Mumbai (India), 13th November 2018: Reliance Foundation has signed a multiyear collaboration agreement with Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA), an India-based private teacher certification enterprise that is taking rapid strides within and beyond India, in its work towards creating career opportunities, rewards and recognition for teaching.

As part of the collaboration, Reliance Foundation has become the Principal Sponsor for CENTA Teaching Professionals’ Olympiad (TPO), an annual national competition for teachers, the 4th edition of which will be held on December 8th, 2018 (Saturday), in 46 cities across India as well as in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. TPO 2018 is available in 21 subject tracks from Primary to Senior Secondary; while the Middle school, Secondary and Senior Secondary tracks are currently available in English medium, the Primary School test track is available in English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu mediums.

1000 winners of this national competition can now look forward to Reliance Foundation Teacher Awards – each including a cash prize and citation.

Reliance as a group has multiple initiatives in education domain - ed-tech platform Jio Embibe, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Reliance Foundation Schools, upcoming Jio University, etc. With this collaboration, Reliance Foundation aims to support the key stakeholders in the ecosystem – i.e. Teachers.

Reliance Foundation aims to leverage on digital platforms (like group company platform Jio Embibe) to provide opportunities for professional development for teachers and work with CENTA’s TPO initiative aimed at making teaching an aspirational profession and thereby impacting the quality of education. Reliance Foundation aims to help CENTA TPO, which is already run nationwide, scale to the next level and expand its reach to enable wider participation from teachers across the country.

Speaking on the collaboration, Ms. Isha Ambani Director Reliance Foundation said “Reliance Foundation aims to support innovative sustainable solutions to address India’s most pressing developmental challenges, education being one of them. Teachers play a central role in delivery of quality of education and technology helps to scale such educational initiatives. Our Foundation is keen to leverage on technology and digital platforms to empower India’s teachers to enhance their capabilities and reward their contributions which is critical for nation building. Our partnership with CENTA TPO reflects our commitment to support the platforms that help recognize and reward teachers”.

CENTA’s Founder and CEO, Ramya Venkataraman said, “CENTA TPO is a powerful mechanism to reward, recognize and celebrate teachers. We see participation from a wide range of segments – new to experienced school teachers, principals, tuition teachers, B.Ed. students, fellows and volunteers in education, and others simply interested in teaching. Participants come from both private and government schools, and from all boards – CBSE, ICSE, State boards, IB, IGCSE and so on. The support of Reliance Foundation gives this initiative a huge impetus and allows us to both reach and reward many more teachers, therefore boosting the pride of the profession as a whole.”

Reliance Foundation and CENTA are keen to explore synergies in future through other initiatives.

About Reliance Foundation:

Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited, aims to play a catalytic role in addressing the nation’s development challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions. Led by Founder and Chairperson Smt. Nita Ambani, Reliance Foundation (RF) is relentlessly working towards facilitating transformative changes to ensure overall well-being and higher quality of life for all. Among India’s largest social initiatives, RF is focused on addressing the nation’s development challenges in areas of Rural Transformation, Education, Health, Sports for Development, Disaster Response, Urban Renewal, and Arts, Culture and Heritage. RF has touched the lives of more than 20 million people across India, in more than 13,500 villages and several urban locations.

About CENTA

Founded in 2014, Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) works to empower teachers and catalyse their professional development through CENTA Certification and Micro-Credentials, a market-driven certification of competencies rooted in high standards, which connects outstanding candidates to great opportunities in recognition, career and professional development. Nearly 50,000 teachers from over 2000 cities, towns and villages, and over 5000 schools across India are already associated with CENTA. Registration for CENTA TPO 2018 is open atwww.centa.org