Imagine a day without any electricity. Imagine a week. Imagine years. While India and the world moves forward, there are still pockets in the country that face several unsaid challenges every day.

The Byragundlu Village in Koratagere Taluk of Tumkur District is one such example. Located in the suburbs of the hi-tech city of Bengaluru in Karnataka, the day to day struggle of the residents is a matter of major concern. This is because, this village receives power supply for only two to three hours a day.

The CSR team from the Samsung Research Institute- Bangalore visited the village and interacted with the locals. The children were unable to study because of the lack of regular power supply. The SRI-B team decided to make a difference by providing solar powered lanterns to the residents.

With the aim of lighting lives, around 800 such lanterns were distributed among the villagers. On a single charge, each lantern can last for about 12 hours. Two lanterns per household were distributed to assist the villagers. It has enabled children to study in an uninterrupted manner. Moreover, it has helped keep away wild animals, boars and snakes from entering houses.

“Samsung strives to create meaningful innovations to ease up people’s lives, be it for our consumers or the local communities. We are pleased to partner with Karnataka government to fulfil these initiatives and it gives immense happiness to see how small steps can brighten up the lives of our Indian people especially children. Samsung wishes all the best to these children for their studies,” said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, SRI-B.

“We are happy that Samsung R&D team has taken up the mission towards development of this village. This gesture will surely benefit the villagers by large and motivate the students to study. We are hopeful that our long term association with Samsung will enable us to take up many such developmental activities in the future,” said Ranganath, Panchayat Development Officer.

SRI-B strives towards community development and has undertaken multiple initiatives towards education, sanitation and environment. The team plans to light up more lives by distributing more lamps and covering more villages in its next phase.

With these additions, Samsung Smart Class is now available at 652 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools, 28 Government schools in Tamil Nadu and three Delhi Police Public Schools, taking the total number of Samsung Smart Class in India to 683.

Seventy Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools, which previously did not have a smart class, have got one Samsung Smart Class each, while a second Samsung Smart Class has been added at 99 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools across the country. JNVs are run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India to make modern education available to talented children from rural India.

Shri Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Human Resources & Development, Government of India, said, “Education is not just the ability to read and write, but also gain a huge amount of knowledge. Our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision today is to improve the quality of education across the country that will help the less privileged gain the right kind of education. In this pursuit, we want technology to be used to increase the digital intensity in education. We are happy that Samsung is making a valuable contribution in our effort to move from blackboard to digital board across schools.”

Samsung is committed to harnessing its legacy of innovation to positively transform communities and create a better life for people through its citizenship initiatives. Samsung Smart Class, the company’s flagship citizenship initiative in India, aims to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban India and provide equal opportunities for quality education to children from all backgrounds.

Mr. HC Hong, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia, said, “We are elated with the phenomenal success of our flagship citizen program in India. Samsung Smart Class initiative has helped over 2.5 lakh children across the nation become digitally literate. This initiative is closely tied with India’s development agenda, and implemented in close partnership with government departments to ensure wider reach and impact among the less-privileged children. It is also in line with the government’s mandate of bringing in technology to improve the quality of education and gradually move from blackboard to digital board.”

One of the key challenges being faced by government schools in rural India is English literacy. To address this issue, Samsung has started offering a digital program on spoken English to all students at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools.

“The Government of Tamil Nadu is working towards creating better facilities for quality education in the state. This collaboration for Samsung Smart Class is a step in that direction and will enable us to provide quality education to underprivileged students,” said Shri KA Sengottaiyan, School Education Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Since the first Samsung Smart Class was established in 2013 in association with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, over 2.5 lakh students have benefitted from it. In addition, over 8,000 teachers have been trained on how to use interactive technology to teach effectively, improving the quality of teaching and building capacity at government schools.

Teachers and school principals at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools have provided feedback that Samsung Smart Class has increased student attention, reduced rates of student absenteeism and increased student familiarity and comfort with technology such as smart boards, laptops and printers.

Additionally, teachers have also said that students learn complicated concepts more easily and that the digitally interactive environment encourages shy or hesitant students to participate better in classroom discussions.

Every Samsung Smart Class is equipped with an interactive Samsung Smartboards, Samsung tablets, a printer, Wi-Fi connectivity and power backup.

Volunteers from Samsung R&D Institute, Bengaluru with students

Samsung India has collaborated with the Karnataka government to donate notebooks and pens to students in 450 government schools across Bengaluru, Kolar and Mulbaghal districts in the state.

A team of over 120 volunteers from Samsung R&D Institute, Bengaluru visited these schools and distributed 160,000 notebooks and 38,500 pens to over 30,000 students in two days.

“As a market leader, Samsung caters to the needs of its consumers with meaningful innovations and quality products, and also pledges to contribute to the needs of the society to create a better life for people,” said Mr. Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute, Bengaluru.

“The notebook donation drive, through which we have been able to reach out to over 30,000 students in Karnataka, is a small step in that direction,” he said.

Earlier this year, Samsung donated stationery items such as dictionaries, exam pads, geometry boxes, bags and stationery pouches to around 500 schools in Karnataka.

Another important milestone was the agreement with Government of Karnataka to help the state efficiently manage its public healthcare facilities. As part of the agreement, Samsung Research & Development Institute, Bangalore (SRI-B) provided over 1,000 Samsung Tab IRIS devices to the Department of Health, Government of Karnataka. Samsung Tab IRIS, the first commercial tablet to be approved by UIDAI for Aadhaar and KYC verification, is enabling Public Health Centers (PHC) in the state to build their database in a digital format.

Samsung began its journey in India in 1995, and in over two decades, it has grown into one of the country’s biggest consumer product companies, with 2 manufacturing plants, 5 R&D centres, 1 design centre, 1.5 lakh retail outlets and over 70,000 employees. Samsung is also India’s Most Trusted Brand and is pioneering local manufacturing through its ‘Make for India’ initiative.

Samsung India Citizenship Initiatives

At Samsung, our aim is to harness the Company’s legacy of innovation to positively transform communities and create a better life for people through different initiatives.

Samsung Smart Class, the Company’s flagship citizen program in India, promotes digital education among underprivileged students, especially in rural India. This initiative aims to bridge the digital gap between rural and urban India and provide equal opportunities for quality education to children from all backgrounds. Since 2013, over 470 Samsung Smart Class have been set up at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools across the length and breadth of India benefitting over 2.5 lakh students. In addition, over 8,000 teachers have been trained on how to use interactive technology to teach.

The Company has also established Samsung Technical Schools in partnership with the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India and ITIs in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi, to address the need for talented manpower with practical know-how and relevant industry experience. Students at the 22 Samsung Technical Schools also benefit from exposure to Samsung manufacturing facilities and authorized service centers. Till date, Samsung Technical Schools have provided technical training for job opportunities to over 2,000 youth.

One of the Company’s key citizenship initiatives is the Samsung Smart Healthcare program that has been designed to support the Government’s efforts to provide the best of healthcare to millions of citizens especially from the economically weaker sections. Through this program, Samsung provides government hospitals its innovative healthcare equipment such as ultrasound, digital radiology and accessories, with the aim to make affordable healthcare accessible to the large number of patients at select Government hospitals in Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Delhi.