CSR activities in B-schools: Making a difference in and out of the campus

The increasing focus on corporate social responsibility in the business environment has engendered a new mindset towards entrepreneurship. The environmental and societal responsibility of corporate organizations have increased, so has the demand for job candidates who have graduated from B-schools where CSR activities are an integral part of the curriculum.

The introduction of CSR rules for the corporate organizations to spend a certain percentage of their average profit on social development has led to an increasing need for B-school students to learn beyond textbooks and gain an understanding of the society. Therefore, most MBA and PGDM colleges in India today are focusing on creating socially responsible entrepreneurs who understand the importance of giving back to society and empowering other individuals.

Programs like RIP (Rural Immersion Programs) are increasingly being inculcated in the curriculum of PGDM and MBA courses across several B-schools. In Top PGDM colleges in India, such as iFeel Lonavala, students are assigned with the task of training English and Mathematics to children from a nearby village. The objective behind this is to let the students empathise with people and thus contribute to the development of society. Furthermore, the college conducts workshops on environmental sustainability to acquaint the students with environmental activities that business organizations can adopt as a part of their day-to-day operations.

The responsibility of B-schools should not only be centred around course delivery but also in transforming the students into business leaders who are well-versed in their professions as well as sensitive towards the social issues. On that note, a faculty member at iFeel Lonavala opined that such CSR activities also enable students to implement their classroom lessons in a real-time environment.

Improving the quality of life of rural people, that constitute over half of the country’s population, is the need of the hour. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the younger generation is well acquainted with all kinds of social issues prevalent in the rural areas and the ways to tackle them. This is where education plays a significant role. A holistic education approach adopted by institutions like iFeel (Institute for Future Education, Entrepreneurship and Leadership ) that focuses on equipping students with the right business management skills while instilling a sense of empathy and social responsibility in them can help in raising socially responsible citizens.