The BoP Challenge
Despite the significant number of potential 'consumers' at the BoP, many large organizations that are busy selling their products and services to the middle class, are yet to wake up to the BoP's fullest potential. Even today most of them shy away from this segment, especially in India. Some of the challenges that they face include:
- Maintaining quality at a low price point
- Problems with distribution
- Diversity of language, culture and geography
Because of these and a myriad of other reasons that make marketing at the BoP a challenge, the BoP consumer has yet to reap the kind and quality of benefits, that his middle class cousin enjoys.
Education at the BoP
Being one of the youngest populations of the world (a third of us are below the age of 15), we also account for one-quarter of the world's 104 million out-of-school children. But the overall education scenario is quite grim: nearly 50% of our children drop out of school by class five. For every 100 girls that enroll in school in rural India, only 18 reach class eight, nine reach class nine, and only one makes it to class twelve.
Despite the significant number of potential 'consumers' at the BoP, many large organizations that are busy selling their products and services to the middle class, are yet to wake up to the BoP's fullest potential. Even today most of them shy away from this segment, especially in India. Some of the challenges that they face include:
- Maintaining quality at a low price point
- Problems with distribution
- Diversity of language, culture and geography
Because of these and a myriad of other reasons that make marketing at the BoP a challenge, the BoP consumer has yet to reap the kind and quality of benefits, that his middle class cousin enjoys.
Education at the BoP
Being one of the youngest populations of the world (a third of us are below the age of 15), we also account for one-quarter of the world's 104 million out-of-school children. But the overall education scenario is quite grim: nearly 50% of our children drop out of school by class five. For every 100 girls that enroll in school in rural India, only 18 reach class eight, nine reach class nine, and only one makes it to class twelve.
Access & Excellence - The gap
There is access to school education in India, but only on paper. In a country where a school can be found almost every three kilometres (not as often as one would think though), the costs far outweigh the results. High running and recruitment costs, scarce teacher commitment, lack of individual attention and poor academic performance make it an overburdened system. It is time to note that public schooling has clearly not lived up to its promise. It is time to look at a viable alternative ...
When children stay out of school, they are bound to grow up to become unskilled workers, unable to earn a decent living and provide for their children, which also means: their children in turn do not go to school. This is the challenge of the cycle of illiteracy and poverty, as illustrated here.
There is access to school education in India, but only on paper. In a country where a school can be found almost every three kilometres (not as often as one would think though), the costs far outweigh the results. High running and recruitment costs, scarce teacher commitment, lack of individual attention and poor academic performance make it an overburdened system. It is time to note that public schooling has clearly not lived up to its promise. It is time to look at a viable alternative ...
When children stay out of school, they are bound to grow up to become unskilled workers, unable to earn a decent living and provide for their children, which also means: their children in turn do not go to school. This is the challenge of the cycle of illiteracy and poverty, as illustrated here.
Edu@BoP
At CLEF, we believe that holistic education is the great liberator; the most effective means to fighting poverty. We believe that a viable and scalable model of a low cost school can help in this fight against poverty by making quality education accessible to all. The challenge is to find the best fit model.
The fact is that public schooling has clearly not lived up to its promise. We aim to create a viable alternative to the current scenario in education - by tackling these challenges head on and converting them into opportunities.
To fight the cycle of poverty, we have designed curriculum that is knowledge intensive - to meet the demands of the knowledge economy. For that we are in the process of creating schools that go beyond the three Rs - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Our learning by doing approach to education is geared towards creating individuals capable of realizing their potential. So that more children will want to stay in school, and those who may have slipped through the cracks, can be encouraged to come back.
Read On>>
What is the BoP?
The Opportunities
At CLEF, we believe that holistic education is the great liberator; the most effective means to fighting poverty. We believe that a viable and scalable model of a low cost school can help in this fight against poverty by making quality education accessible to all. The challenge is to find the best fit model.
The fact is that public schooling has clearly not lived up to its promise. We aim to create a viable alternative to the current scenario in education - by tackling these challenges head on and converting them into opportunities.
To fight the cycle of poverty, we have designed curriculum that is knowledge intensive - to meet the demands of the knowledge economy. For that we are in the process of creating schools that go beyond the three Rs - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Our learning by doing approach to education is geared towards creating individuals capable of realizing their potential. So that more children will want to stay in school, and those who may have slipped through the cracks, can be encouraged to come back.
Read On>>
What is the BoP?
The Opportunities