Adani Foundation’s ‘Bachpan Ka Utsav’ brings joy to over 1 lakh Mumbai students
Mumbai, Nov 17 — In one of the largest Children’s Day celebrations in the city this year, the Adani Foundation — in collaboration with Adani Electricity — marked November 14 with colourful and activity-based events for over 1 lakh students across more than 900 BMC schools under its flagship education programme, Project Utthan.
The celebration, themed ‘Bachpan Ka Utsav’, spanned 25 municipal wards across Mumbai and turned classrooms into vibrant spaces of creativity, talent, and joyful learning — a visual embodiment of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasises experiential and play-based education in foundational years.
What the celebration looked like
From fun games hours to talent shows, music, dance, mimicry, art competitions, relay races, thumb painting, drawing and brain teasers, schools became hubs of energy and participation. One of the standout activities was a special ‘Teachers as Students’ segment, where teachers and principals switched roles and participated as learners — a gesture that strengthened emotional bonding while encouraging participatory learning.
The celebrations were conducted in partnership with Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML).
Project Utthan: Building foundations for lifelong learning
Project Utthan focuses on learning outcomes, bridging early learning gaps, and ensuring that every child learns with confidence, curiosity, and joy. Through structured interventions, the project aims to:
- Strengthen Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN)
- Support teachers with modern pedagogical tools and capacity building
- Enable experiential and activity-based learning
- Build inclusive school environments
- Align classroom practices with NEP 2020 goals
The initiative is operational in 25 wards, 900+ municipal schools, and directly impacts more than 1 lakh students every year.
Why this matters: Social and policy significance
At a time when India’s public schooling system continues to face learning gaps at foundational stages, initiatives like Utthan demonstrate how public-private partnerships can help transform government schools without parallel systems.
Experts point out that this model aligns with the Centre’s national priority to achieve universal foundational literacy by 2026-27, as recommended by NEP.
Education researchers also note that activity-based learning — especially in government classrooms — encourages attendance, helps prevent early dropouts, and enhances emotional well-being for children in low-income communities.
Reactions & response from stakeholders
While the Foundation has not yet released a detailed impact assessment, teachers and principals from participating schools described the event as “one of the most memorable Children’s Day celebrations in recent years.”
Students expressed excitement about being able to “play, learn, draw, and see teachers become children again,” which they said made learning fun and stress-free.
Analysis: Corporate social responsibility stepping in where needed most
The Adani Foundation’s involvement in municipal schools highlights an important trend — large corporate CSR arms increasingly investing in education equity and foundational learning, particularly through partnerships with urban local bodies like the BMC.
With 60–70% of municipal school students coming from lower-income backgrounds, interventions like Utthan hold the potential to influence learning levels at scale if sustained beyond celebratory events.
While Children’s Day is symbolic, Project Utthan — with its consistent focus on foundational skill-building — is designed to create long-term systemic impact in Mumbai’s urban schooling ecosystem. If expanded and replicated across cities, the model could contribute significantly to India’s national “learning recovery” efforts post-pandemic.
Final Thoughts from TheTrendingPeople.com
Children’s Day comes and goes every year, but initiatives like Project Utthan need to be the rule, not the exception. The success of ‘Bachpan Ka Utsav’ shows what is possible when policy, pedagogy, and purpose converge in public education. The real test, however, lies in measurable outcomes — ensuring that joy translates into learning, and learning translates into opportunity.