The Award in India

The Award Programme was first introduced in India in 1962 with a view to encouraging young people in the country to achieve their full growth potential within the framework of Indian society, to improve their moral, social and intellectual well-being.

In 1966 it was taken up by the Indian Public Schools Conference, when a number of well-known residential schools made a start with the Programme. Most of these continue with the Award to the present day. Several other schools adopted the Award Programme soon thereafter.

The focus of the Award was renewed with the establishment of The Award Programme Foundation, a Public Charitable Trust registered in Bombay, in 1989 to function as the cradle organization for the Programme.

A National Constitution was adopted on 1st March 1994. This led to the formation of a single National Award Authority (NAA) of India and the appointment of the first National Director, Vice Admiral Suren P Govil (Retd.) A year later, a 15 member Governing Council of the NAA was formed and Vikram Mehta (India’s first Gold Award Holder) elected as its first Chairman. The present National Director is Kapil Bhalla.

The Current Situation

Having made a modest beginning in 1962 with only 500 participants per year, today this number has grown to over 19,000. Almost 70% of the delivery of the Award is through the schools in urban India. The Indian Award, now known as the International Award for Young People, India (IAYP) is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) with support from the corporate sector. It is a full member of the International Award Association.

Reaching a Larger Audience

The Award in India is implemented through Open Award Centres (OAC), which are referred to as Youth Engaging in Society (‘YES’) Centres. These are educational and other Institutions who are licensed under an Agreement to implement the Award. As of now IAYP, India have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with 154 institutions, which include schools, colleges, universities, corporate entities, NGO’s & state governments.

There is a dichotomy in the Indian educational system with privately funded Institutions (which have been the focus of the Award) catering to a marginal section of the population, and the majority of the young Indians (between the age of 14-25) studying in State owned/sponsored schools & colleges. Going forward, exponential growth of the Award will be determined by the success in reaching out to:

• State Governments to implement the Award in educational institutions run by them
• Not for Profits that are dealing with young people who may not be in the formal education sector; youth organisations (State sponsored or otherwise) which foster personal growth and social development and inspire young people to engage actively in service to the community
• Corporate entities, specifically those engaged in service support with a significant employee base of young Indians

IAYP India has signed MOUs and licensed:

• Punjab Government (will commence with 200 students for a pilot in 12 rural schools in 2 districts of the state)
• HSBC

Initiatives under active engagement are:

• The Uttarakhand Government to run a pilot project to enrol 5,000 participants in the state with a focus on skill enhancement to improve employment opportunities
• The State Government of Nagaland, to run the programme to empower the youth of the state.
• Schools, making the Award Programme an active set of the co-curricular activities required to be undertaken by the students under Comprehensive Curriculum Evaluation (CCE for CBSE); Community Activity & Service (CAS for IB); Socially Useful & Productive Work (SUPW for ISC)

IAYP, India is taking the initiative to create an awareness of the Award in Corporate organisations that hiring a successful participant will give them an employee who has an edge over other potential candidates.

Our target for fresh enrolment for the year 2013-14 is 12,000 participants, increasing at 30% per annum going up to 20,000 participants in 2015-16