Ashok Leyland’s CSR Project 'Road To School' Helping Underserved Kids In Their Education
Commercial vehicle manufacturer and the flagship company of the Hinduja Group, Ashok Leyland places a strong emphasis on its social and environmental activities.
Road to School (RTS), the flagship CSR project by Ashok Leyland, with the aim of making education a social leveler impacts children in government schools. The program provides for a holistic development of primary and middle school children though education, health and hygiene, and nutrition.
The Road to School (RTS) program began in 2015 with 36 schools in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri District, today has reached approximately 100,000 kids and 1000 schools and laying the groundwork for their aspirations for the future. 
Ashok Leyland's intervention in public schools along with the Learning Links Foundation has encouraged the transfer of approximately 10,000 children from private to public schools, demonstrating the effectiveness of RTS Learning Enhancement Programs.
RTS is ensuring more children continue their education. Most of these students are first generation learners in their families. RTS students are now succeeding in the National Merit Scholarship (NMMS) test and receiving scholarships for their higher study in addition to passing the exam. Three kids placed first in their district out of the 77 pupils that passed the exam this year. As a result, 401 students have been able to enroll in higher education during the past five years.
In order to ensure that the child's development is holistic along with educational, the program collaborates with organisations like Akshaya Patra Foundation, to ensure kids receive nutritional meals, a crucial component of the formative years. They have also partnered with SV Edusports to build a comprehensive co-curricular growth in order to guarantee children's progress in pursuits outside of academics.
The success of the RTS program was seen through the following lens:
1. Over 20 per cent improvement in learning levels of students from class II to class VII, as measured by Base Line and End Line tests
2. Improvement (over 35 per cent) in reading skills as measured by standard reading tests
3. 70 per cent of the schools have shown notable improvement in health and hygiene practices
4. Increased community, School Management Community (SMC) and parent’s participation in student’s academics
5. Conducting structured sports programme in 106 schools of Hosur and Chennai covering 14,500 children.
6. 400+ community learning centres were launched in the rural villages and tribal communities
7.200 Government school teachers were trained
8. For students, who have completed their 10th standard and are interested in working with Automobile companies, a two-year basic training and skill development program is conducted at Ashok Leyland’s Hosur plant in collaboration with Industrial Training Institute (ITI). A National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT) certificate is also given upon completion of the course. The students are provided with theoretical and hands-on experience making them industry ready
9. 60 students, who have completed their class X exam, have also been selected to join Ashok Leyland’s apprenticeship program – a two year vocational course at Hosur, which sets the base for future dreams of these students.
The real test for the children and the schools was when the pandemic hit. It saw a direct impact on children's education because switching to online learning was difficult for them due to the high device costs and subpar connectivity. To do this, Ashok Leyland organised and sent out 55,000 books to kids for them to stay engaged. Additionally, they established community learning centres and visited several homes to recruit students.
