Adani Foundation, a leading non-profit organisation and the community engagement arm of the Adani Group, took over the management of the ailing Mount Carmel School in Cementnagar of Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
The foundation said the transfer of management of Mount Carmel Convent Senior Secondary School, owned by ACC Ltd, was initiated as per the wishes and decision of the Carmel Education Society, which decided to discontinue the school. The school was built by ACC Ltd under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme, and was handed over to the nuns of the CMC order.
Adani Group is the majority stakeholder in ACC Ltd.
According to Adani Foundation, the school was in "dire need of infrastructure augmentation."
In June 2023, ACC Ltd accepted the decision of Carmel Education Society and requested Adani Foundation to take over the management of the school.
"The transfer process adhered to all required protocols, and approvals from the CBSE and the state government were duly obtained. The Adani Foundation officially assumed management in September 2024," the Adani Foundation said in a release.
Adani Foundation said it initiated several key improvements, including infrastructure development, enhanced teacher training, and student support services.
The school is also working towards NABET (National Accreditation Board for Education and Training) accreditation and plans to obtain it by 2025, the foundation further said.
After Adani Foundation took over the school, nuns belonging to the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC), demanded that the name "Mount Carmel" should not be retained.
Leena, the former principal of the school, has been quoted as saying that the nuns decided to move out of the school as they did not want to work under the Adani Group, "which has commercial interests as their priority."
“Their policy and our policy are totally different, so we have moved out,” UCA News quoted her as saying.
About Adani Foundation
Established in 1996, Adani Foundation currently operates in 6,769 villages across 19 states, and seeks to "address the emerging needs of a New India."
The mission statement of the foundation reads: "To play the role of a facilitator for the benefit of the people without distinction of caste or community, sector, religion, class or creed, in the fields of education, community health, and promotion of social and economic welfare and upliftment of the people in general.”
The foundation is focused on "bettering the lives of children, women, youth, and marginalised communities in the core areas of education, health and nutrition, and sustainable livelihoods."