Author: Smile Foundation

Health

The Simple Act of Washing Hands

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 31, 2025
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How much effort does it take to wash one’s hands? A few seconds under a tap, a swirl of soap, a rinse. And yet, this small act, almost too simple to think twice about, remains one of the most powerful public health interventions ever known. It saves lives invisibly, and far too often, unnoticed.

In homes across the world, parents have long insisted that children wash their hands before meals, after play and upon returning from school. It is a rule so ordinary that it’s often ignored, especially when water is scarce or time is short. But behind that parental admonition lies a profound truth. Handwashing with soap can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by as much as 30%, respiratory infections by 20% and dramatically curb the spread of outbreak-related diseases like cholera, Ebola and even COVID-19.

If the pandemic taught us anything, it was the simple act of washing hands can draw the line between life and death, between containment and catastrophe. Yet, in the years since, as urgency has faded and taps have run dry, old habits of neglect have crept back in.

The Forgotten Frontline

For all its simplicity, handwashing is still a privilege. In 2025, an estimated 3.4 billion people lack safely managed sanitation, while 1.7 billion have no basic hygiene services at home including 611 million without access to any handwashing facilities at all. It is one of the deepest inequities in global health: a gap not of knowledge, but of means.

The irony is inescapable. We have learned to edit genes, design AI models to predict disease patterns, and launch billion-dollar vaccine programs. Yet, a third of humanity cannot routinely do what a toddler learns at home: wash their hands.

World Hand Hygiene Day, observed each year on 5 May, tries to refocus attention on this fundamental act. But attention is fickle. Between global crises and shifting political priorities, the conversation on hygiene rarely holds the floor for long. The consequences are millions of preventable infections, chronic absenteeism from schools, lost productivity and the perpetuation of poverty through ill health.

The Science in the Soap

There is no rocket science behind the act. Washing hands with plain soap and water for 20 seconds removes the microscopic pathogens that hitchhike on our skin. The scrubbing action breaks down oils that trap germs, allowing water to carry them away. It is not glamorous, but it is effective — a simple mechanical intervention that, repeated enough, builds population-level resilience.

But beyond its medical utility, handwashing represents something more intimate: dignity. The ability to wash one’s hands before eating, after caring for a sick relative or before feeding a child is part of what it means to live safely and self-respectfully. It is a bridge between personal well-being and public health.

Where Soap meets Scarcity

For millions, however, handwashing is not a habit but a hardship. In many parts of India, fetching water is still a daily struggle. Taps in schools and Anganwadis run dry or the soap is missing from a cracked plastic dish. In such places, hygiene becomes a conditional luxury practiced only when possible, rather than when needed.

Behavioural barriers compound the problem. Many assume that rinsing with water alone suffices, or that “clean-looking” hands are safe. Old customs persist like eating with fingers, serving food communally or washing at shared tanks where soap dissolves quickly.

“People know the message, but not always the meaning,” says a public health worker from Bihar. “They’ve heard about handwashing campaigns for years. But when the nearest water source is a kilometre away, what do you think matters more — cooking, cleaning or washing hands?”

It is a dilemma repeated across low- and middle-income countries, where water scarcity collides with habit and hardship. The result is predictable: even where awareness exists, behaviour change lags far behind.

Teaching Hygiene, One Child at a Time

In India, Smile Foundation’s Smile on Wheels programme takes hygiene education directly to rural and peri-urban communities that lack healthcare access. Mobile health units visit remote villages, offering basic care and live demonstrations on the correct way to wash hands. Mothers, schoolchildren and community health workers gather around to learn — not just when to wash, but why.

These moments are deceptively simple: a bowl of clean water, a bar of soap, a lesson in protection. But the impact accumulates. “When a child goes home and tells their parents what they learned, that’s where change begins,” says a Smile Foundation educator from Rajasthan.

Elsewhere, the Saamuhika Shakti initiative in Bengaluru, led by Sparsha Trust and WaterAid, reached hundreds of children in vulnerable settlements during Global Handwashing Day 2024. By bringing playful demonstrations to street corners and community halls, they transformed hygiene into a collective act of empowerment.

Across borders, similar stories echo. In refugee camps in Bangladesh, the Red Crescent Society has made handwashing a cornerstone of outbreak prevention. In each case, small habit, multiplied across thousands, becomes a shield against disease.

Behaviour is Policy

For decades, global health efforts have wrestled with the challenge of turning hygiene awareness into habit. It is not merely a question of building taps or distributing soap, but of understanding behaviour. Why do people wash or not wash their hands? When do they feel it matters? Who do they trust enough to model the behaviour?

Behavioural economists have long argued that public health succeeds when it meets people where they are — culturally, socially and practically. That means designing interventions that account for time, convenience and cultural perception, rather than assuming rational compliance.

In that sense, handwashing is as much a social policy issue as a technical one. It sits at the intersection of education, gender, infrastructure and governance. When a child learns to wash hands in school, it is because a teacher reminded them and because the school had running water. When a healthcare worker disinfects hands between patients, it reflects not just training, but institutional discipline.

Making hygiene a social norm requires reinforcement from every direction: teachers, health systems, local leaders and media. It requires steady policy and persistent storytelling.

When AI meets Soap

Curiously, technology may now be finding its way into this most human of acts. Artificial intelligence is being used to predict antimicrobial susceptibility, identify infection patterns and even model where hygiene breakdowns might lead to outbreaks. It is not a replacement for washing hands — rather, it underlines how fragile our defences are when we don’t.

As global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) grows, prevention becomes our best protection. Every unwashed hand that spreads infection adds to the burden of antibiotics, accelerating resistance. A bar of soap, in this light, is as vital to global health security as a vial of medicine.

The Cost of Neglect

Neglecting hygiene is costly. According to the World Bank, poor sanitation costs some countries up to 5% of GDP annually in lost productivity and healthcare expenses. For women and girls, the burden is particularly acute. Inadequate hygiene facilities in schools lead to absenteeism during menstruation, while the lack of private washing spaces affects dignity and safety.

In hospitals, the stakes rise even higher. Healthcare-associated infections claim millions of lives every year — infections often preventable through proper hand hygiene. When doctors and nurses skip a wash between patients, they inadvertently become conduits of disease.

It is here that institutional culture matters most. Hospitals and schools must not only provide facilities but also model consistency. The difference between a clean ward and a contaminated one can hinge on compliance with something as ordinary as handwashing.

Building a Habit, not a Headline

Public health has a short attention span. The global enthusiasm for hygiene that surged during COVID-19 has largely ebbed away. Hand sanitizer dispensers stand empty in office lobbies; soap campaigns have lost airtime. Yet, the threat of disease remains constant.

Making handwashing a social norm requires patience. It cannot depend on emergencies or one-off observances like Global Handwashing Day. Instead, it must be embedded in routine taught in schools, reinforced in workplaces and normalised in homes.

Governments can lead the way through investment in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) infrastructure. Every household, school and clinic needs reliable water and affordable soap. But infrastructure alone is not enough. Behavioural change programs, designed with community participation, can make the difference between access and adoption.

Collaboration between public and private sectors can spur innovation — from low-cost, water-efficient handwashing stations to creative campaigns that make hygiene aspirational rather than obligatory.

The Politics of Clean Hands

Washing hands may seem apolitical, but it is entwined with politics in the most basic sense: who gets water, who has soap, who is taught to use it. In villages where women queue for hours at a hand pump, hygiene competes with survival. In urban slums, overcrowded conditions make shared washing facilities risky or unusable.

When governments underinvest in public health, it is the poorest who pay — often with preventable illnesses. Conversely, where sanitation and hygiene are prioritized, the benefits ripple outward: healthier children, stronger economies and more resilient communities.

In that light, washing hands is not just a personal act of care. It is a collective statement of equity.

Each One, Teach One

Real change often starts with the smallest gesture. In communities where public health workers use the “Each One Teach One” approach — encouraging everyone to teach one other person the importance of handwashing — adoption rates have climbed significantly. A mother teaches her child, the child teaches a classmate and suddenly a village learns together.

We often think of progress in terms of breakthroughs — a new vaccine, a medical discovery, a technological leap. But sometimes, progress looks like a bar of soap next to a running tap. It looks like a child reminding their family to wash before dinner.

If there is a lesson in the simple act of washing hands, it is that public health begins not with complexity, but with care. And in a world constantly chasing innovation, perhaps what we need most is to remember what our mothers told us long ago — wash your hands.

Education

The Power of Mentorship in Scholarship Programmes

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 30, 2025
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Sneha is a recipient of a merit-based scholarship from Smile Foundation to pursue engineering from a reputed college in Mumbai.

When we talk about scholarships, we often talk about opportunity — about the chance to study, to rise, to cross the invisible barriers that hold talent hostage to circumstance. What we talk about less often is the human scaffolding that allows those opportunities to hold steady: mentorship.

In the vocabulary of education, “scholarship” has long meant financial support — a cheque, a stipend, a seat at the table. But in the lived experience of the thousands of young people who win these awards each year, the money is often just the beginning. What sustains ambition, particularly for first-generation learners, is guidance. Mentorship, in this sense, is not an accessory to scholarship; it is its moral core.

The Invisible Curriculum

Every scholarship programme, no matter how generous, sits atop an invisible divide between those who know how to navigate elite systems and those who must learn it from scratch. For a student from a remote village in Bihar or a fishing community in Kerala, winning a scholarship to a top university can feel like landing on another planet. The classrooms are larger, the language more abstract, the expectations unspoken.

Mentorship steps into that silence. It translates the hidden curriculum — the unspoken norms, confidence cues, and institutional rhythms that privilege the already privileged. A mentor tells a student not just how to write a dissertation but how to read between the lines of an email, how to network without self-doubt, how to seek help without shame.

In that sense, mentorship is not about academic coaching. It’s about cultural decoding. It gives young scholars, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, the tools to navigate systems designed for others.

The Numbers Behind the Nudge

Globally, the data on mentorship is as compelling as any financial argument. A 2023 study by the World Bank and the Mastercard Foundation found that students paired with structured mentorship programmes were 40% more likely to complete higher education and 70% more likely to pursue leadership roles in their sectors.

In India, a survey by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) found that scholarship recipients with sustained mentor contact reported higher self-efficacy and lower dropout rates, even when compared to peers receiving larger financial grants. The same study noted that the greatest gains were among women, first-generation learners and students from rural or low-income backgrounds, precisely those who often face social isolation in higher education.

While financial aid solves one layer of inequity which is access and mentorship solves another: belonging.

Money Opens Doors, Mentorship Keeps Them Open

The logic is straightforward. Money may get you into the room; mentorship teaches you how to stay there. It helps bridge the transition between aspiration and achievement.

While the grant itself is prestigious, past scholars often emphasise that it was the mentorship — formal and informal — that transformed their journeys. Alumni who had once navigated similar struggles became mentors, guiding younger cohorts through not just academic choices but emotional resilience. “Knowing there was someone who understood where I came from changed everything,” says one recipient. “It made me feel less like an imposter.”

The same pattern is visible in international programmes. The Chevening Scholarship, funded by the UK government, pairs its scholars with professional mentors from their fields. The Fulbright network in the United States goes further, cultivating a lifelong alumni mentorship model that keeps scholars connected long after graduation. Even the Gates Cambridge and Rhodes Trust have recently expanded mentoring support to help scholars adapt socially and emotionally to demanding environments.

Each of these programmes has recognised that the transformative impact of a scholarship is not measured solely by degrees or publications, but by how confidently a scholar can navigate the world beyond the classroom.

A Human Infrastructure for Equity

To see the value of mentorship, one only has to step into the shoes of a first-generation scholar. Imagine being admitted to a top university abroad where the reading lists are foreign, the seminars intimidating and the social circles self-assured. In that moment, financial aid can pay tuition, but it cannot buy confidence.

Mentorship provides that bridge. It offers psychological safety — the assurance that you are not alone in your confusion or doubt. It anchors the intangible: self-belief, professional identity, the courage to fail and begin again.

In the absence of such support, many gifted students falter not for lack of intellect, but for lack of navigation. A report by India’s Ministry of Education in 2022 noted that nearly one in five students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in elite universities felt socially alienated despite academic competence. Most cited lack of guidance or relatable mentors as a key factor.

The tragedy of talent loss lies not in opportunity denied, but in opportunity unaccompanied.

Sociologists often describe mentorship as a form of social capital — the networked knowledge and emotional support that enable individuals to move confidently through institutions. Pierre Bourdieu, who coined the term, argued that inequality persists not only because of economic differences but because of disparities in social know-how: who you know, how you speak, when you ask, how you belong.

In that light, mentorship democratizes what privilege once monopolized. It gives access not just to information, but to interpretation. A mentor decodes the unwritten rules — when to publish, how to present, what to prioritize. In elite academic and professional spaces, such guidance can be the difference between thriving and merely surviving.

For women scholars, particularly in STEM and policy fields, mentorship often doubles as advocacy. A study by UNESCO found that women with active mentors were three times more likely to remain in research careers after graduation than those without. The mentor’s role, in these cases, is not only academic but structural — amplifying voices in spaces that have historically excluded them.

The Emotional Architecture of Success

If scholarships build opportunity, mentorship builds endurance. Every student’s journey includes moments of self-doubt: the first failed exam, the isolating winter abroad, the conference where everyone else seems more articulate. In those moments, mentorship is a lifeline.

Good mentors do more than guide; they listen. They normalise vulnerability in a system obsessed with achievement.

This emotional architecture of mentorship including empathy, reassurance and perspective is often what sustains long-term impact. Financial aid can change a year; mentorship can change a life trajectory.

Institutionalising Mentorship: From Ad Hoc to Embedded

Despite the evidence, many scholarship programmes still treat mentorship as optional — an informal relationship left to alumni goodwill. This is changing. Organisations are increasingly institutionalising mentorship frameworks that match scholars with professionals, alumni or peers based on discipline, geography or shared background.

The Inlaks Fellowship for Indian Journalists, for instance, pairs fellows with senior mentors who review work, offer editorial guidance and connect them to networks. The mentorship continues even after the fellowship ends, evolving into professional collaboration.

Globally, the Schmidt Science Fellows, Obama Foundation Scholars and Mandela Rhodes Foundation have embedded mentorship as a structural pillar. Their approach is systematic: orientation sessions, monthly check-ins, leadership retreats and evaluation mechanisms that treat mentorship not as charity but as pedagogy.

Such integration transforms mentorship from a benevolent gesture into an accountability framework — ensuring that scholarship programmes deliver not just opportunity, but continuity.

Mentorship and the Multipliers of Change

The impact of mentorship doesn’t end with the scholar. When mentees return home, they often become mentors themselves. This creates what sociologists call “social multipliers” — effects that ripple beyond individual benefit.

A first-generation scholar who returns to teach, for instance, carries back not just knowledge but a new model of guidance. They become living proof that mentorship begets leadership. In India, several former scholarship recipients now run grassroots mentorship circles for students from marginalised backgrounds. Their message is simple: someone once helped me; now I help others.

This multiplier effect is perhaps mentorship’s most enduring legacy. It converts personal advancement into collective progress. The Chevening and Commonwealth alumni networks, for example, now run peer-mentorship programmes across South Asia and Africa, mentoring younger applicants and offering moral and logistical support. In doing so, they keep the ladder open.

Barriers to Mentorship

Yet, even as the case for mentorship grows, practical barriers remain. Time is the most obvious one. Mentors are often overcommitted academics or professionals balancing multiple responsibilities. Institutions must therefore invest in systems that make mentorship feasible and rewarding through recognition, training or shared credit.

Another challenge lies in matching mentors and mentees effectively. Poorly matched pairs can lead to disengagement or worse, discouragement. Mentorship is not transactional; it relies on chemistry, shared trust and mutual respect.

Finally, there is the challenge of diversity. Too often, mentors reflect the same demographic patterns of privilege that scholarships seek to redress. Diversifying mentor pools by gender, geography and lived experience is key to creating authentic connection.

Digital Mentorship: Expanding the Reach

Technology is beginning to address some of these challenges. Digital mentorship platforms now allow scholars to connect with global networks beyond their institutions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many scholarship programmes moved mentoring online and discovered unexpected benefits.

The UNDP Global Policy Network, for instance, piloted a virtual mentorship model that connected young researchers from developing countries with policy experts worldwide. Surveys found that 85% of participants continued their mentor relationships after the programme ended.

Similarly, India’s National Scholarship Portal is exploring AI-driven mentor matching to connect students with professionals across industries. Digital tools democratize mentorship by breaking the barriers of geography and access though they cannot replace the intimacy of human connection.

What Effective Mentorship Looks Like

Mentorship is not one-size-fits-all. Its impact depends on depth, continuity, and reciprocity. The most effective mentors share three traits: empathy, consistency, and empowerment.

Empathy builds trust — the foundation for honest dialogue. Consistency sustains growth — ensuring that guidance is not sporadic but iterative. Empowerment transforms the dynamic — mentors do not mould mentees into replicas of themselves; they help them find their own voice.

Successful mentorship programmes also include feedback loops, structured goal-setting and opportunities for peer learning. Mentorship, after all, is a two-way street. Mentors, too, often describe learning as much as they teach.

From Merit to Meaning

Ultimately, mentorship redefines what merit means in scholarship programmes. It moves us away from the myth of the self-made student toward a more collective understanding of success. No scholar, no matter how brilliant, thrives in isolation. Behind every award-winning thesis or social innovation stands a teacher, an advisor, a friend who believed before the world did.

By institutionalising mentorship, scholarship programmes affirm that intellect alone is not enough — that empathy, guidance and community are part of what makes education transformative.

In an age where inequality is both deep and diffuse, mentorship offers a rare antidote: a human relationship that cuts through structural barriers. It does not fix every inequity, but it equips individuals to navigate them with confidence and clarity.

The Multiplier of Hope

The true impact of mentorship cannot always be measured in metrics. It appears in subtler forms — in a student who finally asks a question in class, in a young researcher who applies for a fellowship they thought was beyond reach, in a scholar who returns home and builds something new.

Scholarship programmes may provide the wings, but mentorship teaches flight. It gives meaning to opportunity and turns privilege into possibility.

In the long arc of education, mentorship is not an add-on; it is the multiplier of hope. And as more institutions begin to recognise its power, the question is no longer whether mentorship belongs in scholarship programmes but how soon we can make it universal.

Smile

Investing in the First 1000 Days of Every Child

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 29, 2025
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breastfeeding

When we talk about India’s ambition to become a developed nation by 2047, the conversation often focuses on infrastructure, innovation, manufacturing, digitalisation. All of these are vital. But one of the most essential but under‐appreciated fronts of national progress begins much earlier in the first 1000 days of a child’s life, from conception to their second birthday.

This window, brief as it is, holds the greatest potential for shaping a child’s brain, immune system, emotional resilience and ultimately, their capacity to learn, earn and thrive. Every $1 invested in nutrition brings a $23 return. In other words, the returns on early childhood nutrition are real, measurable and explosive.

The Science of the First 1000 Days

The biology is compelling. During pregnancy and the first two years of life, a child’s nutritional and care environment does more than simply determine whether they grow taller or get sick less often. It lays down the architecture of their brain, sets the foundation of their lifelong health and shapes their capacity to learn and adapt.

We now understand that more than 85 % of brain development occurs before age six and the pace of neural connection formation before the age of two is extraordinary. Good nutrition, responsive caregiving (talking, playing, engaging) and stimulation (hearing, seeing, touching) work together to build curiosity, memory, social skills and emotional regulation. Absent that, the risk is not just short‐term illness or stunting; it is long‐term deficits in learning, behaviour, health and even earnings potential.

In India, where the latest Global Hunger Index ranks us 102nd out of 123 countries, deemed a “serious hunger level”, nutrition still limits human potential. Malnutrition implies missing vital nutrients, weakened immune systems, more illness, less school attendance, less opportunity. It deepens inequality and locks large portions of the population into cycles of disadvantage.

Nutrition as Equity

What the first 1000 days also highlight is the power of nutrition as a driver of equity. If we ensure children start life with the right nutrition and care, we give them a fighting chance to begin school on level ground. But for many children in rural or marginalised communities, the disadvantage begins before birth: their mothers may have been undernourished, anaemic, under stress, without access to quality antenatal care. The result is small babies, stunted growth and delayed development.

India’s sprawling system of anganwadis under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), and the corresponding Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) infrastructure is a lifeline for many. But when these centres face inadequate infrastructure, understaffing, poor resources, inconsistent food supply or weak integration with health and education, the promise falters. Without the right synergy of nutrition, health, early learning and caregiver support, children don’t get the balanced start they deserve.

We must therefore treat nutrition not as an isolated sector but as part of a broader ecosystem: health, early education, social protection, maternal care, sanitation. Feeding and learning are deeply interlinked. Children who are well‐fed but have no stimulation or caregivers who talk to them still risk falling behind. Conversely, children in enriched environments but without adequate nutrition are still vulnerable.

Joining the Dots: India’s Policy Shift

There are promising policy signals in India. The current Mission POSHAN 2.0 (formerly POSHAN Abhiyaan) explicitly links maternal nutrition, good health, early learning and child care. It recognises that malnutrition cannot be tackled in silos. For example, by integrating growth monitoring, community health outreach, nutritional supplementation and early learning elements, there is a clearer path to school readiness and improved life trajectories.

At the same time, institutions like ours through Mission Education programme bring on‐the‐ground interventions that combine nutrition, care and education, especially for out-of-school children and those in marginalised communities. These efforts help illustrate what is possible when actors across sectors align.

And in the education sphere, organisations such as the District Institutes of Education & Training (DIETs) are working to equip preschool and early-learning educators with the tools to provide inclusive, engaging settings. That matters because nutrition alone cannot deliver if children arrive at school malnourished or behind.

Blueprint for Early Childhood Success

If we accept that the first 1000 days are foundational to individual and national progress, what should a blueprint look like in India? Here are essential elements:

Prioritise investment from pregnancy through age two

Government budgets must earmark resources explicitly for the first 1000 days. This includes maternal nutrition, safe pregnancy care, immunisation, early childhood screening and growth monitoring. Disadvantaged families and marginalised children deserve first access.

Support caregivers and families

Nutrition is only part of the equation. Caregivers need paid parental leave, flexible work policies and environments supportive of exclusive breastfeeding and responsive care. Programme support should help parents and caregivers learn how to engage, talk and play with infants, not just feed them. On-the‐ground community programmes should empower caregivers with knowledge and tools to provide nurturing environments.

Integrate nutrition, health and early learning

Early Learning Centres (age 3–6) should not simply provide meals; they must become hubs of integrated nutrition + play + learning. Growth monitoring, immunisations, health check-ups and nutritional support must be linked to stimulation and responsive caregiving. Cross-sectoral coordination is vital — health, nutrition, education and social protection must work seamlessly together.

Quality, equity and data

The system must aim for consistent quality across states and districts. Robust monitoring using real-time data will track developmental milestones, service delivery and child outcomes. It is essential to identify gaps early and tailor responses. Targeting the most vulnerable with precision will help level the playing field.

Sustainable political backing and funding

Look to global exemplars: Denmark, for instance, has a comprehensive early childhood education and care (ECEC) system, backed by decades of bipartisan support and seeing consistently high quality. For India, this means building sustained political commitment, stable funding, and cross‐party consensus around early childhood development.

The Economic Case

Beyond child health and equity, the economic logic is compelling. When children develop optimally, they learn better, attend school more regularly, complete higher education, earn more and contribute productively to the economy. The multiplier is enormous. One often‐cited estimate suggests that every dollar invested in early childhood nutrition may yield a return many times over in health, education and productivity. The implication: for India, failing to invest in the first 1000 days is not just a human-rights issue; it is a strategic economic risk.

Challenges and the Urgency for Action

However, the path is neither straightforward nor guaranteed. India faces multiple challenges:

Infrastructure gaps: Many Anganwadis and early learning centres operate with sub‐optimal physical infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient staff and limited linkages to health services.

Coordination limits: Nutrition, health, education and social protection are often run by different departments with weak linkages at the district and community levels.

Data weaknesses: Many states lack real‐time, high‐quality data on the first two years of life on growth trajectories, developmental delays, micronutrient deficiencies.

Equity hurdles: Children from marginalised communities, tribal areas, remote rural locations start with multiple disadvantages — undernutrition, lack of stimulation, poor health services — which deepen if early intervention is weak.

Sustainability of funding: Short-term programmes and donor‐led models need to transition into long‐term, government-embedded systems that span decades, not years.

Given these obstacles, the urgency for action cannot be overstated. Every moment lost is a missed opportunity — a brain network that did not fully form, an immune system left vulnerable, a child entering school already behind.

India’s 2047 Vision

For India to meet its 2047 vision, a renewed focus on early childhood is not optional; it is foundational. Policymakers must view the first 1,000 days as a strategic investment zone — one where dollars invested now yield lifelong returns for individuals, communities and the economy.

State governments must build integrated early childhood units that bring together health, nutrition, education and social protection under one platform at the district level. Ministries should adopt shared targets, joint budgets and coordinated delivery models.

Civil society organisations, philanthropic foundations and private sector partners need to scale up programmes that combine feeding, caregiving, stimulation and learning — especially in underserved regions. And research institutions must monitor and evaluate outcomes, bringing transparency and learning to what works.

Transformation begins in the First 1000 Days

In the final analysis, the first 1000 days represent both the simplest and the most complex window in human development. It’s simple because the logic is clear: feed well, nurture, stimulate and children thrive. It’s complex because it requires coordination across sectors, sustained political will, adequate resources, quality delivery and equity-driven targeting.

But for India, the payoff is huge. Healthier children today mean a stronger, more capable workforce tomorrow; more equitable childhoods mean a society where opportunity is not pre-determined by birth; better learning in early years means innovation, productivity and global competitiveness.
If we get this right, the children born today will not just inherit a country in transition — they will inherit a country transformed. And that transformation begins in the first 1000 days.

Education

AI: The New Language of Higher Education

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 28, 2025
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Low Education Affecting the Health of Indian Women

When ChatGPT entered the classroom two years ago, India’s universities were filled with unease. Could artificial intelligence be trusted in a space that has long prized originality and critical thinking? That question is now giving way to something far more constructive. A new report by Ernst and Young-Parthenon and FICCI finds that more than 60 per cent of higher education institutions in India now permit students to use AI tools. Over half of them use generative AI to create learning materials, while 40 per cent rely on AI-powered tutoring systems and chatbots.

This marks a turning point for higher education in India. AI is no longer an optional experiment. It is becoming the infrastructure through which knowledge is designed, delivered and assessed.

From Disruption to Design

AI has become part of the daily rhythm of higher education. Adaptive learning platforms are customising lessons for students. Automated grading systems are helping teachers focus on mentorship and research. Chatbots and virtual tutors are answering student queries even after class hours. These applications are not replacing teachers but helping them teach better and reach further.

The report also shows that over half of Indian universities have already implemented AI-related policies. This reflects a growing understanding that technology must be guided by ethics, governance and intent.

Rethinking How We Learn

AI is also changing how students think. When a generative tool can write a paper in seconds, the true test of education becomes interpretation, analysis and creativity. Many faculty members now ask students to evaluate AI-generated work rather than prohibit its use. In doing so, they are helping students develop the ability to think critically about technology rather than depend blindly on it.

For science and technology programmes, universities are embedding content on machine learning, robotics and natural language processing into their curricula. In the humanities and social sciences, AI literacy is becoming a basic skill, much like digital fluency once was. Every graduate now needs to understand not only how AI works but also how it shapes society.

The Question of Ethics and Equity

As the report points out, AI’s rapid adoption also brings new risks. Many platforms depend on sensitive data such as student submissions and engagement records. Without strong governance systems, institutions could face breaches of privacy, bias in decision-making and reputational harm. These concerns cannot be solved by individual teachers. They require institutional policies, transparent partnerships with technology providers and regulatory oversight that protects both learners and educators.

At the same time, the conversation on AI in education must go beyond elite institutions. The risk is not that AI will replace teachers, but that it will deepen inequalities between those who have access to digital tools and those who do not.

This is where civil society has stepped in. Organisations such as Smile Foundation are showing what equitable AI adoption can look like. Through our Digital Learning and STEM Innovation initiatives, Smile Foundation is introducing AI-supported learning tools in rural and low-resource schools. Our solar-powered digital classrooms and teacher training modules use AI to personalise lessons for children who often study in multilingual environments and have limited access to quality teaching resources. The focus is not on gadgets, but on inclusion. By training teachers and embedding ethical AI use into learning design, Smile Foundation is ensuring that the next generation of learners can use technology as a bridge, not a barrier.

Building Future-Ready Campuses

The idea of a “future-ready campus” is not only about smart classrooms or algorithms. It is about preparing students for a world where intelligence is shared between humans and machines. The faculty of the future will be designers of learning ecosystems that combine empathy with efficiency. The students of the future will need to interpret, question and improve what AI produces.

For a country with more than 40 million students in higher education, this shift could redefine the very purpose of learning. The goal is no longer just to master information but to understand how information itself is created and used.

From Adoption to Adaptation

India’s National Education Policy 2020 called for flexible, multidisciplinary and technology-enabled learning. AI now provides the means to make that vision real. But to do so, institutions must move beyond adoption to adaptation. Public universities need investments in faculty development, AI literacy, and ethical governance. Private institutions must ensure that their use of AI remains transparent and inclusive.

AI is not a passing phase in education. It is a new language of learning that blends logic with creativity, precision with compassion. The challenge before us is to make sure that every student in India can speak it fluently.

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CSR Partners In Change Partnerships

Unlocking the Power of CSR-NGO Partnerships

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 27, 2025
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When Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was introduced in India in 2013, it sparked debate. Some hailed it as a vital lever to ensure inclusive national progress, while others dismissed it as a bureaucratic obligation. Fast forward to 2025 and CSR has evolved from a peripheral compliance exercise into a strategic imperative. Today, both large and small enterprises weave CSR into the very fabric of their business, pursuing a shared vision: advancing the nation, one life at a time.

This evolution has not happened in isolation. The rise of CSR-NGO partnerships has become a defining feature of India’s CSR landscape, transforming charitable giving into a measurable force for social change. As ESG commitments gain prominence, corporates and NGOs emerge as dual energies, driving inclusive growth and community transformation.

The Power of CSR-NGO Partnerships

Corporates and NGOs are in many ways polar opposites. Their operational philosophies , priorities and approaches diverge sharply. Yet, precisely this divergence gives rise to extraordinary synergy as when aligned, they become formidable forces, capable of delivering structured and long lasting social impact.

Enhanced Social Impact

NGOs bring hyperlocal insights and deep community ties, enabling corporates to design initiatives that are both relevant and scalable. By harnessing this expertise, CSR programs address the unique challenges of India’s diverse communities, reaching underserved populations with precision.

Shared Resources and Risk Mitigation

Pooling financial, human and technical resources makes CSR-NGO partnerships more robust and sustainable. Risks, whether operational or financial are distributed allowing bold,ambitious projects that might otherwise remain unattempted.

Strengthening Corporate Reputation

Collaborating with credible NGOs signals authenticity, elevating the corporate brand while reinforcing public trust. Companies are no longer seen as mere profit seekers, they are now recognised and held accountable, as social stakeholders shaping an inclusive world.

Innovation and Mutual Learning

The contrasting strengths of corporates and NGOs such as financial and managerial expertise v/s grassroots knowledge and closeness, create fragile ground for mutual learning. This exchange fosters continuous improvement, strategic refinement and creative problem-solving, enhancing the effectiveness of interventions over time.

The Strategic Shift in India’s CSR

India’s CSR law mandates that companies dedicate a minimum 2% of net profits to social causes. Initially, this created a transactional dynamic as corporates sought reputational benefits, while NGOs primarily sought funding.

However, times have changed. Modern CSR is no longer about compliance; it is about strategic collaboration. A recent C&E advisory report highlights that companies and non-profit organisations, increasingly join forces now to tackle complex social challenges. Today CSR-NGO partnerships aim not merely to satisfy legal obligations, but to co-create sustainable impact for the communities in which they operate.

The New CSR Playbook: Data, Tech, Community

Tech-Enabled CSR

Digital transformation has revolutionised CSR, turning technology into a lever for measurable social outcomes. AI-driven EdTech, digital classrooms, STEM mobile labs, mobile health units, teleconsultations, and real-time screenings are enabling corporates and NGOs to deliver targeted interventions. What was once goodwill has become precision-driven action.

Measuring Impact with Data

Analytics and impact measurement tools allow CSR interventions to move beyond activity-based metrics to tangible outcomes. Dashboards and real time analytics enhance transparency, accountability and adaptability, enabling corporates and NGOs to track progress and build trust within the communities they serve.

Building Sustainable and Green Communities

CSR initiatives now embrace environmental stewardship as a core objective. From vegetable gardens and plantation drives to creative “best out of waste” corporate volunteering activities– such partnerships help in integrating the “E” in the ESG, fostering a sustainable ecosystem while infusing the spirit of belongingness in the community.

Empowering Human Capital

Skill development, inclusive education and financial literacy are at the heart of CSR-NGO partnerships. Digital classrooms, vocational training and microenterprise support especially for women of rural and urban poor communities of India are pivotal for India’s growth. Such interventions help in translating potential into opportunity, bridging social and economic gaps, while creating sustainable livelihoods.

CSR in Action: Real-World Transformations

Job-Ready Youth: A Pathway to Inclusive Growth

A partnership between Flipkart Foundation and Smile Foundation is transforming the lives of marginalised youth in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Through industry-relevant training in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector, over 1,000 young individuals have acquired the skills, confidence, and pathways to meaningful employment, demonstrating the tangible impact of CSR-NGO partnerships.

2. Upskilling for Empowerment

Ashirvad by Aliaxis and Smile Foundation have launched the “Plumber Saathi” mobile training programme across Odisha, equipping youth with practical plumbing skills. By combining corporate expertise with grassroots outreach, the programme promotes self-reliance and contributes to long-term socio-economic development in underserved communities.

3. Strengthening Early Education

CNH Industrial (New Holland) and Smile Foundation have collaborated to integrate digital classrooms, teacher training, and practical learning tools, addressing foundational gaps in early education. Through interactive technologies, children gain essential literacy and numeracy skills, ensuring equitable learning opportunities and fostering lifelong educational engagement.

Smile Foundation’s CSR Philosophy

India’s CSR landscape has evolved from compliance-driven charity to strategic measurable impact and Smile Foundation embodies this philosophy; supporting those in need by leveraging the expertise of CSR-NGO partnerships for achieving a bigger goal of creating sustainable change, empowering communities and fostering an egalitarian nation.

By combining technology, data and grassroots expertise, Smile Foundation works towards ensuring that collectively both corporates and NGOs in India, become a strategic force for irrevocable positive transformation.

Join us and explore how your orgnaisation can transform goodwill into measurable chance and build a future where every life thrives.

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Tags #csractivitiesinindia, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR Ngo Partnerships, NGOs

Education

The Science Lab That Never Opens

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 26, 2025
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Can Science Accelerate Social Development?

In a small government secondary school on the outskirts of Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, a gleaming plaque outside a locked room reads “Science Laboratory – Gifted under CSR Support.” The lock has gathered dust. Inside, through the mesh window, one can see microscopes still wrapped in plastic, a rack of test tubes untouched and a gas burner that has never been connected. The headmaster says the school received the equipment two years ago, but the lab never became operational. “We have no trained lab assistant. The science teacher teaches three grades alone,” he says with a half-smile. “And there’s no gas connection.”

This image of a science lab that exists, yet does not, is a striking metaphor for India’s uneasy relationship with scientific education. On paper, every secondary school in the country is supposed to have a functioning laboratory. In reality, according to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+ 2024–245) data shows only 57.1% integrated science lab availability in Indian schools with secondary sections. India must accelerate to bridge the gap by 2030. Of those, many remain underutilised or entirely non-functional due to lack of maintenance, power supply or trained personnel.

The Mirage of Access

The past decade has seen an expansion in physical infrastructure across India’s education system. Classrooms have been built, electricity connections provided and computers distributed. Yet, the quality and functionality of these facilities remain patchy. In science education, this gap is especially visible.

A recent ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) survey found that over 70% of students in Classes 9 and 10 had never performed even a single hands-on science experiment in school. What students experience as “science” is often reduced to textbook definitions and rote memorisation — the periodic table copied by hand, the laws of motion explained through chalk diagrams, the human heart drawn on a blackboard.

It is not that schools lack awareness of the need for practical science learning. Many have rooms designated as laboratories. What they lack is the functional ecosystem of steady funding, skilled teachers, consumables, and accountability that allows those labs to operate meaningfully.

Infrastructure Without Systems

The problem begins with how infrastructure projects are conceived. Under schemes like RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan), funds were allocated for constructing science laboratories in government schools. But once the physical space was built and equipment purchased, there was no consistent provision for upkeep or consumables.

A microscope can last years, but chemicals, slides and wires degrade quickly in India’s humid climate. Without recurring maintenance budgets, labs quickly fall into disrepair.

Another invisible gap lies in staffing. Most government secondary schools have only one science teacher for all upper grades. The norm of having a dedicated laboratory assistant, as envisaged by NCERT’s Lab Manual Guidelines, is rarely met outside Kendriya or Navodaya Vidyalayas. Teachers must unlock the lab, prepare the experiment, supervise the class, clean up and then rush back to teach the next period.

This burden has led to what many educators call “symbolic science” — schools tick boxes to show compliance, but no meaningful experimentation takes place.

When Labs Become Locked Rooms

In rural schools, power supply and safety are constant concerns. Many labs cannot run equipment for lack of electricity or proper ventilation. Others are kept locked for fear of misuse or accidents. In several states, school principals confessed to keeping laboratories closed during inspections to “avoid damage.”

The irony is painful. Facilities meant to ignite curiosity are locked away in the name of protection. Students learn that science is something too fragile, too expensive or too dangerous for them to touch. This invisibly reinforces inequity between elite schools where lab work is routine and public schools, where science is mostly theoretical.

Digital Labs and the New Divide

The pandemic shifted attention toward digital learning. The push for “virtual labs” and online science content promised to fill gaps in physical infrastructure. The Ministry of Education’s Virtual Labs platform, developed by IITs and Amrita University, now offers over 200 simulations for Class 9–12 students. While innovative, these solutions require reliable internet access and trained teachers.

In practice, most rural and low-income schools still lack that digital readiness. Less than 30% of government secondary schools have functional computer labs, according to UDISE+. Many computers remain packed or outdated. As a result, the digital turn risks deepening inequalities instead of reducing them.

The Question of Teacher Preparation

A lab is not just a room full of equipment. It is a pedagogy in motion — an approach that requires confidence, curiosity and time. Unfortunately, teacher preparation programmes in India devote minimal hours to laboratory management or inquiry-based learning.

Pre-service teacher education remains largely theory-driven. In-service training sessions, often one-day workshops, cannot equip teachers with practical confidence.

Without institutional support, even the most dedicated teachers become deskilled. Science teaching turns into textbook recitation.

The CSR Paradox

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes have stepped in to fill some gaps. From setting up digital labs to funding STEM equipment, several companies and foundations have invested in science infrastructure. Yet, many of these projects face the same challenge as government schemes — sustainability.

Smile Foundation’s education initiatives offer a revealing counterexample. Rather than focusing only on equipment, Smile integrates teacher training, curriculum alignment and maintenance into its science and digital learning interventions. In its AI-enabled and solar-powered digital classrooms, students not only use devices but learn how technology connects with real-world problem solving.

This model works because it treats the lab not as a product but as a process. The emphasis is on capacity-building and contextual learning, ensuring that technology enhances curiosity rather than replaces it.

Too many CSR interventions, however, stop at delivery. Donated kits gather dust once the partner NGO leaves. Without a long-term relationship between donors, schools and local authorities, even the most sophisticated infrastructure fails to deliver educational outcomes.

India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places strong emphasis on experiential learning and multidisciplinary education. It envisions every child developing “scientific temper” through experimentation and observation. Yet, the policy remains silent on the operational realities of science infrastructure.

While it promotes coding and tinkering labs under the Atal Innovation Mission, the policy does not address the systemic maintenance crisis of traditional laboratories. The assumption seems to be that digital and innovation labs will leapfrog old constraints. But without fixing foundational issues like regular funding, accountability and teacher support, we risk repeating the same mistakes in new forms.

Rethinking the Idea of a Lab

Perhaps the most important shift needed is conceptual. The science lab should not be seen merely as a physical room, but as a pedagogical mindset. Experiments can begin in classrooms, school gardens or community spaces. Many successful low-cost innovations — from using kitchen materials to simulate chemical reactions to turning mobile phones into microscopes — show that inquiry-based learning does not require expensive setups.

However, these innovations must be scaled through teacher networks, not left to individual ingenuity. When teachers see experimentation as integral to teaching, not an extra burden, the lab can truly open — in spirit, even before in space.

Opening the Lab Again

The story of the unopened lab is not a story of failure. It is a story about priorities. We have built walls before building systems. We have measured success in square feet rather than student engagement.

To change this, India needs a three-pronged approach:

Dedicated funding for maintenance and consumables in science labs, integrated into annual school budgets rather than one-time grants.
Training and hiring of laboratory assistants to support teachers, especially in multi-grade rural schools.
Embedding practical science in teacher education, with continuous mentoring rather than episodic workshops.

Complementing this, partnerships between government, NGOs and private sector must move from donation to co-creation — designing labs that are accessible, safe and alive with use.

The unopened lab in Barabanki, then, is not a lost cause. It is a reminder of what education could be if policy met practice. When students finally hold those microscopes, when they watch a reaction happen before their eyes, the abstract world of science turns tangible. Curiosity becomes confidence.

India’s challenge is not that it lacks science labs. It is that too many remain locked. Opening them requires imagination, trust and investment in the people who make science come alive.

Gender

Reproductive Health Education for Women in India

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 25, 2025
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Issues that were once spoken of only in hushed tones are coming into the open. Reproductive health education for women is no longer simply a matter of maternal check-ups or family-planning counselling. It is now intersecting with rights, agency, education and gender equity. But the scale and pace of change remain uneven and without deliberate investment in education, information and infrastructure this shift risks falling short.

Recent developments underscore both the promise and the urgency of this agenda. In August 2024 the UN Human Rights Committee called on India to ensure full access to sexual and reproductive health services including education for women and girls. The committee noted that legal and policy barriers persisted and advised stronger efforts in education and service delivery. That public recommendation reflects that reproductive health education more than a health intervention is a governance and rights-based question.

Another recent piece in the Hindustan Times reframed women’s health as an economic lever, pointing out that over half of women of reproductive age in India are anaemic — a condition linked not only to health but to productivity, economic participation and educational outcomes. When reproductive health issues affect schooling, work, cognitive capacity or life choices, the need for comprehensive education becomes clear.

But

Yet despite this clarity, far too many women still face educational deficits when it comes to their own bodies, fertility, contraception and rights. In rural India especially the taboo around menstruation, sexuality and pregnancy continues to limit both information and options. A commentary in The Times of India emphasised that for rural women and adolescents the combined burden of gender inequality, social stigma and lack of financial independence creates severe barriers to reproductive health education.

These patterns shape lives and outcomes. An adolescent girl who receives little or no information about her menstrual cycle or fertility is far more likely to arrive at early marriage or early pregnancy, to drop out of school and to have fewer life-options. A woman who lacks access to contraceptive information and support is more likely to have unintended pregnancies or to be channelled into sterilisation without full choice. A woman who enters motherhood without adequate information about postpartum health, nutrition or contraception is more vulnerable.

Why Education Matters

Reproductive health education matters for multiple reasons. First it builds agency. Knowledge about one’s body, fertility, contraception and rights allows a woman to make decisions rather than have them made for her. When this knowledge is absent the default is often the most constrained option.

Second, it shapes outcomes. Data show that unmet need for modern contraception remains high in India: in 2019 about 27 % of women who would like to avoid pregnancy did not use a modern method. Without education and access the risk of unintended pregnancies remains high.

Third, it relates to equity and gender justice. Without reproductive health education we continue to assume that women’s reproductive roles are natural, unchanging and unquestionable. But education invites questions, reassessment and choice. It challenges power relations that deny women decision-making in matters of fertility, marriage timing, spacing of children and health.

Fourth, it matters for the economy and society. Anaemia, high fertility, early pregnancy and poor reproductive health aren’t just personal welfare issues, they affect workforce participation, education of children, public-health burdens and long-term social outcomes. Reproductive health education is therefore also a development intervention.

What Stands in the Way

The obstacles are substantial. One major barrier is information gap. In many communities women receive little structured education about reproductive biology, contraception, safe pregnancy, abortion rights or postpartum health. This is especially true in rural settings and among the displaced or marginalised. Social stigma compounds the challenge: discussions about menstruation or sexual health are still confined to secrecy or shame. Rural settings often lack safe spaces for dialogue or language-appropriate and age-appropriate curricula.

Another barrier is service gap. Education is effective only when paired with accessible and quality health services. The UN committee’s review pointed out that even when education exists policy or regulatory bottlenecks in abortion services or sterilisation informed consent undermine impact.

Another challenge is capacity and curriculum. Many teachers and health workers lack training in reproductive health education or feel uncomfortable delivering it. The curricula at school often ignore or gloss over reproductive biology, contraception, menstrual health or rights. Adolescents and women alike may receive fragmented information rather than a comprehensive life-cycle approach.

Further challenges include digital and literacy divides, misinformation, cultural resistance and resource constraints. Accessing digital tools may help but only if women have literacy, connectivity and a supportive environment. A recent academic paper noted how even digital platforms for sexual and reproductive health struggle because of gaps in literacy, contextual design and accessibility for women in underserved settings.

What the Evidence Shows

Several emerging programmes offer clues about what works. In rural India where menstrual hygiene education is coupled with community dialogue, limited stigma reduction has been observed. Campaigns like the one launched in Uttar Pradesh under the heading “Swachh Garima” provided scientific and practical training on menstrual hygiene to girls in residential schools, using teacher training and community outreach.

That suggests the importance of combining education with community norms change. Similarly when reproductive health education is embedded within broader life-skills, vocational or digital literacy programmes the chances of sustainment increase.

It is also clear that reproductive health education cannot be siloed. It must connect schooling, health services, community engagement and rights discourse. When it becomes part of only a one-time session or standalone training, the impact is weak. When it becomes part of the curriculum, the conversation changes. Women and girls then expect more from their bodies, health services and lives.

Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman programme

Active since 2005, offers one of the more grounded models of reproductive health education for women in India. Working across both rural and urban low-income communities, the initiative combines awareness on reproductive and child health with livelihood training and social empowerment. Its sessions for women and adolescent girls cover safe motherhood, menstrual hygiene, family planning and nutrition, while also addressing taboos that keep these topics out of public discussion. Through its network of “change agents” or peer educators, Swabhiman has reached more than 80,000 women and girls with health services and education, turning community members themselves into ambassadors for reproductive health.

In districts such as

Palghar in Maharashtra,

the programme demonstrates how education can shift behaviour when paired with access and agency. Health camps, village-level workshops and school-based sessions link reproductive health knowledge to real-life decisions seeking antenatal care, adopting modern contraception or delaying early marriage. The integration of reproductive health education into a broader “life-cycle” model ensures that women encounter these conversations not as one-time lessons but as part of their ongoing social and economic participation. Smile’s approach stands out for treating health not as a silo but as a gateway to empowerment, enabling women to claim ownership over both their bodies and their futures.

Equally significant is Smile Foundation’s work on

menstrual hygiene management

as part of its adolescent health education. By training young women as peer educators, the programme encourages open conversations about menstruation in schools and communities where silence has long prevailed. It provides practical guidance on hygiene, dispels myths and links girls to essential facilities and supplies. The impact translates into reduced absenteeism, improved school participation and greater confidence among adolescent girls. In doing so, Smile Foundation’s work exemplifies how reproductive health education can move from a service-oriented approach to a rights- and dignity-based one, particularly for women and girls who have been excluded from such knowledge for generations.

A 360-degree strategy

For India to move forward on reproductive health education for women a clear-sighted strategy is needed. First teaching of reproductive health must begin early and continue across the life course. Schools must integrate age-appropriate modules on menstruation, fertility, contraception, safe pregnancy and rights. These modules should operate alongside general health and life-skills education.

Second teacher-training and community-engagement must be strengthened. Teachers and health workers need not only the technical knowledge but also the comfort and skills to engage sensitively with girls and women. Community events, mother-group meetings, peer-education networks and digital platforms must bring women into the conversation.

Third services must align with education. It makes little sense to provide knowledge if women cannot act on it because of service-gaps. Health centres with timely contraception, safe abortion rights, antenatal and postnatal care must be accessible. Legal and policy barriers must be dismantled. The UN committee’s recommendations are a reminder of this.

Fourth efforts must reach those on the margins. Rural women, adolescents, women with disabilities, tribal communities, migrants and low income groups often experience the worst deficits in reproductive health education and services. Tailored strategies that consider language, culture, mobility, economic constraints and literacy are essential.

Fifth data, research and accountability matter. We must monitor how education is being delivered and whether knowledge translates into informed decisions and health outcomes. Early evidence of digital platforms or community-based education should be scaled only when there is proof of reach and effectiveness. Emerging research on chatbots for reproductive health in underserved settings shows promise but also highlights the digital divide and the need for culturally-sensitive design.

Why Now Matters

The timing could not be better. India’s demographic dividend is at a crossroads. Women’s health and education remain themes in national policy. The National Education Policy emphasises health and life-skills. The National Health Mission and family-planning programmes are due for revitalisation. And as the Hindustan Times commentary argued reproductive health must be seen as an economic lever, not merely a household burden.

In short, investing in reproductive health education for women is both morally right and pragmatically sound. It fosters agency, reduces unintended pregnancies, improves health outcomes, enables education and work, and strengthens the nation’s human capital. When women know their bodies and rights they make different choices. When societies expect better from their girls and women the entire ecosystem shifts.

Conclusion

Reproductive health education for women in India remains under-prioritised. It sits at the intersection of health, education, gender and rights. Its promise is real but its delivery patchy. The headlines of campaigns and policy pronouncements are encouraging but unless they translate into sustained education-services-community ecosystems we risk leaving millions of women behind. For a woman to be truly empowered in her body she must first be informed. For a society to benefit from that empowerment it must be enabled. Reproductive health education is the bridge between the two.

Skill Development

The Women Missing From India’s Reskilling Revolution

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 24, 2025
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Upskilling & Empowering Women Workers in Unorganised Sector

In a cramped tailoring shop on the edge of Gurugram, 35-year-old Shalu flips through her phone as her toddler naps beside her. A message blinks on a WhatsApp group called “Digital Futures.” It’s an invitation to a free, government-backed data-entry course. She sighs, half-interested. The training centre is fifteen kilometres away. The classes run from ten to four. Her husband works nights, her in-laws need meals by noon and there’s no one to mind the child. She closes the message.

Across India, women like Shalu are being left out of the country’s much-celebrated reskilling wave. As policymakers, employers and ed-tech companies speak of a “skills-first economy” and “digital transformation,” women’s participation in these very reskilling opportunities remains strikingly low.

The paradox is telling. India has one of the world’s youngest workforces, a booming start-up ecosystem and a government pushing to train millions under the Skill India Mission. But, women — half the population — continue to be spectators in a labour market being remade before their eyes.

The Promise and the Problem

Official data suggests that women’s labour-force participation in India is creeping up to around 41.7% per cent, from the pandemic-era lows. But that modest rise hides a deeper structural problem: women are missing from the very sectors driving the future of work.

A new World Economic Forum report found that 63 per cent of India’s workers will require reskilling by 2030. Yet the bulk of training in artificial intelligence, data analysis, cloud computing and green technologies continues to be dominated by men. Most women who do enter the workforce remain in low-paid, low-security roles stitching garments, cleaning homes, teaching in informal preschools.

Economists warn that unless women gain access to reskilling programmes and the new job categories they unlock, India’s much-touted demographic dividend could turn into a demographic mirage. The country risks building a digital economy that reproduces the same gender hierarchies as the industrial one.

The Invisible Barriers

At the heart of the issue lies the architecture of everyday life. Women’s underrepresentation in reskilling opportunities isn’t simply a question of access to training; it is about the collision between gender, labour and social expectation.

For millions of Indian women, unpaid care remains the first and last shift of the day. Cooking, caregiving and cleaning consume hours that men can spend on commutes or courses. The time poverty is real. A recent analysis found that Indian women devote nearly five hours daily to unpaid domestic work — three times more than men. Training schedules that assume learners are free at midday or can travel to city centres are, by design, exclusionary.

Then there are the subtler forms of exclusion. Many women are unaware of training opportunities. Others hesitate to attend mixed-gender classes or work on computers they’ve never used. Some are discouraged by families who see reskilling as “unnecessary” for women who are expected to marry or stay home.

Even when women do enrol, drop-out rates are high. The courses are rarely structured around their realities. There’s little childcare, no transport allowance and limited digital support. A study by IWWAGE (Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy) found that women’s enrolment in STEM and tech-based reskilling remains below 20 per cent nationally.

The Skewed Design of Opportunity

The irony is that many of the jobs emerging from the reskilling boom — data annotation, digital operations, AI testing, online tutoring — could fit women’s needs perfectly. They can be done remotely, often with flexible hours and limited physical strain. But the ecosystem of access remains male-dominated.

“Most reskilling programmes are designed around the assumption that learners are young, urban, and male,” says Priya Nair, who runs a women’s skill centre in Kerala. “Even digital courses often require uninterrupted electricity, high-speed internet, and confidence to ask questions online. That’s where women lose out.”

The problem isn’t just design but the absence of imagination. Few reskilling initiatives consider life-stage transitions — the woman returning to work after maternity, the mid-career worker displaced by automation or the rural graduate aspiring for a digital role.

In India, 80 per cent of women work in the informal economy, where the notion of reskilling barely exists. Domestic workers, factory-line operators and home-based artisans have little access to structured training. When automation or mechanisation arrives, they are simply displaced, not retrained.

A Reskilling Landscape that Excludes

In Delhi, the Skill India Mission operates dozens of centres. But walk through them and the gender divide is palpable. Men cluster around machines, computers and welding stations. Women are funnelled into tailoring, beauty and handicraft courses — training that leads back to traditional gendered labour.

A government official defending the design says: “Women prefer safer, home-based trades.” But the preference is shaped by the structure of opportunity. When there are no pathways into non-traditional trades, choice becomes a mask for exclusion.

This isn’t a uniquely Indian story, but the stakes here are higher. India’s economy is adding jobs in green energy, digital finance and logistics — sectors projected to expand rapidly. Yet, unless women access reskilling in these spaces, their share in future employment will shrink further.

Learning from What Works

Some models offer glimpses of change.

Under the Skill Impact Bond launched by the National Skill Development Corporation and international partners, 72 per cent of the 23,700 youth trained were women. The project tied funding to outcomes, ensuring women not only trained but found jobs and retained them for at least three months. When inclusion is intentional, results follow.

Similarly, non-profits like Smile Foundation have been expanding reskilling and digital literacy among women through their various interventions. By integrating digital and financial education into broader empowerment initiatives, Smile has reached thousands of women who had never touched a smartphone before. Its trainers adapt timing, location and format — sometimes holding sessions in village courtyards or local schools — to make learning accessible.

Smile Foundation’s work in employability and reskilling offers a grounded model of how social-sector initiatives can bridge the gap between aspiration and opportunity for India’s youth—especially young women. Through its Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) and broader Livelihood Initiative, the organisation provides structured vocational and digital-skills training to young people from low-income backgrounds. The curriculum combines technical training with life skills, communication, financial literacy and industry exposure—an approach that moves to long-term employability. Over the years, Smile has trained more than 75,000 youth, of whom 71 per cent are women and facilitated over 47,000 job placements across retail, healthcare, IT-enabled services and hospitality sectors.

Inclusion: Our Top Priority

The foundation’s emphasis on women’s inclusion in reskilling stands out. In communities where mobility, childcare responsibilities and social norms restrict participation, Smile centres serve as accessible, trusted spaces for learning and mentorship. Many of its programmes, from digital literacy modules to entrepreneurship training for women in the unorganised sector, are tailored to build confidence and autonomy, not just employable skills. Initiatives like iTrain on Wheels, developed in partnership with industry leaders, have taken mobile training units into underserved neighbourhoods, enabling women painters and technicians to enter trades once considered off-limits.

By connecting reskilling to real employment pathways and sustained mentoring, Smile Foundation challenges the idea that women’s participation in the labour force is simply a matter of choice. Its model demonstrates how design and intent can change outcomes—how flexibility, proximity and life-skills integration can make the difference between training on paper and transformation in practice. In doing so, Smile’s work offers what an inclusive reskilling ecosystem could look like in India’s next decade of growth.

Because women do not lack interest in reskilling. They lack ecosystems that see them.

Policy Promises and Persistent Gaps

Policymakers have recognised the issue, at least rhetorically. The Union Budget of 2024-25 allocated fresh funding to “Skill India Digital,” promising a comprehensive digital reskilling platform with gender inclusion as a key objective. State governments, too, have launched women-focused initiatives, from Karnataka’s “Udyogini” scheme to Maharashtra’s “Tejaswini” project.

But these remain fragmented. The problem isn’t the absence of schemes but the absence of coordination. Ministries run overlapping programmes with different eligibility criteria, little follow-up data and minimal employer integration. Few measure whether women trained actually find sustained employment.

Meanwhile, the private sector’s efforts, though visible, tend to remain urban and English-speaking. The glossy images of women in coding bootcamps tell only a sliver of the story. For most women in India’s tier-two towns or rural belts, the barriers are infrastructural — electricity, internet, language, childcare. Without addressing those, reskilling remains an urban conversation.

The Economics of Exclusion

The cost of exclusion is high. A study by McKinsey estimated that closing the gender gap in India’s workforce could add $770 billion to the GDP by 2025. But economic potential isn’t enough to change behaviour. Gender roles, entrenched over generations, aren’t easily rewritten by a certificate course.

In interviews with women in low-income communities, many say they would like to learn new skills but can’t justify the cost. “My husband says, who will pay for a course that doesn’t guarantee a job?” says Rekha, a 28-year-old homemaker from Madhya Pradesh. “If there was work after, maybe.”

That conditional hope is key. Women’s participation in reskilling is tightly linked to economic incentives. When employers commit to hiring women who complete training, families take the opportunity seriously. When the outcome is uncertain, the effort feels indulgent.

What Inclusion would Take

For India to truly democratise reskilling, it must move beyond rhetoric to design. That means reimagining both what reskilling looks like and who it is for.

Training centres must adapt to women’s schedules and realities — shorter modules, flexible hours, hybrid options, childcare facilities and safe transport. Employers must create roles that absorb women returning to work after long gaps, with mentorship and growth pathways. Digital platforms must design for low literacy, local languages and patchy connectivity.

Above all, policymakers must move from counting seats to tracking outcomes: who enrols, who completes, who finds work and who stays. Disaggregated data — by gender, age, region and income — is the first step towards accountability.

A Question of Imagination

There is no shortage of women who want to learn. In Jharkhand, a pilot AI-training project for women saw triple the expected enrolment once timings were adjusted and travel stipends added. In Kerala, women returning to work after childcare gaps excelled in logistics and warehouse management once given structured re-entry programmes.

The challenge is not capability but design. As long as reskilling remains framed around a male default, women will continue to appear as statistical afterthoughts.

The Future that Includes

India is entering a defining decade. Automation and AI are redrawing the boundaries of work. Entire industries will need reskilling. The question is whether this transformation will include women or deepen existing divides.

If reskilling is to live up to its promise, it must become not just a tool for efficiency but a project of equity. Every course schedule, training centre and hiring policy must begin with one question: who is missing from the room?

For now, women like Shalu remain outside, juggling care, aspiration and exhaustion. The reskilling revolution hums along without them. But the real future of work — inclusive, equitable, sustainable — will only begin when they walk through that door.

Insights

A Day in Bhiwadi: Learning, Sharing and Smiling Together

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 23, 2025
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This is my first time living in Delhi for an extended period – in fact, my first time spending more than a few weeks in India at all. My parents are from Bangalore, but I was born and raised in Germany, where I went to school, studied, worked and built my entire life until now.

Growing up, India was always a place I associated with short family trips. Almost every year we visited Bangalore for a few weeks, but those visits mostly turned into marathons of relative-hopping, or days spent at home while my parents ran errands – from post office queues to bank visits and shopping kilograms of different kind of dal. I never felt I truly got to know the country beyond family routines.

This year, I decided to change that. I wanted to experience India differently: to meet people, to discover the culture, to see places with my own eyes, and most importantly, to learn from the communities themselves. Volunteering with Smile Foundation has given me this chance – a way not only to give back, but also to gain a deeper understanding of the lives touched by the Foundation’s work.

Last week, I joined the team on my very first field visit to Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, a town just across the state border, two hours from Delhi. We drove through a monsoon-soaked landscape and I was filled with anticipation for what awaited us. When we arrived, dozens of women and children were already gathered, waiting patiently for the Annaprashan ceremony. I had never experienced this tradition before. Annaprashan, literally “the first feeding of food,” is celebrated when babies turn six months old, the age when they begin eating solid food. That day, two mothers were there with their babies, dressed more elaborately than the others in lehengas, marking the significance of the day. Photographs were taken, smiles were exchanged and then the ceremony began.

We chose yogurt as the babies’ first spoonful of food, symbolizing nourishment and good health. To my surprise, I was also invited to take part by feeding a baby his very first taste. It was a small gesture, but deeply symbolic. I felt humbled to play even the tiniest role in a milestone that families will remember forever.

Afterwards, the project manager spoke to the mothers and children, holding up a basket filled with simple but powerful foods: apples, bananas, yogurt, rice, dal. She explained how each could contribute to a balanced meal. Then, I was invited to speak. I introduced myself, told them about Germany, and shared how I cook at home and highlighted the importance of cutting down on sugar and choosing wholesome food. Although most of the women didn’t speak English, I felt they understood me. Their nods, their smiles, and the way they leaned in to listen touched me. What moved me most was their genuine warmth and openness.

Later, I sat with a group of teenage girls, aged 14 to 16, who had been watching me curiously all morning. They spoke English, and our conversation flowed easily. One of them told me she wanted to study commerce and work in a bank, which is exactly what I did. In her eyes, I saw the same hope and determination I once had, though she was born into different circumstances. It left me feeling both humbled and inspired: their dreams are big, and so is their will to achieve them.

Walking through the village afterwards reminded me a lot of the village my father grew up in South India. Each time we came to India, which was almost every year, we tried to visit that village to reconnect with our community and family. These rural areas have something familiar, openness and peace. There were cows in courtyards, neighbors greeting each other openly, and the doors were always open. There were no honking cars, no rush of the city. Just a sense of calm, belonging, and community. Some women, half-jokingly, even asked me to repair their broken streets. I truly wished I could help them.

The heavy monsoon rains soon returned, flooding lanes and complicating the day’s planned interviews. Yet even amid the chaos, beautiful encounters unfolded. One curious girl approached me; though she didn’t speak English, she shared my name. We laughed, tried to communicate with Google Translate and she invited me into her home to meet her mother. In her I saw a reflection of myself as a child: shyness at the beginning, curious and eager to connect.

I also witnessed an interview with a woman who had benefitted from Smile Foundation’s Women Empowerment Program. She also was dressed in a very beautiful lehenga, looking wonderful. She spoke with pride about the training she had received, her happiness radiating through her words. It was living proof that empowerment is not just a concept but a change that shows on a person’s face.

We closed the day with a lively demonstration: the Smile team showed villagers a variety of fruits and vegetables and explained how to cut and prepare them for healthy meals. Even as the rain poured down harder and the streets turned into rivers, the atmosphere remained joyful. By the time we reached our car, completely drenched, I carried with me not discomfort but a heart full of happy memories.

This visit left me inspired and humbled. The eagerness of the women and children to learn, to improve their health, and to build better livelihoods reminded me that education and empowerment are the strongest tools for change.

Smile

Which Skills Will AI Replace — and Which Will It Amplify?

Post author By Smile Foundation
Post date October 22, 2025
No Comments on Which Skills Will AI Replace — and Which Will It Amplify?

The Youth Is Skilled, Where Are the Jobs?

For decades, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was something we imagined in science fiction — a vision of the future. That future is now here. From voice assistants and chatbots to self-driving cars and automated workplaces, AI has rapidly become part of everyday life. It no longer just performs repetitive tasks; it now thinks, learns and even creates, reshaping how we live and work.

As AI evolves, the job market is transforming alongside it. Routine and data-driven roles are increasingly being automated, while entirely new ones are emerging — roles that demand digital fluency, critical thinking and human adaptability. The real challenge now is to understand not only which skills AI is making redundant but also which ones it is amplifying — and how we can prepare for this shift rather than resist it.

Which Skills is AI making Redundant?

AI has become one of the most powerful forces reshaping industries. Once considered futuristic, it now powers everything from automated banking systems to logistics hubs and smart factories. Its growing intelligence raises important questions about the future of jobs — and what it means to be human in a world of machines.

The short-term effects are already visible. AI excels at automating routine, rule-based tasks — anything that can be broken down into clear, predictable steps. Data entry, transcription and form processing are being overtaken by algorithms that perform these tasks faster, more accurately, and without fatigue.

According to a 2023 Goldman Sachs report, nearly 300 million full-time jobs worldwide could eventually be automated by AI. The IMF projects that 40% of global jobs will be affected in some form. The most vulnerable are administrative and clerical roles, which involve processing large volumes of structured data. Organisations now use AI-powered tools to handle invoices, schedule workflows and even screen job applications. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) — once a buzzword — is now replacing junior-level administrative jobs.

But AI’s reach extends beyond data. It’s entering creative and technical fields once thought uniquely human. Generative AI can now produce written content, design graphics, compose music and write computer code. Junior programmers increasingly rely on coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, which can generate and debug code automatically. Research shows that such tools can automate up to 40% of programming tasks, reducing the need for entry-level developers. Similarly, journalists and content writers are already competing with AI systems that can produce short news summaries, reports and marketing copy in minutes.

In manufacturing and logistics, the transformation is even more visible. Robots perform repetitive physical tasks with precision and endurance. McKinsey’s 2024 report estimates that by 2030, up to 25% of tasks across all industries could be automated — particularly those that are routine or labour-intensive.

This does not necessarily mean mass unemployment. What it does mean is a profound restructuring of what work looks like. The key question isn’t whether AI will replace jobs — it’s which parts of jobs it will replace and how humans can build the skills to fill what remains.

Artificial Intelligence is creating New Roles

Artificial Intelligence may displace some roles, but it also creates new ones. Every technological revolution has done so. The rise of AI has already accelerated demand for specialists in data science, AI ethics, cybersecurity and digital policy.

These are roles that require oversight, judgment and creativity — qualities AI cannot replicate. As machines take over predictable tasks, human attention shifts to strategy, design and the kind of problem-solving that requires context and empathy.

The challenge, however, is that this transition demands reskilling on a global scale. Workers will need access to continuous learning and education systems will need to teach not just digital skills but adaptive, human ones — the ability to collaborate with technology rather than compete against it.

Those who learn to work with AI, rather than fear it, will shape the next wave of innovation.

Which Skills will Artificial Intelligence not Replace?

Paradoxically, the more sophisticated Artificial Intelligence becomes, the more valuable uniquely human skills will be.

Creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and ethical judgment are not programmable. AI can generate art, but it cannot feel awe. It can write a poem, but not mean it. It can optimise a process, but it cannot decide why it should exist in the first place.

In creative industries, AI can assist — but not originate. It can help a writer brainstorm or a designer visualise, but it cannot substitute imagination or emotional resonance. Genuine originality, empathy and purpose remain the hallmarks of human contribution.

AI also struggles with ambiguity. It can analyse, but it cannot interpret uncertainty or understand human nuance. Financial analysts, researchers and strategists rely on judgment shaped by experience and intuition — things AI lacks.

Equally, jobs that depend on human connection — healthcare, education, leadership, counselling — are unlikely to be automated. These roles rely on empathy, persuasion and moral understanding. A robot might help manage patient data, but it cannot hold a hand or deliver difficult news with compassion. AI can provide information, but it cannot build trust.

Furthermore, as AI becomes more powerful, it introduces new risks — bias, misinformation, ethical dilemmas and accountability gaps. This means there will be an even greater demand for professionals who can design, regulate and oversee AI systems responsibly. Lawyers, ethicists and human-centered designers will play vital roles in ensuring AI aligns with human values.

In short, AI will replace repetitive and data-heavy tasks — but it will also elevate the value of being human. Creativity, empathy, collaboration and ethical reasoning are not “soft skills.” They are the future’s most resilient assets.

Integrating AI into Education

Education will be the front line of this transformation. If work is changing, learning must too.

AI offers immense promise in education, particularly in STEM fields. It can personalise learning, automate grading and provide intelligent tutoring. By analysing educational data, AI can identify gaps and help teachers tailor instruction more effectively.

Smile Foundation is already leveraging technology and AI to make education more inclusive and future-ready. Working with governments and schools, the organisation brings quality digital learning to remote areas through technology-enabled classrooms and teacher training.

Our focus on STEM-based, AI-integrated teaching helps educators use digital tools in classrooms, conduct interactive workshops and inspire curiosity through hands-on activities like robotics, 3D printing and astronomy. By combining human creativity with technological precision, Smile Foundation is preparing teachers and students to thrive in a digital world.

The Way Forward

AI will continue to reshape economies and societies — not as a single wave of automation, but as an evolving partnership between human and machine intelligence.

The real winners will not be those who resist change, but those who adapt, learn and lead with empathy. The question is not how many jobs AI will replace, but how many human possibilities it will expand.

In this new world, the most essential skill may be the one that’s always defined us — the ability to keep learning.

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menstrual hygiene management

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The Economics of Exclusion

What Inclusion would Take

A Question of Imagination

The Future that Includes

Which Skills is AI making Redundant?

Artificial Intelligence is creating New Roles

Which Skills will Artificial Intelligence not Replace?

Integrating AI into Education

Smile Foundation

161 B/4, 3rd Floor, Gulmohar House, Yusuf Sarai Community Centre New Delhi - 110049 Delhi, India

Contact Us: Tel: +91-11-43123700 | E-mail: info@smilefoundationindia.org