Language and Learning Foundation wins Rs 5 crore HCL grant in the education category
![HCL Grant has emerged as one of India’s most coveted institutionalized CSR grants recognizing the rise of the Fifth Estate – the NGOs.](https://assets.telegraphindia.com/telegraph/2022/Mar/1646734999_hcl.jpg)
The Language and Learning Foundation (LLF) has won a Rs 5 crore grant from HCL Foundation (HCLF), the CSR (corporate social responsibility) arm of HCL Technologies, in the Education category.
On March 7, HCL foundation announced the winning NGOs of the seventh edition of the HCL Grant, a flagship programme dedicated to support diverse, innovative and inclusive initiatives of NGOs for sustainable transformation of rural India in areas of environment, health and education.
The grant was awarded to three winning NGOs — one each in the development areas of environment, health and education — which received Rs 5 crore each for three to five-year projects. The remaining two finalists in each category received one-year grants of Rs 25 lakh each, making a total grant of Rs 16.5 crore allotted by HCL Foundation.
LLF received the grant under the education category, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) won from the environment category, and Association for People with Disability (APD) won under the Health category.
Nidhi Pundhir, director, HCL Foundation, said, “The HCL Grant recognizes not only ideas, but also the power to transform these ideas into implementable projects. It is heartening for us to note that with the HCL Grant, we are co-creating stories of development transformation in the country. The HCL Grant is a step toward recognizing the Fifth Estate – the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs).”
Pundhir further added, “Through the HCL Grant, HCL Foundation aims to achieve sustainable rural development by supporting NGOs doing path-breaking work in the environment, health and education categories. NGOs have become critical agents of change, playing a decisive role in nation-building. Heartiest congratulations to all the finalists and winners.”
The HCL Grant supports India’s most innovative NGOs and their breakthrough projects in environment, health and education to help transform rural communities across the country. Under the HCL Grant program, HCLF has so far committed ₹95.75 crores (US$12.85 million), including this year’s Grant.
The Language and Learning Foundation (LLF) founded in 2015 , aims to develop and implement a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers, teacher educators and other stakeholders in the area of early grade student learning with a specific focus on language and literacy.
Language and Learning Foundation has been working with children of the Bastar district in Chhattisgarh to promote education in their local language. The vision of LLF is in tune with the National Education Policy 2020.
Dhir Jhingran, founder director, Language and Learning Foundation (LLF) said, “The grant will not only help the 200 schools in Bastar district but enable us to fulfill our commitment towards introducing children’s languages in the classrooms at a large scale. So we will be working for advocacy with the government of Chhattisgarh and other state governments so that children in a classroom do not suffer from incomprehension. They will be able to learn better in their own languages. So we hope to use this grant towards making a much wider impact to support the vision of the National Education Policy 2020 and to ensure that children’s familiar languages come into the classroom at scale.”