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Smile

Online Safety Begins at Home

Online Safety Begins at Home
A teacher giving worksheet support and guidance to a student during a home visit in Bankura. Photo by ARIJIT SEN

In October 2023, the tragic death of 16-year-old Pranshu Yadav, a self-taught queer artist who ended his life after being subjected to homophobic bullying online cast a sharp, painful spotlight on the dark underbelly of children’s digital lives. Pranshu had been posting makeup tutorials and reels on Instagram since the pandemic, but in the weeks leading to his death, he was targeted with hate-laden, degrading comments. His grieving mother later told the media that social media platforms must do more to check this kind of negativity. She had always stood by her son, but in a world where digital vitriol can be relentless and invisible, support often arrives too late.

Pranshu’s story is far from an isolated case. It exemplifies a growing epidemic of online harm that is disproportionately affecting young users with devastating consequences.

The digital paradox: connection meets crisis

In a world where smartphones are omnipresent and social media has seamlessly merged with daily life, children and adolescents are more connected than ever before, but also more exposed. The 2023 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report warned against the unregulated digital landscape, noting how social media now enables bullying far beyond school hours, turning peer aggression into a 24/7 ordeal. Unlike traditional bullying, online abuse thrives on anonymity, scale, and permanence, often leaving children feeling powerless and socially isolated.

The consequences are measurable. According to a 2021 study published in JAMA Pediatrics, excessive social media usage is directly correlated with increased risks of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction among adolescents. Even short bursts of exposure to graphic violence, sexually explicit content, or disinformation can shape a child’s emotional development and behaviour in irreversible ways.

In India, where over 560 million people are online and nearly half the population is under the age of 25, the vulnerability of children is not theoretical; it is immediate. While internet access has bridged the information divide for many communities, it has also widened the gap in online safety awareness.

When protection begins at home

There is one truth experts consistently agree on: the first and most crucial layer of digital protection is not a firewall or a content filter—it is a parent. And the most effective safety tool is not an app, but a conversation.

Parents play a decisive role in shaping how children experience the online world. However, many remain unaware of what their children see, share, or experience online. Too often, digital parenting is reactive rather than proactive, surfacing only when things go wrong. But children don’t just need control, they need guidance.

Constructive parent-child dialogue builds resilience, instils critical thinking, and provides emotional safety. Children are more likely to report online abuse or seek help when they feel seen and supported, not surveilled. This means parents must ask questions, listen without judgement, and discuss real-life risks—from data privacy and misinformation to cyberbullying and grooming—in an open and age-appropriate manner.

Of course, restrictions have their place. Limiting screen time or using content filters may act as a buffer against harmful content, especially for younger users. But these must be tools of partnership, not punishment. When used in isolation, controls can breed secrecy. Used alongside conversation, they can encourage a sense of shared responsibility.

A structural challenge that needs shared responsibility

What complicates the issue further is that digital harm doesn’t impact all children equally. Children at the intersection of multiple marginalities—those who are poor, queer, Dalit, disabled, or from remote regions—face compounded risks. They are not only more likely to lack digital literacy but also more vulnerable to online abuse, surveillance, or exploitation.

This is where non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have stepped in to bridge the awareness gap.

Building grassroots resilience: What NGOs are doing

Recognising the rising digital risks, Smile Foundation, through its flagship Mission Education programme, has embedded online safety into its pedagogy, especially for children in underserved areas. In dozens of community centres and informal schools, children attend workshops designed to teach digital hygiene, critical media literacy, and respectful online behaviour.

What makes the initiative stand out is its community-first design. Children are encouraged to take their learnings beyond the classroom—talking to siblings, parents, and peers about digital dangers, forming a cascading effect of awareness within their social ecosystems. This peer-to-peer model ensures that awareness doesn’t stop at the first point of contact, but travels through entire communities.

Workshops also include interactive elements such as street plays and scenario-based learning, ensuring that the concept of digital safety is not abstract but tangible. Children learn how to identify fake profiles, report abuse, and understand consent—skills that are crucial but rarely taught in traditional school curriculums.

A call for systemic change for children’s online safety

While community-led models are essential, systemic reform remains non-negotiable. India needs a child-first approach to digital governance—one that integrates digital literacy into school curricula, mandates platform accountability, and ensures age-appropriate design of digital services. Social media companies must invest in stronger content moderation in local languages and provide easier reporting mechanisms accessible to children.

Furthermore, we must recognise that online safety is interwoven with broader issues of mental health, education equity, and child rights. As such, safeguarding children online must be embedded in the country’s health, education, and digital development policies.

Moving from online safety to empowerment

The digital world is not going away. For today’s children, it is a part of life. Which is why protecting children online cannot simply be about shielding them from harm; it must also be about teaching children how to navigate online spaces with confidence, compassion, and critical thinking. But to do so, we must first start with ourselves—as parents, educators, policymakers, and digital citizens. The cost of silence is too high, and the stakes too urgent. It is time we saw digital safety not as a tech issue but as a fundamental right of every child—and acted like it.

Categories
Gender Skill Development

Unconventional Women Entrepreneurs of India

Unconventional Women Entrepreneurs Driving Change in Rural India

“I come from Modgaon village in Maharashtra. For years, we lived with uncertainty never knowing if there would be work the next day, or food on the table. It was a constant struggle, and somewhere along the way, we forgot what it felt like to dream.

But a few of us women decided to change that. We came together and said let’s build something of our own. We didn’t have experience, only determination. With support from the Smile Foundation, we started a small rice mill.

We learnt everything from scratch how to run the machines, manage the accounts, and make it all work. The first time we earned from our own effort it brought tears to our eyes.

Today, we are not just earning money. We’ve found courage, dignity, and a voice we didn’t know we had. We walk with our heads held high, because we built this with our own hands, and together,”

Sundari Nilesh, Rice mill entrepreneur

In many quiet corners of rural India, a silent revolution is taking shape. It isn’t loud, and it rarely makes headlines. But it’s built on the resilience of women who are rewriting the rules of enterprise from bee farms to rice mills and cloth factories. These are women who were never short on potential, only opportunity.

For too long, the narrative of rural women entrepreneurs in India has been confined to subsistence livelihoods— informal, seasonal, and low-income. But today, a new story is emerging, one of sustainable and scalable empowerment.

Empowerment begins where opportunity is extended

“With Smile Foundation’s support, we turned beekeeping into a livelihood. From fear to confidence, we’ve come a long way. Today, we earn, educate our children, care for our families, and show other women what’s possible. We never imagined we could run a business— but now, we believe in ourselves and in a better future,”

Chadramma, Beehive entrepreneur

India has no shortage of skilled women. Yet, only 20% of businesses* in the country are led by women. And most of these are small, unregistered ventures with limited scope and scale. What holds them back isn’t ambition but systemic inaccessibility. A lack of training, financial literacy, mentorship, and formal support continues to shut women out of meaningful entrepreneurial opportunities.

This is not just a gender issue— it’s an economic one.

The untapped potential of women entrepreneurs represents a significant loss to local economies and national development goals.

Where do India’s women entrepreneurs stand?

According to a 2023 NITI Aayog report*, only 14% of Indian women are engaged in entrepreneurial activities and even fewer in formal sectors. The barriers are steep:

  • Limited access to institutional credit
  • Inadequate digital infrastructure
  • Lack of gender-sensitive support systems
  • Social norms that restrict decision-making and ownership

Despite multiple government schemes, the ground reality remains tough. Women know where they want to go— but the system often lacks the roadmaps to take them there.

Key challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in India

Women entrepreneurs in India represent a significant yet underutilised segment of the economic landscape. Despite growing awareness and policy efforts, women still face systemic barriers on their entrepreneurial journey. From financial exclusion to socio-cultural biases, the challenges are complex and deeply entrenched. Understanding these challenges is essential to designing effective interventions. Below are some of the key structural and societal barriers faced by women entrepreneurs across India.

  1. Limited accessibility to financial schemes
    Despite the presence of government and institutional financial schemes for women entrepreneurs, access remains a major hurdle. Women often lack the resources or networks to navigate the system effectively.
  2. Collateral and credit barriers
    Banks and financial institutions frequently require collateral, which many women do not possess or have legal ownership over. Creditworthiness is often questioned, reinforcing financial exclusion.
  3. Complex and bureaucratic processes
    Application procedures for loans and schemes are often lengthy, technical, and not user-friendly. Documentation and verification requirements often create extra barriers for first-time women entrepreneurs.
  4. Lack of structured mentorship
    Women entrepreneurs frequently operate without access to industry mentors, peer networks, or professional guidance. The absence of mentorship limits their ability to scale, innovate, or navigate regulatory frameworks.
  5. Inconsistent institutional and community support
    Support systems are fragmented across institutions, and the continuity of assistance is often uncertain and unreliable. Many schemes and interventions are short-term or lack proper follow-up mechanisms.
  6. Gender bias and societal stereotypes
    Gender bias manifests in financial institutions, corporate boardrooms, and local community interactions. Women often face scepticism or dismissal, undermining their business credibility and decision-making authority.
  7. Lack of real autonomy
    In many cases, women are listed as business owners on paper, while male family members retain operational control undermining genuine empowerment and limiting their entrepreneurial agency.
  8. Need for systemic redesign
    Addressing these challenges requires a shift from surface-level initiatives to structural reforms. Policies must be redesigned to ensure equitable access, inclusion, and sustained opportunity for women in entrepreneurship.

Strategic interventions for women entrepreneurs in India

Behind every woman who dreams of starting her own business in India lies a complex web of challenges— but also a powerful potential waiting to be unlocked. While systemic barriers persist, thoughtfully designed and compassionately delivered strategic interventions can spark meaningful and lasting change.

1. Government schemes with transformative potential

Schemes like Stand-Up India, the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), and the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate are policies that represent the promise of financial independence, dignity, and opportunity for millions of women.

But for many women, that promise remains just out of reach. The forms are lengthy, the steps confusing, the language bureaucratic. Picture a woman in a rural district, holding a printed government scheme in her hands with no one to help her navigate the maze.

2. Digital and financial literacy: A critical lifeline

In today’s world, reading a bank statement, using a digital payment app, or filing a GST return online isn’t optional, it’s a necessity. But countless women entrepreneurs still lack access to these basic tools. Many are forced to rely on others—often men—for financial transactions, leaving them vulnerable and dependent.

Equipping women with digital and financial literacy is about restoring that lost control. When a woman can manage her money, track her income, or apply for a loan from her phone, she doesn’t just grow a business— she reclaims control over her life.

3. CSR–NGO partnerships: Bridging policy and practice

At the grassroots level, CSR–NGO partnerships play a unique and irreplaceable role. These organisations are often the only ones walking shoulder-to-shoulder with women, village to village, family to family helping them navigate loan applications, understand government schemes, and build the self-belief that sustains entrepreneurship.

NGOs for women in India such as Smile Foundation are not just facilitators. We work to bridge between ambition and achievement. A well-designed CSR programme, implemented through a trusted NGO, can spell the difference between a woman giving up or launching a successful enterprise.

These partnerships also bring flexibility, empathy, and adaptability— qualities large institutions often lack. They can plug gaps in last-mile delivery, offer mentoring, handhold during crises, and celebrate the everyday victories that may never make headlines but are life-changing on the ground.

Swabhiman model: Bridging the divide for women entrepreneurs

Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman Women Entrepreneurship Programme is rooted in the belief that true empowerment stems from the convergence of skills, opportunity, and sustained support. The initiative is designed to uplift underserved women, particularly those from marginalised communities, by enabling them to become economically self-reliant and socially confident. 

The programme offers:

  • Integrated skill training tailored to rural contexts
  • Micro-enterprise incubation with ongoing mentorship
  • Linkages to formal finance and markets
  • Community-based mobilisation that builds trust and ownership

The outcomes are measurable: rising incomes, improved health and education outcomes, and increased agency for women at the household and community level. 

In 2023-24 alone, the initiative supported more than 1, 90,000 women across the country. 

Where the system stops, social investment can step in

Rural women entrepreneurs don’t seek charity, they seek partnership. 

They are determined, resourceful, and ready to lead change within their communities. What they need is access to opportunities, visibility for their efforts, and consistent support to sustain their journey. This is where corporate social responsibility can truly make a difference— not as a one-time intervention, but as a long-term investment in women-led transformation.

Smile Foundation’s Swabhiman initiative offers corporates a credible platform to align their CSR goals with inclusive, grassroots development. Through locally relevant vocational training combined with financial and digital literacy, Swabhiman equips women to build and manage sustainable enterprises. The programme cultivates leadership, strengthens life skills, and builds critical market linkages ensuring that economic empowerment goes hand in hand with social mobility.

By partnering with Smile Foundation, your organisation can move the needle on gender equity and inclusive growth supporting women to rise, families to thrive, and communities to flourish. Together, we can turn potential into progress.

Sources: NITI Aayog, Decoding Government support to women entrepreneurs in India.

Categories
Education

Is Every Child Truly Unique? 

International Day of the Girl Child

“We all have a little bit of Rudolph in us,” says Dr. Yong Zhao, a Professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas, in his 2015 TEDx Talk, referencing the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph’s glowing red nose, once seen as a flaw that made him an outcast, ultimately became his greatest strength, enabling him to lead Santa’s sleigh through a storm. This tiny tale captures a vital truth about human beings: each person is unique, carrying individual traits that may set them apart but also hold great potential.

Drawing from this context, it is natural to consider the transitive thought: Is every child too unique? Undoubtedly, just like Rudolph, each child has their own strengths, talents, and passions—qualities that may set them apart and deserve to be recognised and nurtured. But, given the global system we live in, we often treat children as if they are meant to be the same, holding them to identical expectations and standards, rather than honouring their individual differences. Moreover, the uniqueness of every child extends beyond academic or vocational skills. It encompasses emotional, social, and cultural dimensions, all of which contribute to a child’s identity and capacity for growth, making it pertinent that we address this uniqueness and henceforth create a safe environment. 

Stepping away from norm

Historically, education in India was deeply rooted in contextual, value-based learning, transmitted through systems such as gurukuls where spiritual, practical, and intellectual development were integrated. However, the present-day Indian education system has diverged sharply from these holistic foundations. Over the last few decades, it is largely characterised by rote memorisation, exam-centric evaluation as well as limited engagement with real-world applicability. Unsurprisingly, this disconnect has contributed to an unemployment rate for those with postgraduate degrees and above was 13.6 per cent as per 2023-24 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report by NSSO. 

In light of this, a critical examination of current educational practices is essential. From early schooling onwards, students are compelled to conform to rigid academic frameworks and standardised assessments that define success narrowly—often in terms of marks, ranks, and entrance exams. This institutional emphasis on uniformity leaves little room for individual growth, creativity, or emotional development. As a result, students who do not align with the system’s narrow criteria are frequently marginalised, despite possessing talents that fall outside conventional academic measures. This reductive, “one-size-fits-all” model not only suppresses innovation but also undermines the diverse potential of learners across the country.

In a country as diverse as India, recognising that every child is unique is not just a philosophical stance—it is a practical necessity. Educational frameworks and social policies must therefore adopt holistic models that accommodate diverse backgrounds and learning styles. In fact, the education systems and aligning policies need to move beyond mere acknowledgment of diversity to actively accommodate it. This means creating equitable environments where children can discover themselves, pursue their strengths, and grow holistically. Smile Foundation’s ‘Every Child in School’ campaign is a key example that translates this vision in action. Through its Mission Education programme, the initiative identifies out-of-school children from marginalised communities—whether in remote villages, tribal regions, or urban slums—and provides them access to quality education tailored to their context. Importantly, Smile’s work extends beyond academics to address health, nutrition, and co-curricular development, thereby nurturing each child’s full potential. 

Such a model reaffirms the core idea: when we embrace the uniqueness of every child, we lay the foundation for a more just and inclusive educational future.

Towards an equivalent system 

In addition to changes at the classroom and school levels, systemic transformation must also occur at the policy level. Educational reforms need to prioritise flexibility in curriculum design, invest in continuous teacher development, and promote the recognition of multiple forms of intelligence—not just academic achievement. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 marks a significant step in this direction by advocating for learner-centric and inclusive approaches by encouraging flexible curricula that cater to diverse learning styles. This approach resonates strongly with the work of Smile Foundation in the vocational training space. Through initiatives like Project Manzil, we have supported youth by providing them with market-oriented skill training, life skills education, and job placement support, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their lives in the due course. 

In line with these policy directions, another one of Smile Foundation’s programmes called Child for Child (CFC) exemplifies grassroots efforts to nurture empathy and social responsibility among young learners. This initiative—started in 2006—focuses on sensitising privileged children and their families to the deep social and educational inequalities that exist around them and in the process, nurture empathy, social responsibility, and a strong value system in young minds, so they grow into conscientious citizens and agents of change. Through visits to schools and interactive sessions, ‘CFC’ encourages privileged children to reflect on their own circumstances, recognise the challenges faced by their less fortunate peers, and understand the importance of equity and inclusion. In doing so, the programme not only fosters compassion but also reinforces the idea that every child’s experience is unique—and that acknowledging and respecting these differences is the first step towards building a just and supportive educational ecosystem.

The question of whether every child is truly unique calls for more than just recognition—it requires purposeful action. We must not only acknowledge the distinct strengths and talents each child possesses but also commit to creating systems and environments that nurture these differences. By doing so, we enable children to develop their individual potential fully and pave the way for a more just society where every child has the opportunity to thrive on their own terms.

Categories
Education

India’s Air Crisis: What It’s Doing to Our Children’s Lungs

Children, Running and Good Health 
Children, Running and Good Health 

Every winter, a grey haze blankets Indian cities – a silent threat choking millions of small lungs. Ten-year-old Krishna in Delhi knows this well: on smoggy mornings he “can’t breathe” and must stay indoors with an inhaler. His plight is hardly unique. In fact, WHO reports that 93% of the world’s children live in places with dangerously polluted air, and in India the threat is extreme. Particulate pollution (PM2.5) is roughly ten times above safe limits in many cities, and studies now link childhood smoke exposure to lower IQ, stunted growth and chronic disease. As one doctor bluntly told Krishna’s mother: “It’s the pollution that’s making him sick… Let him wear a mask at all times and stay indoors.”

India’s children are particularly vulnerable. Kids breathe faster than adults, sit closer to the ground (where heavy particles settle), and their organs are still growing. As WHO’s Maria Neira warns, “Air pollution is stunting our children’s brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected.” Moreover, polluted air can trigger asthma, impair lung development and even shorten lives. Global estimates attribute 600,000 child pneumonia deaths in 2016 to dirty air– roughly a young life every minute worldwide. 

A 2022 review of India found newborns exposed to extreme PM2.5 in utero were much more likely to be born preterm or severely underweight. Indeed, Down To Earth reports that in 2020 116,000 Indian infants died within their first month due to air pollution – about one baby every five minutes.

Children’s developing systems pay a heavy price. Pollution inflames tiny airways, causes chronic bronchitis and asthma, and can permanently impair lung growth. In Delhi hospitals, doctors have documented a surge in cases when the smog rises: an AIIMS study found that each 10 μg/m³ jump in PM2.5 triggered a 20–40% spike in child ER visits for respiratory distress. Dr. Randeep Guleria of AIIMS explains: polluted air “affects lung growth… children who grow up in poor air-quality areas tend to have lower lung capacity”. In practical terms, long-term exposure can wipe out roughly 10–15% of lung function in young children compared to peers in clean air. Already about 6% of Indian kids have asthma, and each cough or wheeze can become life-threatening when the city is blanketed in PM2.5.

The harm isn’t just physical. Studies are linking India’s haze to stunted development and learning losses. Fine particles can cross into the bloodstream and even the brain, disrupting neural development. One working-paper found that even a tiny 1 μg/m³ annual rise in PM2.5 (less than you’d see in rural India) cut Indian students’ math scores by 10–16% and reading scores by 7–9%. Another team showed that every 10 μg/m³ increase in PM2.5 raises under-five anaemia by 10% and respiratory infections by 11%. Over the long term, modeling suggests meeting WHO air guidelines could slash India’s stunting rate by 10 percentage points. In short, dirty air shrinks school dreams as well as bodies: children learn less, and even once-healthy kids are at higher risk of problems like anemia and reduced cognitive ability.

Urban Smog vs. Village Smoke

Air pollution is often pictured as a city problem – and Indian cities are indeed choking. Delhi’s official average PM2.5 in 2024 was ~108 µg/m³, 21 times the WHO guideline. By one count, six of the ten most polluted cities in the world were in India last year (Byrnihat, Meghalaya topped the list). In mid-November 2024, Delhi even hit an AQI of 494 (‘hazardous’). Hospitals brace for each smog wave: one Delhi doctor saw 350 child patients on a single polluted day in 2024, nearly two-thirds of whom had asthma or pneumonia. In these capital streets children routinely breathe vehicle fumes, coal-plant plumes and seasonal crop-fire smoke. The state’s air commission now warns parents to keep kids indoors or shift schooling online on dirty days.

But the countryside is no refuge. Rural children often cook over wood or dung fires inside cramped huts, doubling their particulate exposure. In fact, household smoke is estimated to expose 1 billion children worldwide to lethal pollution, and large parts of rural India still “stack” biogas/LPG with traditional wood burning. Surveys show over half of rural households use wood or crop-fires along with LPG – often because refilling LPG is costly and inconvenient. As a result, a study found 32% of Delhi children suffer chronic respiratory symptoms versus 18% in a nearby rural area – even though rural kids have lower outdoor PM levels. Moreover, dust storms and agricultural burning can make outdoor rural air dangerously dirty in winter. In short, whether in city or village, Indian children breathe far more pollution than their bodies can handle.

Health and Learning: The Hidden Costs

The human toll of polluted childhood in India is staggering. According to child health experts, air pollution contributes to low birthweight, premature death, developmental delays and failure to thrive. Repeated lung infections in childhood can lead to chronic lung disease and even heart problems later on. One prominent international nonprofit notes that after Covid shutdowns, Delhi’s latest smog lockdowns have again sent kids home – a “health and education emergency”. School closures and masking can only partially protect children: they also risk social isolation and learning loss. Child-centric organisations warn that disadvantaged kids (especially girls) suffer most under repeated disruptions. In practical terms, each year of lost school due to pollution or cough attacks can cascade into lower achievement and economic opportunities.

The broader data mirror these stories. WHO estimates that 600,000+ children under 15 died in 2016 from pollution-driven pneumonia. A Lancet-series report ties millions of annual deaths worldwide to dirty air, and children from India make up a disproportionate share. Within India, researchers link worsening air quality to malnutrition: one analysis found if India met WHO limits, the proportion of stunted children could fall by ~10 percentage points. Cognitive impacts compound the worry: polluted air can impair memory and motor skills. As lung specialist Dr. Rajesh Chawla explains, “For children… exposure can result in reduced lung growth, increased risk of asthma development… [and] cognitive development may also be impacted due to reduced oxygen delivery to the brain.” In other words, air pollution is subtracting years of healthy life from India’s youngest citizens.

Much needs to be done

India has recognized the crisis on paper – but action often lags. The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in 2019, set targets to cut PM2.5 levels by 20–30% by 2024 (later strengthened to 40% by 2026). Yet progress has been slow. A 2024 review by CREA found only 41 of 97 monitored cities achieved that modest reduction, and most cities still exceed even national standards. In many places PM10 averages are twice the legal limit. Experts argue the NCAP’s city-by-city approach misses the real picture: pollution respects no borders, and cities like Ghaziabad see 95% of their smog drift in from outside their jurisdiction. Uttar Pradesh officials now urge an “airshed” strategy across states, to coordinate action on farm fires and industrial sources.

Meanwhile, crucial policies to help children directly have gaps. The Ujjwala LPG scheme (free gas connections for the poor) has given millions cleaner stoves, but many rural families still struggle with refill costs. As Dr. Swaminathan observes, the poorest women may need higher subsidies to stop cooking with wood. Enforcement of anti-pollution laws is uneven: vehicle emission checks and factory filters are often bypassed. Seasonal measures like Delhi’s odd-even car rules or bans on garbage burning come too late or lack coverage. Public transport networks remain patchy in many cities. The result is tragic: India still ranked the 5th most polluted country globally in 2024, and Delhi was deemed the world’s smoggiest capital.

Rays of Hope and Action Steps

Some bright spots and solutions are emerging. Scientists and activists urge immediate protective measures for kids: in 2025 WHO advisor Swaminathan recommended installing air purifiers in every school in polluted cities (while stressing “the final solution is… clean up the air”). Grassroots groups like the Lung Care Foundation run “asthma-friendly school” programmes, training teachers and raising awareness. Citizen campaigns are planting school gardens and hosting local AQI monitors to drive home the urgency.

Still, systemic changes are needed. Experts outline clear steps:

  • Tougher standards & enforcement. Implement and tighten vehicle, industry and construction emission limits (especially for PM2.5). Adopt a regional “airshed” approach so that upwind states do their share in clearing the air.
  • Clean cooking for all. Accelerate access to clean fuel by enhancing subsidies (e.g. extending Ujjwala) so no child grows up near a smoky stove. Promote electric or biogas stoves with financing, and educate families about ventilation and smoke-free cooking.
  • Smart urban planning. Expand city green cover (trees act as natural filters) and design schools/playgrounds away from highways. Deploy real-time air monitors in schools and apps so that caregivers can limit outdoor play on high-AQI days.
  • Support schools and students. Equip classrooms in polluted zones with certified air purifiers or HEPA-filtered air conditioners (as experts suggest). On bad days, shift activities indoors and consider hybrid learning – but also bridge the digital divide so disadvantaged children do not lose out.
  • Curb major polluters. Move to cleaner vehicles and renewable power. Enforce bans on crop-burning by providing farmers with affordable alternatives (e.g. seeders that cut stubble). Crack down on burning garbage and construction dust. Every major step to cut emissions directly protects kids.

Smile’s work to save children’s lungs

Smile Foundation has been addressing the issue of air pollution and children’s respiratory health primarily through its healthcare and awareness programmes that serve vulnerable populations, particularly children in urban slums, rural areas, and industrial belts. While it may not run large-scale air quality interventions like government or scientific bodies, its initiatives intersect with the crisis of air pollution in important, community-level ways:

1. Mobile Healthcare Units (Smile on Wheels)

  • These mobile clinics regularly screen children for respiratory illnesses, including asthma, chronic cough, and other pollution-induced ailments.
  • They provide treatment, health counselling, and referrals, especially in high-risk, high-pollution zones like Delhi NCR, Kanpur, and parts of Maharashtra and Odisha, where air quality levels often breach safe limits.
  • The initiative helps reduce delays in treatment, which is critical for children whose lungs are still developing and more susceptible to pollution-related damage.

2. School-Based Health and Hygiene Awareness

Through its Mission Education programme, Smile Foundation:

  • Conducts school health check-ups where respiratory and ENT symptoms are monitored.
  • Educates students, parents, and teachers about the harmful effects of air pollution, safe practices like mask-wearing, indoor ventilation, and tree planting around schools.
  • Empowers teachers to identify early signs of pollution-related illnesses such as breathlessness, eye irritation, or recurring bronchitis.

3. Nutrition as Protection

In both its education and health programmes, Smile Foundation:

  • Provides nutritional support to children, as malnutrition exacerbates the impact of pollution on respiratory health.
  • Encourages immunity-boosting diets, rich in iron and vitamins, which can help children better withstand polluted environments.

4. Public Awareness and Civic Engagement

Smile Foundation engages in:

  • Community outreach programmes where air pollution is discussed in the context of overall well-being.
  • Tree plantation drives, zero-pollution campaigns, and clean environment sessions during community events.
  • Amplifying awareness on social media and during World Environment Day or Children’s Day, tying environmental health to children’s futures.

While Smile Foundation does not operate air quality monitoring stations or enforce pollution laws, its community health infrastructure acts as an early response system for vulnerable children suffering due to toxic air. It sees the protection of children’s lungs not just as a medical issue, but as a human development imperative—especially in communities where access to clean air is not a given.

The clock is ticking

Every month that India’s air remains this dirty, a generation of children is at risk of asthma, diminished lung capacity, learning problems and even early death. Parents, educators and policymakers must recognise that clean air is not a luxury but a child’s right. As India’s Supreme Court recently noted, citizens have a fundamental right to life that includes a healthy environment. Ensuring our children can breathe easy will require hard choices – closing coal plants sooner, sacrificing some short-term growth – but it is vital for the nation’s future. After all, each healthy child represents new talent, new innovation and hope. Polluted air isn’t just a health crisis; it’s an assault on India’s tomorrow. We must act now, in every city and village, to clear the air for our children’s lungs.

Sources: International health studies and Indian news reports including WHO and UNICEF data; peer-reviewed analyses (Lancet, Nature); Indian journal and media (The Hindu, Indian Express, Indian Paediatrics, ET HealthWorld, Save the Children); and policy reviews (citations in text).

Categories
Health

Healthcare for Hard-to-reach Riverine Zones

Smile On Boats=
Smile on Boat

In the riverine zones of Assam, where floods reshape the landscape quite regularly and roads are often swallowed by rising waters, healthcare access remains a significant challenge. This region, marked by isolation and infrastructure constraints, is home to thousands who live on the fringes of the healthcare system. But a new initiative, a partnership between MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd and the Smile Foundation, is making waves in these remote areas, quite literally. 

Through this CSR-backed initiative, MSD has introduced two Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) and a boat clinic that now serve 12 districts and 12 island clusters across Assam through our Health Cannot Wait initiative. Among the districts served are Darrang, Barpeta, and South Salmara—areas with difficult terrain, unpredictable floods, and a population often cut off from the nearest hospital. The aim is to deliver healthcare to over 25,000 people in the first phase, directly bringing services to the doorsteps of those who need it the most.

Navigating key challenges

Assam’s riverine areas, vulnerable to the seasonal floods of the Brahmaputra, face some of the most significant challenges in healthcare delivery in the country. Traditional healthcare infrastructure, including primary health centres, is often underfunded or rendered inaccessible during the monsoon season in many areas that are situated near a river. Roads are submerged by floodwaters, and many river islands remain isolated for extended periods, further complicating access to essential medical services. Thus there is no doubt that delivering healthcare in riverine zones is fraught with myriad challenges. 

Along with geographical isolation, a shortage of trained healthcare professionals exacerbates the issue, as doctors are reluctant to work in remote regions with poor living conditions and limited amenities. Communication barriers, including low literacy, multiple dialects, and limited mobile coverage, hinder health education and awareness efforts. Additionally, these areas also face a high disease burden, with frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases, malaria, dengue, and poor maternal and child health due to inadequate sanitation and nutrition. 

Therefore, in such regions, the boat clinic model, as discussed above, is a game-changer. These clinics are not stationary—they are mobile and capable of reaching communities that are otherwise disconnected from the formal healthcare system. Equipped with diagnostic tools, medications, and staffed by a doctor, nurse, counsellor, and driver, the boat clinic provides essential services including consultations, immunisations, maternal care, and basic treatments. What makes this model particularly effective is its community-based staffing, ensuring the staff not only speaks the local dialects but also understands the region’s cultural nuances and health concerns. This personalised approach fosters trust and enhances outreach. Additionally, the mobile medical units further complement the boat clinics by reaching areas where the river cannot, ensuring that every remote village has access to medical services.

Corporate responsibility meets public health

MSD Pharmaceuticals partnership with Smile Foundation marks a shift in how corporate social responsibility can be aligned with long-term, sustainable healthcare solutions in India’s most underdeveloped regions. Rather than simply donating funds or products, this collaboration aims to build rural health infrastructure—a much-needed resource in India’s under-served districts. The project aligns with NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Districts Programme, which focuses on uplifting areas that lag behind in health, education, and basic infrastructure. By positioning healthcare as essential infrastructure and supporting it through CSR initiatives, this case demonstrates how businesses can significantly contribute to public health, particularly in geographically and politically complex regions like Northeast India, where traditional healthcare systems face significant challenges.

This approach further underscores the potential for public-private partnerships to reshape healthcare delivery in rural India. Instead of relying solely on conventional healthcare infrastructure, businesses are leveraging mobile solutions and localised staffing to provide immediate, impactful care to those who need it the most. By targeting regions with limited or no access to healthcare, these initiatives go beyond just fulfilling CSR obligations; they actively contribute to advancing health equity.

Myriad ways out

Just like Assam, the remote riverine zones of the Mahanadi River Delta in Odisha face significant challenges in accessing healthcare, as communities are scattered across islands and difficult-to-reach shores. In response to these challenges, the eSanjeevani project—a National Telemedicine Service—has been implemented to bridge this healthcare gap. Telemedicine has emerged as a promising solution to address the healthcare needs of these remote, rural regions, where access to specialist consultations and medical services is often limited.

Leveraging satellite and internet connectivity, telemedicine brings specialist medical advice and diagnosis to even the most isolated villages. Through this technology, patients can connect remotely with doctors in urban hospitals, facilitating consultations, follow-up treatments, and remote monitoring of chronic conditions—all without the need for long and difficult travel. In practice, local health workers use video consultations to connect patients to specialists in urban centers, providing diagnoses, medical advice, and prescriptions remotely. For many residents, this service has become a lifeline.

In addition to telemedicine, community health workers, particularly Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), can also play a crucial role in these riverine zones. ASHAs, female grassroot community workers, are often the only link between underserved populations and formal healthcare systems. They build a sense of trust within the communities, making them uniquely positioned to promote health and well-being.

Additionally, they are also trained to carry out a wide range of essential tasks—such as conducting health surveys, promoting hygiene, and guiding maternal care. They ensure that critical healthcare information and services reach the most remote areas, further extending access to the marginalised and improving public health outcomes at the grassroots level.

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Livelihood

Beyond Degrees: The Rise of Practical Skills in India’s Job Market

The Employability Puzzle: Educated but Unprepared for Work
The Employability Puzzle: Educated but Unprepared for Work

Nowadays, India is witnessing a growing shift towards a skills-first economy,  where an educational degree alone is not enough to secure a job. With digitisation and technological advances in every sphere of life, more and more employers and hiring managers are looking for youth with fundamental, hands-on skills that can be used on the job from the beginning. Whether coding, digital marketing, technology, design, technical adaptability, and so on, practical skills matter more than traditional academic qualifications.

A recent survey by Indeed, a job-hunting portal, shows that 80% of Indian employers prefer hiring based on skills and experience to educational degrees alone. This shift comes as industries face fast-paced tech changes and newer business needs. Companies want people who can hit the ground running, and to reiterate, that means practical know-how is becoming more valuable than ever.

Why is skill-based hiring becoming so important?

Most jobs today require a practical understanding of the work and industry demand—something vocational and skills training may provide over theory-based learning. This is further motivated by the need to keep upskilling oneself to meet the needs of tech-driven workplaces.

With a growing startup ecosystem, changing business models, and a young workforce, employers focus more on what candidates can do with their skills training than what they’ve studied on paper. This shift is helping bridge the gap between education and employment, helping more startups create employment opportunities.

Further, data shows how skill-based hiring promotes equity and inclusion by evaluating candidates on competencies, not education. According to the 2025 Human Progress Report by ETS, 65 percent of Indian workers believe that skills-first hiring can eliminate discrimination and make India’s job market more equitable. This also creates a space for diverse groups frequently left out of the job market, which once solely prioritised academics over practical skills. It is widely believed that in a country like India, where the urban-rural divide runs deep, many individuals seeking to re-enter the workforce, often in remote or part-time roles, will benefit from this approach. For example, during the pandemic, many women took online courses in digital marketing, content creation, and IT services while balancing home responsibilities to seek employment.

However, this shift in the workforce also calls for a paradigmatic change in the education sector: how we impart education and skill training to the youth to ensure economic mobility.

STEM learning is the way forward

In 2015, the Prime Minister of India launched the ‘Skill India’ programme, which focuses on ‘Kaushal Bharat, Kushal Bharat’.The programme envisions upskilling and training the young population to transform India into the largest manpower supplier in the world. The recent data suggests India is projected to send over 1,00,000 STEM students to the United States by 2026, reflecting a substantial rise in the country’s contribution to global talent pools. This implies that the job market now demands skill-based talent, and India is fulfilling the same.

Understanding the need to bridge this gap between education and industry demands, Smile Foundation, through its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programme, has been working to empower underprivileged students nationwide by providing hands-on learning experiences. Collaborating with partners like BMW India Foundation and Shell, Smile Foundation has established state-of-the-art STEM labs in government and community schools and mobile labs equipped with solar-powered kits and robotic models. These initiatives aim to engage over 2,500 students annually, fostering creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills among young learners. Additionally, the program includes workshops, innovation challenges, and teacher training to ensure sustainable and impactful STEM education.

In addition, through another initiative, the Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP), Smile offers comprehensive skills training that combines academic learning with practical skills. These programmes enhance core employability skills such as communication, problem-solving, digital literacy, teamwork, and industry-specific retail and digital marketing training. By 2020, over 34,000 youth were trained, and over 20,000 students were placed under the programme. This holistic approach empowers youth, particularly from underserved communities, to achieve economic independence.

Synergy between education and skills 

While skills-based jobs have pushed India towards many advancements, the country faces a unique challenge: many graduates but insufficient skills to fill high-demand jobs. Despite many young people entering the workforce each year, businesses struggle to find the right talent, particularly in technical roles.

The root cause is our traditional educational system, which continues to emphasise rote learning, memorisation, and theory-based exams over practical, job-ready abilities. According to a report, over 80 per cent of Indian engineers are unfit for jobs in the economy due to a lack of new-age skills.

To address this growing gap, India needs to reevaluate its educational system. The answer is obvious: a modern curriculum emphasising practical skills, projects, and a close relationship to industry demands. This approach can assist students in bridging the gap between their college coursework and what employers are looking for in the real world.

In the coming days, the success of modern educational institutions will lie in focusing on skills rather than just exams, to solve India’s job crisis. Moving away from outdated learning methods can make a big difference, like:

  • Reducing unemployment: When schools align their curriculum with what industries need, students graduate with job-ready skills, helping to close the gap between job openings and qualified candidates.
  • Encouraging innovation: Imbibing critical analysis classes and engaging students in critical thinking can help build skills to solve real-world problems. This helps create a culture of creativity and entrepreneurship, boosting India’s economy.
  • Preparing for global careers: India has a massive pool of talented students. With proper tech-based education and classroom teaching, students can compete globally at leading tech firms or by building their own startups.

Partnership plays its key role

A modern, skills-first curriculum must become the norm to unlock the full potential of India’s young workforce. This requires strong partnerships between schools, the government, and industries. Some key steps include:

  • Partnering with tech companies: Schools should work with tech firms to create up-to-date curricula that match current job market demands.
  • Government support: Grants and rewards should be given to institutions prioritising skill-based education to encourage wider adoption.
  • Expanding to rural areas: Skills-based, tech-driven education should be made accessible in rural regions, where students have often been left out of major education reforms.

Through our skills programme, Smile Foundation connects youth from disadvantaged groups and communities with sectors with considerable growth potential and employability. The staggering youth population underutilised in the job market because of a lack of requisite qualifications and training are upskilled, uplifted, and mainstreamed to become a part of the country’s growth story. The initiative aims to complement the government’s vision and efforts under the Skill India mission, and is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 8. In the last financial year, 9,000 youth were trained, 5500 were placed under this programme, with 96% of enrollees qualifying to receive the STeP certification

Further, as part of CSR activities, Smile has joined hands with Berger Paints to initiate their iTrain on Wheels programme, aimed at enhancing the painting skills of local painters. This project aims to provide painters across India with specialised training in various techniques, empowering them for more diverse employment opportunities and elevating their overall quality of life. iTrain on Wheels is a platform for painters to acquire new skills and improve their existing ones.

With components of spoken English, financial literacy, basic computers, personality development, and industry visits, we believe in nurturing young minds and improving livelihoods by aligning training with industry needs and facilitating job placements.

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Smile

iTrain: Upskilling Painters with Technical and Entrepreneurship Skills

iTrain: Berger Paints
iTrain: Berger Paints

By most accounts, India’s informal economy is the backbone of its labour force, employing over 90% of its workers. Yet the artisans, skilled workers, and tradespeople who keep the country running often remain invisible in policy and discourse. Among them are India’s wall painters—a workforce of millions who have transformed the country’s public and private spaces for generations, yet rarely receive the recognition or support they deserve.

Painting a picture of the past

The tradition of painting walls in India has a long and vibrant history. From intricate Mughal frescoes to tribal murals in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, painting has been both art and livelihood. However, the advent of the construction boom and rise of mass urbanisation in the late 20th century turned this tradition into a large-scale trade. Today, India’s paint industry is one of the fastest-growing globally, projected to reach USD 15.04 billion by 2029. But, the skills of its labour force are not keeping pace with its growth.

The vast majority of India’s painters learn on the job, passed down from senior workers or family members in informal settings. As such, while they may excel at hands-on work, most lack exposure to newer application technologies, waterproofing science, safety standards, or client relationship management. The result is a widening gap between the expectations of the modern marketplace and the preparedness of its workforce.

The case for structured vocational education

The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 was the first to formally underscore the importance of vocational education in India. It was a call urging institutions to create pathways that linked education to employability. Over the decades, subsequent policies including Skill India and the National Education Policy 2020 have tried to bridge this gap. Yet for sectors like house painting—which remain highly informal and decentralised—systematic upskilling efforts have been patchy at best.

This is where industry-led initiatives supported by credible civil society actors can make a real difference. One such initiative is the iTrain programme by Berger Paints India Ltd. of which Smile Foundation is a partner. It is a grassroots development organisation working across 2,000 remote communities in India.

iTrain: Painting the future with skills

Launched in 2014, the iTrain programme was designed to address the scarcity of professionally trained painters in India. It provides structured training in both technical skills—like surface preparation, polishing, and waterproofing—and entrepreneurial soft skills, such as budgeting, client management, and safety practices. With Smile Foundation’s involvement since 2021, the programme has adopted a mobile training model, reaching tribal areas, Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, and other underserved regions.

The impact has been significant:

  • 77% of trainees reported a substantial boost in confidence.
  • 70% experienced career progression, with many becoming independent contractors leading teams of 12 or more.
  • Most strikingly, many reported 25–50% income growth, leading to improved food security, better housing, and investment in their children’s education.

This isn’t just skill development. It’s about mobility—social and economic. Painters once relegated to the margins are now becoming micro-entrepreneurs, managing projects, and building community networks.

Why the model works

What makes iTrain stand out is not just its technical curriculum but its delivery mechanism. Smile Foundation’s mobile units go beyond fixed urban centres, reaching painters who would otherwise never have access to formal training. This includes women, often locked out of the trade by social norms, and differently-abled individuals or caregivers who cannot travel far from home.

The programme design reflects what the best global models of vocational education suggest:

  • Contextual learning based on real-world application
  • Modular training that can accommodate work schedules
  • Blended formats—including printed manuals and online recordings—to support continued learning

Moreover, by including entrepreneurial training, iTrain recognises a fundamental shift in the economy: the gigification of trades. In a world where job security is declining, the ability to manage one’s business—even a small one—is a survival skill.

The untapped opportunity of India’s tradespeople

India’s 2025 workforce is expected to have over 100 million workers in need of reskilling, according to the World Economic Forum. With construction and home improvement sectors seeing a post-pandemic boom, upskilling trades like painting is a critical infrastructure development. Painters today are expected to know colour theory, stain resistance, thermal insulation, customer engagement, and budgeting.

And yet, less than 5% of India’s informal workforce has received any formal vocational training. The iTrain programme directly targets this gap. But scale is needed. With more public-private partnerships, leveraging local NGOs and state skilling schemes, India can transform its trades sector from the inside out.

Building a national movement for upskilling

What’s needed now is to take programmes like iTrain and institutionalise them at a national level, integrating them into the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) and ensuring credit linkages, certification, and upward mobility pathways. Industry bodies like the Paints and Coatings Skill Council (PCSC), created under NSDC, must also broaden their base to include informal workers and gig contractors.

A national strategy should focus on:

  • Standardised curriculum co-developed by employers and civil society
  • Micro-credentialing systems that allow workers to stack skills over time
  • Technology-enabled mentorship to guide new painters towards sustainable employment

The final brushstroke

The iTrain programme exemplifies a powerful lesson: when we equip workers with both tools and dignity, we improve livelihoods and transform industries. Painters in India have long coloured our homes, schools, and lives with beauty. It’s time we returned the favour—by painting them a future filled with opportunity, recognition, and growth.

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Smile CSR Health Partners In Change Partnerships

On the Move: Strengthening Rural Healthcare with Mobile Medical Units

On the Move: Strengthening Rural Healthcare with Mobile Medical Units

India’s healthcare sector is evolving rapidly, driven by strategic investments, increasing biopharma funding, and dynamic cross-industry collaborations. In 2024 alone, the industry witnessed a 24% rise in funding, with 2025 set to surpass expectations. The country remains a global leader in generics and biosimilars, while AI-powered partnerships between technology and pharmaceutical companies are transforming diagnostics and data-led care. Yet, a vital question remains: are these innovations truly reaching India’s rural healthcare system? Public-private partnerships and mobile medical units could hold the key to delivering equitable, technology-enabled care to underserved communities.

Indian Rural Healthcare system – Challenges

“As a mother of a special child, regular check-ups were a constant struggle—financially, emotionally, and logistically” – Prema (Velmurugan’s mother)

This testimonial underscores the multifaceted challenges of India’s rural healthcare system. Building an inclusive rural healthcare ecosystem in India is vital to ensuring equitable access to medical services for all. Initiatives that deliver compassionate, doorstep healthcare solutions like Mobile Medical Units can play a crucial role in bridging systemic gaps—particularly for underserved communities. 

  • Infrastructure Deficit Hindering Equitable Access to Care
     Despite national advancements, rural healthcare infrastructure remains significantly underdeveloped, with inadequate facilities, outdated equipment, and poor connectivity. This disparity perpetuates unequal access to quality medical services and delays timely intervention in vulnerable communities.
  • Severe Shortage of Trained Medical Professionals in Rural Regions
     A persistent dearth of qualified doctors, nurses, and specialists in rural areas severely undermines the continuity and quality of care. Overburdened and under-supported, frontline health workers struggle to meet the needs of dispersed populations, affecting outcomes at scale.
  • Healthcare Access Disrupted by Livelihood Dependency and Geographic Barriers
     Many rural residents face a distressing trade-off: travel long distances for medical attention or lose crucial daily wages. The absence of proximal, functional healthcare centres forces patients to defer treatment, often until emergencies arise.
  • The Economic Toll of Illness: Families Forced into Debt for Basic Treatment
     With limited affordable care options locally, families are frequently compelled to sell land or incur high-interest loans to access treatment in urban centres. This financial burden deepens rural poverty, making healthcare a source of long-term socioeconomic distress.

However, to sustain and scale such impact, the persistent challenges of infrastructure, accessibility, and affordability must be addressed collectively. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has a pivotal role to play in this transformation. By aligning business responsibility with community health needs, corporations can help strengthen rural healthcare delivery, making quality care not a privilege, but a fundamental right for every citizen, regardless of geography or income.

“We know that achieving universal health coverage is a critical step in helping people escape and stay out of poverty, yet there continues to be increased financial hardship, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable people.”

– Mamta Murthi, Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank

Taking Healthcare to Villages, Backed by CSR

India’s healthcare landscape has been significantly transformed by key government health initiatives such as –

  • Ayushman Bharat and the National Health Mission (comprising NRHM and NUHM) are key public health initiatives in India.
  • A strong focus is placed on Reproductive-Maternal-Neonatal-Child-Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) to address critical life stages.
  • These programmes have significantly expanded healthcare access in underserved and remote regions.
  • They address both communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
  • The approach emphasises not only treatment but also preventive care and the promotion of community wellbeing.

Despite this progress, accessibility to healthcare services remains uneven across rural geographies. While government-backed initiatives lay the foundational framework, there is an urgent need for delivery mechanisms that can bridge the last-mile gap. This is where Mobile Medical Units (MMUs), supported through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) investments, have become a critical enabler.

CSR-backed MMUs serve as a lifeline for communities often left out of mainstream healthcare delivery. They bring:

  •  Medical diagnostics and treatment directly to village doorsteps.
  •  Act as catalysts for promoting healthy habits and preventive awareness—amplifying the impact of government programmes on the ground.

 In essence, they operationalise the “3 As” of effective healthcare delivery

  • Affordability
  • Accessibility
  • Awareness
Strategic BenefitImplementationImpact
Extending Lifespan in Underserved Areas








Reducing Treatment Complications through Early Access



Lowering Financial Burden for Rural Families








Saving Lives through Timely Screening and Diagnosis		Mobile Medical Units enable early detection and management of diseases, especially Non communicable diseases, directly within remote communities—improving long-term health outcomes and life expectancy.

Immediate access to basic healthcare reduces delays, preventing escalation of treatable conditions. Improves prognosis and clinical efficiency.
Mobile Medical Units minimise the need for long-distance travel, wage loss, and out-of-pocket expenses, making healthcare more affordable and equitable.




On-site diagnostics help identify conditions like diabetes, anaemia, hypertension, and pregnancy risks early, preventing critical complications.		Enhances public health indicators in rural geographies; supports SDG 3 targets.






Reduces healthcare burden and mortality in remote areas.




Supports economic resilience and healthcare affordability for marginalised groups.








Strengthens community-based preventive care and reduces maternal/child mortality.

The integration of Mobile Medical Units into India’s broader healthcare strategy represents a convergence of public intent and private capability. Corporates, through targeted CSR investments, have the opportunity to supplement public health infrastructure by extending their reach, scaling impact, and ensuring that the promise of equitable healthcare is not limited by geography. Moreover, such initiatives humanise corporate action, translating boardroom decisions into real, tangible outcomes in the lives of vulnerable populations.

Unlocking Healthcare’s with Smile’s Mobile Medical Units

Smile Foundation is advancing Indian rural healthcare through strategic digital innovations, in collaboration with corporate partners aligned with universal healthcare goals. By delivering doorstep primary care to underserved populations, it addresses critical barriers—low awareness and economic vulnerability—ensuring equitable access without disrupting livelihoods, especially across rural areas and urban informal settlements.

  • Delivering Quality Healthcare till last mile with Smile On Wheels 

Smile on Wheels operates 105 mobile units across 16 states that reached over 12,89,269 people in FY 24. The SOWs travel extensively, providing essential primary healthcare services across remote regions. These units offer a combination of on-site medical support through static clinics and remote consultations powered by telemedicine. This integrated approach ensures comprehensive, timely healthcare access for underserved communities, bridging healthcare gaps efficiently. 

  • Smile on Boat : Healthcare through water delivery model

Navigating the challenging terrain of the Brahmaputra River, this mobile health solution operates across 12 districts and 12 riverine islands, reaching populations otherwise cut off from consistent medical care. The clinics are equipped to provide a full spectrum of primary healthcare services, including diagnostics, essential medicines, and targeted maternal and reproductive health education. By addressing the specific needs of underserved, remote communities, the initiative plays a critical role in strengthening regional health equity and resilience.

  • Accelerating Women’s Health Equity with Two-Wheeler Medical Outreach

Operating through health units mounted on customised vans and two-wheelers, the initiative ensures timely outreach for early screening and management of anaemia, a leading cause of maternal morbidity in India. By facilitating doorstep access to essential diagnostic and reproductive health services, the programme mitigates delays in care, empowers adolescent girls and women with preventive health education, and contributes to long-term improvements in maternal and community health outcomes.

Collaborate for Health Equity: Partner Now

CSR-backed Mobile Medical Units are not just vehicles of care—they are mobile ecosystems that embody inclusive healthcare. By embedding these units within the existing public health framework and expanding them through sustained CSR commitment together, you and Smile Foundation can help our communities to move closer to a future where no individual is too far to heal, and every community is empowered to live healthier, more informed lives.

Join us in taking healthcare to the doorstep. Write to cp@smilefoundationindia.org

Categories
Education

Why Teaching Teens Financial Literacy is a National Investment

Why should all our actions be children-centred?
Why should all our actions be children-centred?

In India’s pursuit of becoming a $5 trillion economy, one critical demographic is being systematically overlooked—its adolescents. At the cusp of adulthood, young people between the ages of 13 and 17 are navigating not only education and identity, but increasingly, financial decisions that will shape their futures. Yet, the national discourse on financial literacy in children continues to bypass them.

A nation of more than 600 million people under the age of 25 with financial illiteracy would power entrenching cycles of poverty and preventing upward mobility. To build a resilient, equitable economy, India must start teaching money management not just in business schools or financial advisory offices—but in the classrooms of its public high schools.

Smile Foundation’s recent initiative of Mission Education in Adilabad district, Telangana, supported by the Flipkart Foundation, offers a powerful model. Through an intensive financial literacy campaign across eight government high schools, the project engaged over 3,500 students, 155 teachers, and nearly 7,000 parents.

Financial literacy in children as a development imperative

Financial literacy encompasses more than the ability to budget or understand savings accounts. It is about empowering individuals with the knowledge, confidence, and skills to make sound financial decisions in an increasingly digital and volatile economic landscape. For adolescents, it lays the foundation for informed choices on everything from higher education loans to digital payment tools, and from household budgeting to entrepreneurial ventures.

The World Bank and OECD have long advocated financial literacy as a tool for inclusive growth. In the Global South, where formal financial education is often absent from school curricula, NGOs and CSR-backed interventions become vital. Smile Foundation’s programme in Telangana was one such effort—strategically designed to address the real-life financial challenges rural students face.

The initiative tackled the issue head-on, integrating modules on budgeting, saving, credit scores, digital banking safety, and even cyber-literacy related to social media. What made it stand out was its commitment to contextual relevance. Sessions were designed to reflect the socio-economic realities of tribal and rural youth, rather than transplanting abstract financial theories from urban settings.

From awareness to empowerment: A data-driven change

The scale of transformation this programme achieved in just two months is significant. Baseline data collected from 912 students—about 23% of the total cohort—showed alarmingly low awareness of basic financial concepts. Only 41% of students displayed a working understanding of financial literacy principles.

By the end of the programme, this figure soared to 78%.

Budgeting comprehension jumped from 21% to an astounding 94%. Awareness of the benefits of saving money rose from 39% to 94%, and familiarity with credit scores leaped from a paltry 8% to 89%. Students also reported improved understanding of digital safety: awareness about not sharing OTPs with strangers increased from 86% to 93%.

But perhaps the most transformative metric was behavioural: bank account ownership rose from 52% to 92% across participants—an extraordinary leap toward financial inclusion. These numbers represent students taking their first steps into formal financial systems, often in families with no history of banking.

Interestingly, UPI account ownership dropped slightly—from 16% to 9%. This anomaly, while needing further study, suggests that students may be learning to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate financial tools based on their own circumstances and digital literacy levels.

Scaling literacy, mobilising equity

What makes this programme replicable and scalable is its hybrid implementation model. While teacher training ensured sustainability, Smile Foundation’s deployment of mobile facilitators brought much-needed flexibility and reach. These trained facilitators delivered sessions and built relationships, offered mentorship, and helped embed financial education into daily school activities.

Moreover, the project’s focus on teacher training (155 teachers received sessions on financial literacy) ensured that the benefits would extend beyond the intervention window. Teachers—often trusted figures in rural communities—can now serve as frontline advocates of financial well-being.

The initiative’s emphasis on gender parity is also worth noting. Girls accounted for nearly 47% of all students trained, and outreach to parents ensured that cultural hesitations around financial decision-making were addressed collectively. In fact, the sessions encouraged students to share their learnings with their parents, amplifying the impact through intergenerational dialogue.

A new frontier for CSR and public education

Flipkart Foundation’s role in underwriting this intervention exemplifies what good corporate social responsibility (CSR) looks like in the 21st century: strategic, outcome-driven, and anchored in community realities.

In a world dominated by fintech innovation, it’s ironic that many of the young users of digital tools know little about how to use them safely or wisely. India is leading the world in digital payments, yet lacks a comprehensive financial literacy curriculum in its public school system.

This is where public-private partnerships like the Smile-Flipkart collaboration can fill critical gaps. With just 2-3 hours of training per student and two rounds of reinforcement sessions, this model has proven that meaningful change doesn’t require a massive overhaul—only commitment, content, and coordination.

Toward a financially literate generation

India is no longer debating whether financial literacy in children is important—the question is how quickly and equitably we can scale it. As adolescents begin to earn, save, and transact digitally, they must be equipped not only with access to financial tools but with the wisdom to use them.

Financial literacy, like health and education, must be seen as a public good. It empowers young people to dream, to save, and to build futures not shaped by chance but by choice.

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Education

Targeted Support for Tribal Students

Governments worldwide have committed to SDG 4 – quality education for all – yet the most marginalised, including indigenous and tribal students, lag far behind. UNICEF notes that SDG 4 explicitly emphasises that vulnerable groups (poor, rural, indigenous, refugees, persons with disabilities) must benefit from inclusive education. In practice, this means schooling must respect local languages and cultures.

UNESCO stresses that “minorities and indigenous people require an education system that respects their cultural, linguistic and religious needs” – for example through bilingual, intercultural curricula and dedicated budgets. Without such measures, indigenous children face disproportionately high dropout rates and low learning outcomes compared to national averages. As a recent UNESCO report notes, simply enrolling children in school is not enough; curricula, teaching and community outreach must be tailored to local realities.

India’s new education policy acknowledges this challenge. The NEP 2020 recognises that “children from tribal communities often find their school education irrelevant and foreign to their lives, both culturally and academically,” and calls for “special mechanisms” to ensure these students benefit from education reforms. Tribal and first-generation learners often juggle long commutes, economic hardship, and language barriers (e.g. a sudden shift to English instruction), which makes bridging programmes essential. Failure to address these gaps entrenches inequalities: without help, many tribal youth drop out around the secondary level, when high-stakes board exams and complex subjects create bottlenecks.

Smile Foundation’s Adilabad initiative for tribal students

In Telangana’s Adilabad district – home to many Adivasi communities – these challenges are front and center. The Tribal Welfare Department runs 67 residential Ashram high schools that offer free lodging and schooling to tribal youth. In late 2024, Smile Foundation teamed up with the state’s Tribal Welfare (ITDA) agency to launch the Academic Enhancement and Examination Preparedness (AEEP) programme in all 67 schools. AEEP represents a classic public–NGO partnership: the government provides classrooms and student outreach, while Smile contributes tutors, training and materials. This programme targeted roughly 2,700 students (67% of them girls) preparing for the 10th-grade board exams. Its aim was simple but vital: to shore up basic learning (especially in English, math and science), build test-taking confidence, and bridge gaps created by recent reforms.

The need was urgent. Until 2023 these Ashram schools taught in Telugu, but the state mandated English as the medium, and exam papers were issued only in English. Students with little prior English instruction suddenly faced foreign-language exams. As Smile’s report notes, “the students who have been taught Telugu were taught English since the last two years” – yet “the SSC board decided the question paper would also be given in English”. Faced with this “huge bottleneck,” Smile and local officials designed AEEP as a crash course in academic basics and exam strategy.

Over January–March 2025, they held 268 academic sessions across the 67 schools. These included mock tests, problem-solving workshops in Maths/Science, and counseling on exam preparation. Facilitators (often recruited locally) used standardised lesson plans and materials vetted by subject experts. Crucially, Smile distributed a bespoke 875-page “All-in-One” SSC guidebook – covering all subjects in simple language – to every board student. This leveled the playing field by giving village students the study tools usually only available to better-off peers.

One Tribal Welfare officer reports that students and teachers welcomed the materials: the handbooks reduced financial burden and boosted learners’ confidence.

The impact of AEEP’s approach is tangible. By project’s end, every one of the 67 schools had hosted multiple coaching sessions, reaching a combined 2,701 students and 376 teachers. Over 1,800 girls participated (reflecting the schools’ strong female enrollment). Weekly quizzes and feedback loops identified learning gaps and progressively raised test scores.

Preliminary outcomes show significant improvements in exam pass rates for participating villages, though formal evaluations are pending. Importantly, the programme built trust between families and schools: community meetings and local-language tutors helped parents feel invested in their children’s success.

Global innovations in inclusive education

India’s tribal initiatives echo successful models elsewhere. In Brazil, for example, the government’s indigenous affairs agency (FUNAI) and education ministry support escolas indígenas, where instruction is adapted to native cultures and languages. Brazil’s 1988 constitution and subsequent laws guarantee intercultural, bilingual education, enabling Amazonian communities to design schools that blend traditional knowledge with core subjects.

Studies find that these programmes boost attendance and cultural pride by making schooling relevant to indigenous worldview. Rather than forcing assimilation, Brazil now emphasises curricula that respect native languages and lineages – a practice UNESCO cites as essential for indigenous inclusion.

In Kenya, the challenge is reaching children in remote arid regions. The government’s Primary Education Development Plan has explicitly targeted marginalised schools. With support from the Global Partnership for Education, some 4,000 schools – including 1,400 in Kenya’s poorest counties – received school improvement grants. Each school got about USD 5,500 to build toilets, train teachers, and raise community awareness of girls’ education and safety. These grants also funded volunteer patrols to accompany girls to school, helping Kenya close the gender attendance gap.

Moreover, Kenya’s nationwide textbook reforms illustrate the power of targeted support. By competitive procurement, the government cut costs by 70% and distributed over 10.5 million math textbooks for early grades in just two years. Many of these books were specially adapted with Braille and enlarged print to serve children with disabilities, signaling an inclusive vision. (The accompanying image shows a Kenyan schoolgirl with her new textbooks.) Kenya’s concerted efforts have paid off: primary enrollment is now effectively universal, and gender parity has nearly been achieved. Initiatives like distributing textbooks in refugee camps (Kakuma) further underscore Kenya’s commitment to “no learner left behind,” be they nomads or newcomers.

Australia’s remote schools also benefit from tailored policies. The federal “Closing the Gap” plan invested in the Remote School Attendance Strategy (RSAS), which shifted in 2019 from simply “getting kids to school” toward “keeping kids in school”. The revamped RSAS employs local Aboriginal liaisons and focuses on community engagement: local people encourage attendance, organise transport, and work with schools to solve problems. This model acknowledges that trust and local leadership are essential in isolated communities.

Other Australian measures mirror this community-centric philosophy: scholarships (e.g. boosting STEM for Indigenous girls), partnerships with elders, and state–federal cooperation. In each case, the common thread is clear – empower the community to uplift the school.

These international examples highlight key elements of success that mirror Smile’s approach in India.

  • First, local engagement: hiring local tutors, involving parents and traditional leaders, and using native languages all build ownership.
  • Second, cultural relevance: curricula that incorporate tribal knowledge or bilingual materials make learning less alien.
  • Third, remedial and bridge instruction: providing extra coaching in core subjects, particularly at transition points like board exams, closes learning gaps.
  • Fourth, continuous feedback: regular testing and adaptive lesson plans ensure programs respond to real needs.
  • Finally, sustained support and partnerships: none of these works as a one-off.

In Telangana, Smile’s coordination with the tribal welfare department and school officials provided continuity. Similarly, in Australia and Kenya, government initiatives were bolstered by NGO and private partners. For example, Smile’s award-winning NXplorers STEM programme (with Shell) now reaches thousands of rural students by training teachers and engaging girls in engineering projects. Public–private collaborations like these multiply impact and help embed innovations into official systems.

Recommendations: Scaling up equity for marginalised and tribal students

The Telangana case – and its global parallels – make clear that targeted investment can yield rapid gains for marginalised students. We offer several policy recommendations:

  • Strengthen public–NGO partnerships. Governments and international donors should empower local NGOs to fill gaps. Initiatives like Smile’s AEEP show that NGOs can mobilise quickly and innovate pedagogically. Funds and training (e.g. through Samagra Shiksha or GPE grants) can be channeled to community-based organisations in tribal areas. Institutionalise models such as ITDA–NGO co-management of ashram schools.
  • Invest in remedial and transition programmes. Scale remedial coaching, bridge courses and exam-prep camps for disadvantaged students, as envisioned by NEP 2020. Board exam stakes are high in India; dedicated support for Class 10 and 12 candidates from tribal backgrounds (tutoring, model exams, study materials) can dramatically improve pass rates.
  • Recruit and train local educators. Hire teachers and facilitators from within tribal communities. They are more likely to speak local dialects, understand cultural contexts, and gain trust. Provide these teachers with ongoing professional development, as well as pedagogical tools for multilingual education. Australia’s RSAS demonstrates that employing local liaison officers strengthens attendance and accountability.
  • Use culturally responsive curriculum. Educational content must reflect tribal students’ lives. This means bilingual textbooks, examples drawn from local ecology and culture, and integration of indigenous history. Allocating specific budgets for developing such materials, as recommended by UNESCO and India’s policy think-tanks, is vital. The MDPI study on Brazilian indigenous schooling shows that when education values tribal knowledge, communities respond with greater engagement and pride.
  • Enhance community engagement. Regularly involve parents, village councils and NGOs in school governance. Encourage community-driven monitoring of attendance and learning. Examples from Kenya and India alike show that when families see the value in education (through counseling sessions, scholarships, women’s literacy programs), enrollment and retention rise. Gender-focused outreach (mentoring girls, building girls’ hostels, abolishing child marriage) also helps meet SDG 5 on gender equality within tribal areas.
  • Align with national and global goals. Embed these efforts in broader frameworks. For instance, link tribal education programmes to SDG 4 and SDG 5 targets, NEP 2020’s equity provisions, and India’s Aspirational District Programme. Create measurable indicators (e.g. tribal literacy rates, board exam performance) to track progress explicitly. The AEEP project itself framed its goals around SDGs 4 and 5, a practice all programmes should adopt to leverage international support and accountability.

In sum, the Adilabad initiative provides an encouraging proof of concept: with concerted effort, the cycle of marginalisation can be broken. Learning outcomes in these 67 Ashram schools are improving because the programme meets tribal students “where they are,” academically and culturally. This lesson is universal.

As the world races toward 2030, every country must ask: Who is being left behind in our classrooms? Then fund and design programmes – like Telangana’s AEEP – that ensure those children also thrive. By combining public commitment, community knowledge, and innovative partnerships, we can bring high-quality education within reach of all. Educating tribal and marginalised children is an investment in a more equitable and prosperous society for everyone.

Sources and References

  1. Smile Foundation (2025) – Mission Education: Academic Enhancement and Examination Preparedness Project Completion Report (AEEP, Adilabad).
  2. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) –
  3. UNESCO (2023) – Global Education Monitoring Report: Ensuring Inclusion and Equity in Education for Indigenous and Minority Children.
  4. UNICEF (2022) – Education for Every Child: The Role of Equity in SDG 4.
  5. Ministry of Education, Government of India (2020) – National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
  6. Global Partnership for Education (GPE) – Kenya Country Page
  7. World Bank (2020) – Kenya Basic Education Improvement Project.
  8. MDPI (2021) – The Role of Intercultural and Bilingual Education in Brazil’s Indigenous Schools.
  9. Australian Government – National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) –
  10. Shell NXplorers & Smile Foundation (2023) –
  11. Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India (2023) – Annual Report & Statistics on Scheduled Tribes.
  12. Right to Education Forum, India (2022) – Leaving No Child Behind: Education Disparities Among India’s Tribes and Minorities.
  13. ASER Report (2022) – Annual Status of Education Report – Rural Learning Outcomes in India.
  14. World Inequality Report (2022) – Educational Inequality and Social Mobility Metrics in Global South
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