleast 650 children a Model school with all facilities including Library,Computer centre and a Auditorium . As we

see and were informed by the Principal of the school Shri. Aswathnarayan that the number of students in the school have gone up by 20% after the infrastructure was provided. Today we have fullfiled the Theme for the year "One Life Many Dreams" by providing this small gift to the community and will continue doing so till we can. We BERT27 thank everyone present and who have contribuited to making this program and the school successful. Anant Toshniwal. Secretary BERT27

SCHOOL INAUGRATION

CHIEF GUEST RAMESH ARVIND INAUGRATES THE AUDITORIUM

AREA CHAIRPERSON CR. LATA BHASKAR INAUGRATES TOILET BLOCK

AREA CHAIRMAN TR.NAVEEN PISHE INAUGRATES THE CLASSROOM

LIGHTING OF LAMP BY CHIEF GUEST SHRI RAMESH ARVIND AND CHIEF DONOR SHRI JAWAHAR GOPAL

WELCOME BY CHAIRMAN TR.AJAY AND CHAIRPERSON CR.KARISHMA

THE STUDENTS

THE RAMESH ARVIND FAN CLUB

THE FACULTY

THE TABLING COMMUNITY

ANNEXURE - II