The Brief

India currently has 75 million kids who have never gone to school. And every single day, over 130,000 children are added to this unfortunate statistic. The brief was to launch a campaign that could overturn the situation around, all on the back of a powerful idea.

Creative Execution

The idea that an individual needed to spend only two hours to do his bit in reducing illiteracy really took people by surprise. This initiative struck the right chord with the people, many of who had always wanted to contribute to the cause of child-education, but were wary of joining organisations they knew nothing of.All the crippling disadvantages we had faced so far:the huge population, the shortage of schools, inadequate funds, weak educational infrastructure; were now problems that could be collectively faced.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

On the upside however, India also boasts of some of the brightest, most educated people on the planet. The idea behind the Times of India's Teach India campaign was to bring these two together: people who wanted to teach and those who wanted to learn. All we asked was two hours of their time every week.

Results

Doctors, policemen, housewives, students, celebrities and people from just about every field volunteered to teach. The 120 minutes we asked for became a movement in this nation of a 120 crore (1.2 Billion). 100 of India's biggest NGOs, schools and other social organisations now have a steady stream of teachers. And this has encouraged them to take in even more students. At last count, the campaign (ably supported by the United Nations) had already inspired 100,000 volunteer-teachers, making this the largest educational programme in the world, ever undertaken by a single brand.