Ricoh 2014 Annual Report Download - page 81

Overview Action Data & Prole
Growing with Society
Ricoh Group Sustainability Report 2014 80
A growth strategy given priority within the Ricoh Group is “value-creating CSR,” which achieves
two goals at the same time: solutions to social problems as well as corporate growth. We conduct
collaborative activities with stakeholders to become part of the solutions for social issues, and in
doing so, we not only address global concerns but also simultaneously utilize our technologies,
products and services, and human resources to build new markets, attract new customers and
introduce innovation.
Value-creating CSR
Education support program in India
In India, which has the world’s largest population of
children, many children either cannot attend school
at all or drop out before completing the minimum
level of education offered. Various factors are to
blame, including low-quality educational services
and a lack of necessary infrastructure and supplies.
So Ricoh, which provides products and services that
support learning environments, decided to draw
onthese strengths to help remedy the situation. In
2011, we launched a program in cooperation with
Save the Children to contribute to education in
Indiaand thereby build a platform for national
development.
In May that year, we began an education
support program in the state of Andhra Pradesh,
insouthern India. We donated duplicators to
schools, authorities and NGOs and conducted
workshops on the use of duplicators to effectively
raise the quality of lessons and to share information.
Also, seeking to improve the learning environment
in this region, weencouraged school management
committees, teachers and communities to raise
awareness regarding education and to cultivate the
necessary expertise, promoted club activities for
children, anddeveloped a network of people
involved in education to provide a better environ-
ment for teaching and learning. Through these
activities, welaid the foundation to improve stan-
dards in an independent and consistent manner so
that more children are able attend school regularly.
Looking at results achieved over the past three
years, we found that the enrollment rate in the
region rose to 88%, from 81%, and classroom
attendance for sixth graders jumped to 90%, from
84%. The government has also recognized the value
of duplicators and now allocates a budget for
buying ink and other supplies to keep duplicators in
running order.
In April 2014, we began a program to enhance
education quality through the use of projectors and
digital teaching materials in the classroom, designed
to make the learning process more fun and thereby
encourage greater student input. We packaged
teacher training materials with the digital teaching
materials and asked each local government to
provide widespread teacher training on the use
ofprojectors and digital teaching materials. This
should support steady improvement in the quality of
classroom education. Some aspects of this program
are linked to a preliminary survey on an educational
service business, which is utilized as part of a
preliminary survey on prospective cooperative
projects—topromotebusinessmodelsforBase
ofthePyramid(BOP)businesses—withtheJapan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The Ricoh Group hopes that this program will
lead to a higher attendance ratio, improve students’
comprehension level, and enable schools and
teachers to steadily enhance education quality on
their own. ➤ WEB1,2
➤ WEB1 IndianEducationProgram:www.ricoh.com/csr/india_edu/
➤ WEB2 PreparatorySurveyforEducationalServiceBusiness: www.ricoh.com/release/2013/1119_1.html
Children enjoy workshop activity Projector training seminar
Education support
program and BOP project
implemented in three areas
(P.81)
Uttar
Pradesh
Bihar
Andhra
Pradesh