Giving quality education to children

There has been this war of words between proponents and critics of Corporate Social Responsibility. While the former argue that corporations make more long term profits by operating with a perspective, the latter on their part believe that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. But the realities of modern day, a thinking supported by management practitioners, argue that when the model is properly specified; that is, CSR has a neutral impact on financial outcomes.

The many benefits of CSR have led many corporate organizations to adopt it. While some do so because it puts them in good stead with the host community, thus projecting their image as being community friendly, other companies take to CSR because it generates brand equity to the companies.

Companies have over the years learned to deploy various platforms for CSR purposes. It is common to find companies deploy resources into educational pursuits, while others venture into causes that reduce one health risk or the other. However, educational causes remain one of the top platforms that CSR specialists explore. Part of the reasons is traceable to decaying education infrastructure and the dwindling standard of education, especially in this part of the world.

This issue continues to generate debate among concerned stakeholders. Some blame the problem on lack of visionary leadership and sometimes too, poor urban planning and other factors. Today, we find many schools, especially primary and secondary schools, in deplorable conditions. This has left many communities, especially in rural communities, with no other option than to resort to learning and teaching in makeshift structures as classrooms, some even under the trees.

Education has proved to be a viable platform on which a sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be built on. This has caused some well meaning corporate organizations to adopt supporting education and learning as their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform. One of such organizations is Ecobank. The bank recently committed resources to building classrooms blocks for three schools across the country, namely: C&S Primary School, Ikorodu, Lagos; Government Secondary School, Kubwa, Abuja and Eastern Academy, Onitsha, Anambra State.

It became the trend at a time as both multinational and local companies latched on to it. The motley crowd of brands and companies trying to leverage the platform that the concept provides as their CSR initiative at a time made brand differentiation difficult. Adopting the strategy makes good sense. For one, it serves as an interventionist initiative in the education sector.

As stated by the department of Trade and Industry in the United Kingdom, CSR represents “the integrity with which a company governs itself, fulfills its mission, lives by its values, engages with its stakeholders, measures its impact and reports on its activities”. Although most people appreciate the recent advancement of CSR, some argue that corporations are still not doing enough or are only acting in self interest.

But while the serious ones get it right and go about it professionally, evidence of having thought through the whole idea; others go about it haphazardly. It is easy to know those who thought through the concept properly. Those who did, among other considerations, followed and addressed the key decision points: Needs Assessment, Selecting Alternatives, Project Preparation, Project Implementation and Project Operation. Besides, while some companies and brands only focus on supporting schools in their local communities, the more committed ones spread it across the country and, in places far away from their host communities.

And this is where the debate that borders on maintenance and sustenance come up. The sustainability and maintenance question has further called into question the role or otherwise of the beneficiary community. Put differently, does a beneficiary community have any role to play in the sustainability of a corporate social responsibility project?

Ecobank has won plaudits for committing huge resources to supporting quality education. What has further endeared the bank to analysts was the commitment to sustain the initiative for many years to come. Besides committing money to the cause and the promise to sustain it, the personal involvement of staff of the bank, led by the Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Jubril Aku in the manual labour leg of the project is something worth commending. Aku led the staff in various aspects of the work, from carpentry to masonry, in one of the schools to flag off the construction of classroom blocks in three school spread across the country.