2012 – Present
Chirag Foundation was already a decade old when the Headstrong chapter closed, and Genpact opened. Founded by Harsh during his years at the company, Chirag had grown quietly alongside it with a significant corpus collected through contributions from individuals and the company, and when the time came, it was Chirag who ensured the road back to Rataul stayed open and well-travelled. Chirag was snatched and separated from Genpact along the way in an exciting twist, and till today remains engaged with Salma.
The thirteen years from 2012 were years of sustained, structured, and significant commitment. As the institutional partner of Salma Public School, Chirag provided not just goodwill but funding — for infrastructure, programs, and people. Classrooms were repaired and extended. A generator was installed for the summer months when electricity fails. Toilets were built for girls — a change whose significance, in a village school, cannot be overstated. A children’s library was established to build the reading habit that no home provides. Chirag understood that the school sat inside a community, and that community mattered.
The ICT lab came next — giving first-generation learners their first encounter with a computer, opening a window to a world their parents had never seen. Teachers were trained through a partnership with Ignus Pahal, building not subject knowledge but the art of joyful, engaged teaching. Islahi Talim — an after-school learning programme of second chances, first for Class 5 students and then gradually to all Classes till 1 — was initiated and has since kept running year after year, a success story if there was one. The teacher’s motivation to be surrogate parents to the children was buttressed through special allowances, building a culture of efficiency within compassion. The most exciting was sponsoring the brightest Class 5 graduates pursue study at schools in nearby towns, one of the smartest of whom graduated from College and now teaches at SPS. A homecoming of best kind.
Through all of this, Chirag remained a trust funded by individuals — former Headstrong colleagues contributing from their salaries, long after the company that had brought them together had ceased to exist. No corporate mandate. No CSR obligation. Just people who had decided, collectively, that this school was worth it.
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There is a particular kind of generosity in not stopping. Chirag Foundation has practised it, quietly, for seventeen years and counting.