A unique ‘matchmaking’ platform is trying to match students with their “perfect mentor”. Started by two architecture graduates from Chennai — Rohit Raheja and Sachit Dugar, Mentor Match is an online platform to help students from Class 3 through Class 10, so that they do not have to study alone.

“While schools and tuition classes are teaching students their lessons, they may not be helping them study. The studying part happens at home after these classes. Mentor Match helps students between classes 3 to 12, to find a study buddy who is a college student or graduate to help them right from understanding concepts to studying their lessons. Unlike conventional tuitions, here students learn from peers who have found innovative ways to learn the same concepts,” says Rohit, the founder of Mentor Match.

Of Mentors, Marks and Marvels

The idea to launch Mentor Match came to Rohit last year, in January 2020, when he noticed a classmate’s sister struggling to prepare for her 10th board exams.

“Her mother was complaining about how she had spent large sums of money to enrol her daughter for tuitions but her grades did not improve. I suggested that a friend of mine, who was studying architecture, help her with lessons and guide her while studying. Her mother was reluctant at first but agreed to try the new method. After two months of studying in this manner, her grades in preliminary exams improved from 60% to 94%,” says Rohit.

Not only did his friend’s sister’s grades improve, but also the mentor, a college student was happy to have earned a little money on the side through this teaching gig.

It was then that Rohit decided to launch this initiative on a larger scale. After explaining the idea to his batchmate, Sachit Dugar, the duo decided to perfect a system and launch the startup. In November 2020, they launched a trial session to test the same teaching pattern with five students who were close friends and family members.

“Within one month, their grades started to improve and the five were more keen on studying their lessons. Through word of mouth, more students started approaching us and by the end of December, we had onboarded 53 students and had enquiries from 100 mentors,” says Rohit, adding that there are mentors from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Christ College, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Measi Academy of Architecture, among others.

Tanveer Singh, a Class 10 student from Chennai’s Sishya school, joined the Mentor Match programme one month ago. Though he attends tuitions for subjects such as Physics and Mathematics, he decided to take help for Biology, Chemistry and Geography from a mentor.

“These are subjects that I have trouble remembering. I usually learn the topics just a day before the exam so that I don’t forget them. But, after I started learning this along with my mentor, an architecture graduate, I was able to understand the lessons better. He created new patterns to study the lessons and helped me remember new concepts using keywords,” says Tanveer, adding, “Earlier, for my revision exams which are graded out of 40 marks, I would score an average of 20-25. Now my scores are above 33 and the highest I scored was 37.”

The duo have a 19-member team that has helped them develop a website, curate orientation programmes, and create awareness about their initiative on social media.

How does it work?

On Mentor Match, mentors and mentees can currently register through their official website.

For mentors, once the team receives the application form, it will be reviewed and they will undergo a telephonic interview to understand their communication skills. To test their academic competence, an aptitude test will be administered.

Based on this and their previous academic experience, Mentor Match will decide which subjects the mentor is eligible to teach. Apart from this, during the interview process, Mentor Match also collects details about the mentor’s personal interests and hobbies which is then used as a metric to match with a student.

“Each mentor is given one mentee and they can teach a maximum of three subjects. Apart from being well-versed in the concepts, the mentor should also be good with their communication skills because they have to create a good rapport with their student and help them study their lessons,” says Rohit.

The students who wish to enrol on the platform, also have to fill a form here. They will receive one week of online trial classes, after which they can decide if they wish to continue.

“If they wish to continue, the classes are priced at Rs 250/ hour and the students can decide how many classes they want in one month, Rohit says, without disclosing their business model and the earnings of each mentor.

He further adds, “Initially, we collect half the money, and once all the sessions are completed, the balance payment can be made. The mentor is also paid in the beginning and at the end of the sessions.”

While the classes are currently conducted online over video calls, if a student wishes to have physical classes, that can be arranged if the mentor agrees too.

If you wish to register as a mentor or mentee you can do so here.

Edited by Yoshita Rao

When Dipesh Ranveer from Purna Taluka in Parbhani district, Maharashtra, attempted the Joint Engineering Examination (JEE) in April 2019 for the first time, he struggled to understand a few questions. This was not because of his inability to understand science, but a result of his poor English comprehension skills.

“When I first heard about the free online classes organised by the Path Pradarshak Foundation to prepare students for competitive exams like JEE, I signed up for it. Despite clearing the entrance exam to get into their classes, my self-confidence was very low. I had attempted the exam once after school, but couldn’t clear it,” says Dipesh, the son of a village school teacher and a housewife. To prepare for the JEE exam, Dipesh took the 2019/2020 academic year off studying in his village.

“Dipesh couldn’t even comprehend a single English sentence and possessed an incredible inferiority complex about himself. Apart from conceptual understanding, a lot of these competitive exams require more than a working knowledge of English comprehension. He really struggled with the language. Nobody believed in him, but with determination and focus he cleared JEE and got into NIT-Raipur. He’s the first one from his village to get into an NIT,” says Robin Mandal, an IIT-Bombay alumni and co-founder of Path Pradarshak.

Coordinating with a local teacher, who owned a smartphone, Dipesh began attending these free online classes conducted over a YouTube channel called Grow Bharat, which has over 46,000 subscribers.

“I couldn’t understand the questions very well when my preparations began because my English language skills were weak. When I reached out to Robin sir, he suggested that I work on questions that I understood first and then attempt to solve those that I didn’t understand. Through a long process of trial and error, I began understanding the nature of these questions, what they meant and answering them became a lot easier over time. With hours of practice and immense motivation from my teachers at Path Pradarshak, I began understanding these questions a lot better,” recalls Dipesh.

Free online classes for the less privileged

Thanks to the paucity of quality universities in India, cracking exams like JEE, NEET (for medical college) and other such competitive exams to get into the best institutions of higher learning becomes imperative for many looking to climb up the socio-economic ladder.

Informally founded in 2019 by Sumit Sharma, Robin Mandal, Dr. Avanish Dwivedi, an IIT-Bombay graduate and Saurabh Santosh, an alumni of IIT Jodhpur, the Path Pradarshak Foundation is a registered non-profit that has been conducting free online classes for the less privileged.

These online classes prepare and mentor students finishing high school, who are looking to crack competitive exams and get admission into institutions like IIT, NIT, Indian Institute of Science, the top medical colleges and even the National Defence Academy.

All four co-founders of Path Pradarshak Foundation have seen these competitive exams up close and personal, whether as students themselves or as teachers in the coaching classes circuit in cities like Mumbai. They teach in different coaching institutes, preparing students for these competitive exams across Mumbai.

In their time away from these coaching institutes, they conduct free online classes for one batch in the morning (usually from 8 am to 9.30 am) and another in the evening (5 pm to 6.30 pm). In the morning batch there are about 80 students, while the evening one has 100 students.

After the live classes, they keep in regular contact with their students from different corners of the country, including the Northeast, through their common Telegram channel and call them personally to monitor their progress.

“Our journey began with a YouTube channel called Grow Bharat founded in June 2016. We started this channel as a way to teach students who couldn’t afford coaching classes. From thereon, Sumit Sir and I started delivering free online classes to students who needed them. Over time, when the entire team came together, we decided to formally give our organisation a name and zeroed in on Path Pradarshak,” recalls Robin.

“We are teachers who oversee the preparation of core subjects in these competitive exams. While I teach students inorganic chemistry, Dr Avanish looks at organic chemistry. Robin teaches physics and oversees the administration of the foundation, while Saurabh specialises in mathematics. All four of us came together formally in 2019, although we’ve known each other since 2015. While running this non-profit endeavour, we also work in different coaching institutes as well,” notes Sumit Sharma.

In the past two years, the foundation has claimed to have helped over 120 students obtain admission into IITs, IISc, NITs and other elite institutions.

Inspiration and Challenges

It was during their stint together at Super 30, a programme teaching meritorious underprivileged students for free at their non-profit coaching centre every year, when they came to understand how students from such backgrounds could be helped. Of the four co-founders, three of them continue to teach in the Super 30 programme.

“About two to three years back, some of my students who couldn’t even frame a sentence in English, were getting into IIT-Delhi and IIT-Madras. When those things started to happen, that’s when we thought our vision could be realised. Formally all four of us got together to take these free classes in 2019. However, we didn’t think to register ourselves as a non-profit until the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020,” says Robin.

Despite their recent endeavours, the challenges of teaching these free classes online is very real, particularly on the question of data consumption. There are occasions when students on the group cannot see the video because the internet bandwidth is too low.

How do they address this problem?

“Like we used to do with Super 30 students, we sometimes give them a Jio subscription worth Rs 1,000 for 3GB per day. You require at least 2 to 3 GB per day of data if you are totally dependent on online classes. To ensure more students from underprivileged backgrounds have better access to our lectures, merely sending recorded lectures isn’t enough. Just giving them a Tablet or a 3GB Jio subscription is not enough either. We need to create a better learning ecosystem where the child resides, giving them tech support, working closely with their parents and getting the sarpanch of a village involved, who can facilitate the creation of a common learning centre where he resides,” notes Robin.

“Once our students join our Telegram Channel and subscribe to our YouTube channel, they have our personal contact number. We organise regular calls with these students to check on them and find out how far they are progressing in class. If we find these students to be sincere, earnest and are seen asking regular questions on relevant subjects, we provide them with a phone or a data plan, particularly for students living in remote corners of this country. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to really scale up these initiatives. So far, we have provided data subscriptions for 21 students from rural Maharashtra, and send them regular test papers to monitor their progress,” says Sumit.

These students largely attend their classes on smartphones. But Robin argues that this method poses a major challenge.

“The Tablet is not costly, but it provides a bigger screen, and we need to get more of this equipment out to our students to improve their learning experience. Usually, these students can’t afford high volumes of data or they have to rely on their elder sibling or parent. Usually, the household has one functional smartphone, and they manage it on them. Since data is an issue, we hold classes in the mornings and evenings. Even if you have the lowest valued data pack, it gets exhausted by midnight. The morning batch classes are usually the ones dedicated to those struggling with accessing data. We want to ensure they have enough to attend our classes. Meanwhile, the data pack for the day gets exhausted by the evening, and only recharges at 12 am or 1 am and that’s why sometimes we have our second batch of classes from 1 am onwards,” he goes on to argue.

Having said that, what stands out about these students is their utmost desire to get into these institutions. “It’s what takes them over the line,” says Sumit.

Looking Ahead

Last year, the Path Pradarshak Foundation was approached by all five Rashtriya Military Schools (RMS). The RMS was established in the 1950s to educate and care for the sons of defence personnel.

“We already had a ready-made setup and Sumit Sharma Sir is an alumni of RMS Jaipur. We got this opportunity through their principal. That was our first official project, teaching RMS students science and mathematics for the entire year starting July 2020. Online classes on Google Meets started and classes are still ongoing. We are teaching all the RMS students online so that we can fulfill their needs instead of getting fat on their money. Our goal is to provide free education to all government school students of India,” says Robin.

Meanwhile, they also aim to expand further and help more students from less privileged backgrounds get into India’s best institutions and help level the playing field a little.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

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Gayathri Tharanipathy, 33, didn’t anticipate that it would be five years before she could rejoin the workforce when she took a career break in 2016. A Javascript developer, Gayathri says her many attempts to get back to work were all in vain. Either her confidence was lacking during interviews, or there were not enough companies willing to hire women with a gap in their professional career.

“I was working with Tata Consultancy Services from 2010 to 2016 after which I went on maternity leave. The leave extended into a career break, but I began actively looking for jobs as soon as I could,” says the Chennai resident, adding, “I gave a few interviews when I realised my knowledge of technology was lacking. So, I enrolled myself for an internship with an e-commerce platform to get hands-on experience of working with new technologies but soon after that, the pandemic hit and my hopes of finding a job dwindled further.”

This may well be the story of millions of women trying to rejoin the workforce. In 2017, World Bank estimated nearly 20 million Indian women missing in action from the workforce during 2004-2012.

But it was at this low-point in Gayathri’s professional career when she found Avtar — a diversity and inclusion platform that helps women get a jumpstart on their second career paths.

Having experienced the difficulties of rejoining the workforce first-hand, Dr Saundarya Rajesh founded Avtar in 2000 and has since helped over 40,000 women find successful careers.

“Actually, once we crossed about 35,000, we stopped counting,” laughs Dr Saundarya as she narrates her story.

Uprooting the ‘deep-rooted mindset’ behind women rejoining the workforce

Born in Bengaluru to a pharmaceutical entrepreneur, Dr Saundarya grew up in Puducherry. “I learnt diversity for the very first time right there in my elementary school classroom where my classmates ate differently, spoke differently and were very different persons,” she says.

After her schooling, she completed her Bachelor of Arts course with honours in English Literature in 1988.
Speaking about the start of her own career, she says, “After I completed my undergrad, I applied for an MBA program at the University of Pondicherry. Citibank came to the campus during my final year, and my husband (then batchmate) and I both got placed at Citi.”
She adds, “A placement at Citi was a huge deal back then. The offer that I was made at that time was Rs 6000 per month, and the next highest offer [from a different company] was not even Rs 3000.”

To work for Citibank back in the early 90s, she says, was exciting. “The country’s first-ever email system, first-ever credit and debit cards, first-ever point-of-sale terminal – Citi was a hotbed of innovation. And I was a fast tracker, with two promotions in two years, in quick succession. But my third year turned out to be fateful, when post marriage and motherhood, I found it unsustainable to continue a full-time job. Flexibility, part-timing, work-from-home, etc. were not even words in the corporate vocabulary. With no option but to take a complete break, I quit,” says Dr Saundarya.

A couple of years after her break in mid-1995, she decided to seek opportunities to re-enter the workplace. “To my shock and disbelief, I found that organisations had deep-rooted mindsets about women coming back to a career after a break. I also realised that conscious inclusion of different kinds of people, with different orientations towards life, work, families, etc. which was a great booster of a positive culture, was starkly missing,” says the 52-year-old.

The miniscule number of women who did manage to find their way back to the daily grind was nothing to write home about. “Even if companies did hire second-career women, they were treated as second-class citizens. The empathy was lacking. And it was not because corporations at that time were filled with anti-diversity folk, it was simply because there was no awareness. Around this time, I began teaching at a local college. Out of a need to understand the system better, I began researching – on women’s careers and organisations’ connection with women,” she says.

This is what led to the start of Avtar on 3 December 2000. She “wanted it to be different” from the usual ‘avatar’, which means ‘reincarnation’.

A second shot at a career

“It was my husband who first mooted the idea that I become the solution to my own problem,” Dr Saundarya says, adding, “Mine was not such a capital-intensive enterprise. I needed money to rent a small office, some computers, and salaries for my team for a few months. The seed capital for which was given by my mother-in-law.”
Launching a platform to combat years of misogyny wasn’t easy.

“When we started India’s first career service for women – Avtar I-WIN, in 2005, we found that women were unclear about their role identity – they were educated yet were not encouraged to pursue a career. They were urged to be aspirational in their studies, but when it came to creating an independent identity of their own, the family stalled,” she says.

Conflicting demands, especially on younger women professionals, leads to huge workforce drop-offs.
She explains, “Even as we convinced organisations to relook at their hiring and create more welcoming workplaces, we also felt that the intentionality was missing in many women. We asked ourselves this hard question — do women really make the most of it when given opportunities? The answer lay in intentional career pathing. This is a technique that helps women manage both the half-circles of their life.”

And herein is how Avtar differs from the many job portals in the market.

“One representative from Avtar was regularly in touch with me. She encouraged me to give more interviews that I was suited for, and that is how I got an opportunity to join as a senior support engineer in the tech arm of an MNC in August 2020,” says Gayathri. The 33-year-old adds that Avtar coordinated with her for the entire process until her date of joining and even followed up with her months later to ensure she became a full-time employee.

“I have recommended Avtar to all my friends who are actively looking for jobs who tell me they are currently going through various training programmes,” says Gayathri.

“If you set an alert with regular job portals, your email will be filled with jobs that you are probably not suited for or interested in. But Avtar is different. Over the five months that I was on the Avtar platform, they didn’t send me many opportunities. They asked me what I was looking for and accordingly followed through with opportunities,” says Gayathri, adding she never thought it would be possible to get another job, especially with her baby and a four-year career gap.

In an all-new Avtar

“We began helping organisations in recruiting second career women in the early 2000s. A modest 480 women professionals seeking career returns were hired by some of the leading MNCs through our recruitment drives,” recalls Dr Saundarya, adding that kick-starting a career for the initial candidates was difficult. “We needed to not only educate the corporates – guide them on creating welcoming workplaces, provide sensitisation training to managers, enable the creation of more inclusive job descriptions, we also needed to mentor the women.”

She adds, “These are women who are no strangers to the workplace – they have worked, been in the corporate environment before and then for a variety of reasons, decide (or are forced to) drop off. They need a lot of support – their skills need to be honed, their confidence re-built, and a sense of community created. Over time, we have stopped making this just about finding jobs for women – it has become a full enablement package. Corporates work with us to not just provide jobs but also help the women get back on their feet – with a plethora of training options.”

In November 2020, the company launched MyAvtar — a job portal for marginalised society sections, including the LGBTQ+ community.
“It brings together organisations who are deeply invested in community building, but not just as a CSR item – and job-seeking people, whose job search is essentially different,” she says.

“A friend of mine recommended I try Avtar. I was looking for a job change, specifically something that was LGBTQ-friendly. I got in touch with a representative of Avtar and immediately started getting calls for different interviews. And after two-odd months of signing up for the platform I got a job,” says Sachin Pendharkar, who works as a software developer.

“People from Avtar are closely working with candidates. They follow up after every interview. It was different because I didn’t have to hide my identity. I knew it was a safe place to work, and no one would question me about my sexual preference. Here, you also know that the company recruiting you is inclusive,” adds the 27-year-old, who is based out of Pune.

Driving change at the grassroots

The Avtar team is also reaching out to young underprivileged girls for the mentoring program Puthri, which was started in 2016. “This is to create career intentionality in them. Today, we have 62 live projects across as many schools, where we work with over 6,500 girl children from deeply underprivileged families in the age group of 13 to 18,” says Dr Saundarya, adding, “A Puthri scholar is selected by her school and enters the program when she is in her Class 8. She is mentored by us for five years and exits the program after completing her Class 12 and getting into a grad course.”

It is no wonder that in 2016 the Government of India recognised Dr Saundarya’s efforts, in the area of women’s workforce participation, as one among the #100 Women Achievers.

“Each of us 100 women received the award from Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development in Jan 2016,” she says with a glimmer of pride.

From helping a little over 400 women back in the early 2000s to more than 40,000 finding jobs today, it took one woman to change the narrative who continues to lobby for women and the marginalised to get a fair shot of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

The Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship, a two-year programme, has been launched by the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. This is conducted in association with the various Indian Institutes of Management (IIM)s of the country.

Things to know

• Selected fellows will be given a stipend of Rs 50,000 per month during the first year and Rs 60,000 per month during the second year of the fellowship programme.
• The government has invited applications from the interested candidates and the registrations will remain open between 15 February and 27 March 2021.
• The fellowship is being offered under the World Bank loan assisted programme SANKALP.
• This programme will be offered at the following management institutes – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jammu, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Nagpur, Ranchi, Udaipur and Visakhapatnam.
• The admission process is being handled by IIM Bangalore.
• This programme has been rolled out nationally in more than 660 districts across India.
• This fellowship is a certificate programme in Public Policy and Management and the same will be given to candidates who successfully complete the course.

What does the programme offer?

• The fellowship is a unique opportunity to promote skill development in district economies.
• The two-year blended programme combines classroom sessions at host IIMs with mentorship of fellows in various district.
• It provides an opportunity to engage with schemes and institutions at the district level to strengthen institutions and improve skill development, link markets and create growth.

Eligibility criteria

• Candidates must be citizens of India.
• Candidates should be in the age group of 21-30 years at the time of applying.
• Candidates should be at least a graduate in any discipline (Engineering, Law, Medicine, Social Sciences, etc.) from a recognised university or a postgraduate from a recognised university.
• Three years of work experience after secondary schooling in the social/non-profit sector with an interest in working in rural areas is preferred.
• However, candidates with no work experience and a strong motivation to work in this area may apply.
• Ability to express proficiency in the official language used in the state is preferred.

Admission Calendar

• Admission cycle for the fellowship opens on 13 February 2021.
• Deadline to complete the admission process is 27 March 2021.
• Admit card will be out by the first week of April 2021.
• Written entrance test to be held in the third week of April.
• Test results to be declared in the last week of April 2021.
• Case study and analysis will be held between the second and fourth week of April 2021.
• The commencement of phase II will begin by mid-July.

Details of test

• The written exam is a closed book exam that will be conducted in capital cities of all major states and Union Territories.
• There will be 100 multiple choice questions that candidates are required to answer.
• The written examination will have four sections – General Awareness, Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension.
• A personal interaction, comprising of an interview, a case analysis and a language proficiency test, will also be conducted.

How to apply?

• The application window for 2021-23 fellowship is now open.
• Application window will remain open till 27 March 2021.
• To fill out the application form, click here.
• For admission-related assistance, candidates can send an e-mail to helpdesk.mgnf@gmail.com.
• For any other assistance, candidates can send an e-mail to mgnf@iimb.dot.ac.in

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

A school’s golden jubilee celebration is usually a run-off-the-mill affair involving alumni, teachers, and some prominent figures as chief guests. However, Murali Kadekar (59), headmaster of Nittur High School in Udupi, Karnataka, had a rather unique idea to celebrate this significant milestone for the school. Instead of going down the beaten path, he decided to do something that will make a difference.

Speaking to The Better India, Murali says, “When I started my teaching career, almost three decades ago, I remember cycling to school through the paddy fields. Slowly, as the years rolled by, the paddy fields became defunct. Many of my earlier students also remember the green paddy fields all around.” That is how Murali thought of reviving the paddy fields to celebrate 50 years of the school’s existence last year in June 2020.

His idea snowballed, and today, almost 70 acres of land in and around the school has been transformed into lush paddy fields.

Hadilugadde Besaya

On 5 March 2020, a meeting was called for by Murali to brainstorm on what could be done to celebrate the school’s anniversary. “We had as many as 40 participants, former-students, parents, teachers, and farmers who attended the meeting. It was decided during this meeting to launch a campaign, which we called, ‘Hadilugadde Besaya’ [which meant — re-cultivating paddy on fields left uncultivated],” he says.

“It wasn’t an easy task at all,” says Murali. Each farmer came up with their own set of questions, having to find ways to clear the field of all the debris and plastic waste. But Murali was convinced of the idea and urged the farmers to try and see things from his point of view. He says, “I requested them to visit the lands, assess the situation, list out the problems, and then find ways to resolve them.” With a few farmers agreeing, the process got a little easier for Murali.

Meetings were conducted in five zones surrounding the school, which included Karambally, Perampally, Kakkunje, Nittur, and Puttur to get everyone on-board.

Each zone was to be handled by one former-student who was given the title of ‘assistant warrior’. “Getting this going was a feat for warriors,” quips Murali. Most of the defunct paddy field owners were senior citizens and were not keen on reviving the fields. When Murali and his team tried to contact their children, they found that they had all migrated to the cities and not invested in the fields in any way. With one former-headmaster Bhaskara D Suvarna, and four former students, Dinesh Poojary, Ranjan Shetty, Harish Acharya, and Sudhakar Kotyan, the campaign and the campaigners got a much-needed push.

The idea was to try and revive the fields and encourage as many farmers in the region as possible. While the group was all set to start their work, the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown was declared on 22 March 2020 and the work had to be put on hold.

A green signal for growing paddy

With some of the restrictions being lifted, the group was finally allowed to start work in June 2020. The former student body got together and collected close to Rs 14 lakhs for this paddy field revival programme. What’s truly heart-warming is how all these people came together, most of whom had no background or prior knowledge in farming.

Dinesh Poojary, who runs a real estate business, tells The Better India, “I have been a businessman for a long time and without any knowledge of farming, I took a plunge. I can say that it has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. Not just me, it has also given my young children so much perspective about where our food comes from.” He tells me how his children have understood the value of hard work and almost always finish all the food that is served to them now.

Not just the former students but also students from classes 10 and above participated in the field work. Murali says, “So far, 300 students have had hands-on experience of working in the field. Our education system, which unfortunately has become all about rote learning, does not give students a chance to experience and learn. Harvesting the paddy that they planted gave them a fulfilling experience and a different perspective.”

For every farmer who agreed to give their land for paddy cultivation 10 kgs of organic rice has been provided by Murali and his team.

When asked how they plan to recover the investment costs, Murali says, “We are now selling the rice at Rs 50/kg and are confident of recovering our costs soon.”

This isn’t the first time that Murali has won hearts. In 2020, he handed over the keys of his new house, which was built using his retirement gratuity, to one of his underprivileged students. “I have been working as an honorary secretary at the Yakshagana Kalaranga and through that organisation we have been helping students from the economically backward class to provide quality education,” he says. Murali has been involved with the organisation for over 16 years now.

These are our real life heroes that ought to be celebrated.

Working very hard for nine months towards one headmaster’s vision, the team of students, alumni and teachers breathed life into the defunct paddy fields and also harvested close to 27 tonnes of rice. If you are keen on supporting this venture, you can reach out to Dinesh at +91-9945681710 to place your order for organic rice.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

It seemed like a regular Tuesday when 21-year-old Chirag Chauhan from Mumbai left office early to make it home before twilight. But somewhere between Andheri and Santacruz at around 6.20 pm, his life changed forever.

It was during a series of blasts across railway stations on 11 July 2006 when Chirag suffered a debilitating spinal cord injury. He says it took him close to six months to come to terms with what happened to him. Nevertheless, he picked up the pieces of his life and moved on.

Speaking to The Better India, Chirag says, “I was what is often described as a below average student all through school. If I managed to get 50 per cent, I considered it a job well done.” While his school days passed by in this manner, the loss of his father when he was all of 18, left him shocked.

“My father, unfortunately, did not have the means to pursue what he wanted to academically, and given that I could, I did not want to waste that chance,” he says. Once Chirag got into college, he started doing well and also managed to maintain a first division all through. In 2005, Chirag had cleared his CA inter second level examination and was undergoing his Articleship, which usually is for a duration of three years. Things were going well for him and in hindsight, he says, him being on that train in 2006 was a freak accident.

“It took me a very long time to come to terms with my injury and everything that had happened. Until then I had not even heard the term paraplegic,” he says.

In some cases, there are patients who recover through medication and physiotherapy after two years, but in Chirag’s case, the issue persisted.

Once Chirag was discharged from the hospital and came back home, he mentions how things had changed. He would on an average spend close to seven hours on physiotherapy and recovery sessions each day, followed by another seven hours preparing for the CA examination. “Until I cleared my final examination this is the schedule I followed,” he says. Even after clearing the exams, it was a tough ride for Chirag, who says that many places he had applied to rejected him outright citing his disability as a concern and a few other workplaces were not wheelchair friendly.

Having cleared the CA Final in his first attempt and thereafter the CA Inter level in the second attempt, Chirag shares some tips for other aspirants. The biannual exams conducted by the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India), the apex body of accounts in India, are held in May and November.

Manage your time

This is a very crucial aspect that aspirants  preparing for the CA exam must keep in mind while preparing. Chirag says that while there were various distractions while preparing he chose to put all that aside and focus all his energy on studying. Make a timetable or schedule and ensure that you complete the syllabus you set out to do each day. Keep the time spent on social media and watching television to a bare minimum.

Attempt practise papers

To get a sense of where aspirants stand, attempting practise papers is very important. It will not just help in boosting one’s confidence levels but also help assess and review your preparedness. Conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis on your practise papers will also help in understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses.

Stay focussed

There are way too many distractions while one is trying to study for the exams and Chirag says that staying 100 per cent focussed on the goal is the only way forward. Treat yourself with breaks only once you have completed the portion you set out to do. “I would spend close to seven hours each day in preparation for the examination,” says Chirag.

Expand your horizon

Chirag speaks about how he would often try and read company balance sheets and annual reports adding that having a good foundational understanding of math and accounting will also help a great deal while preparing. “My father used to invest in the stock market and I would diligently track them,” he says. Keeping the larger picture in mind while studying gives you a better perspective.

Find resources that work for you

In Chirag’s case, he was forced to do self-study since most of the popular classes in the city were not wheelchair-friendly. “Getting to those coaching centres and then making my way up the class was a huge task. This pushed me to find online resources and work by myself,” he says. He also realised that he was able to cover a larger syllabus on his own and says that he relied on notes of various coaching centres as additional resources.

If you wish to reach out to Chirag, you can e-mail him at chirag@cachauhan.in.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

Since its launch in November 2016, iB Hubs, a Hyderabad-based organisation consisting of alumni from top institutions like IIT, IIM, IITs and NITs, has been working tirelessly towards making India a global leader in 4.0 technology, which is driving the fourth stage of the global industrial revolution.

This stage emphasises the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices using modern smart technology, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cognitive Computing, amongst others.

“The core team consists of 35-odd members, a majority of whom are alumni from top IITs, NITs and IIITs. A few of us had even quit top-paying jobs in companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Intel and Qualcomm to start this endeavour. Since high school, most of us have known each other, and the rest include those who have bought into our vision. The common binding force between us is to see India as a global industry leader in 4.0 technology,” says Kavya Dommeti, the iB Hubs CEO, speaking to The Better India.

If we look at past industrial revolutions, it’s the West that has driven innovation. Kavya notes that India has so much untapped potential to become a global leader in the next phase of the industrial revolution. That belief, she argues, led to the establishment of iB Hubs, where they primarily focus on driving innovation in 4.0 technology and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship among young Indians through different initiatives.

“Our work is centred on 4.0 technology and entrepreneurship since it’s the latter that drives innovation in the former. From 35 members, we have over 500 today,” she adds. To further their initiatives, iB Hubs works with for-profit ventures, non-profits, state governments, colleges, schools and startups across India. Among the plethora of initiatives, there are three standouts – iB Hubs Startup School, iB Hubs Power to India and ‘India 4.0 – Dr APJ’.

iB Hubs Startup School

This is a zero-fee, zero-equity, 4-week acceleration program specially designed for students to help them shape their ideas into reality and accelerate their startups’ growth. The all-inclusive program was initiated in 2017 to boost college startup ecosystems across India.

“The Startup School was among the first initiatives we started. Our objective here is to create an ecosystem that would facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship across different parts of India. In this regard, we sought to establish an institution that would attract the best student entrepreneurs from around the country who could become role models for future generations. That thought process led to the creation of a startup school,” says Kavya.

Any student entrepreneur can apply to this four-week residential programme organised twice a year—one in Hyderabad and another in Lucknow. After they apply, these student entrepreneurs go through a rigorous evaluation programme before they’re taken in. Although last year’s edition got called off because of COVID, this year, iB Hubs will be hosting a virtual Startup School and planning for the same will begin at the end of this month.

“At the end of our 28-day startup school, student entrepreneurs obtain real clarity about how their product works for customers, what’s the potential of taking their business idea forward and commercial viability. We have seen two kinds of outcomes for our students. Some take their ideas forward, establish a startup around it, develop a minimal viable product (MVP), do a lot of prototyping, innovate and accelerate it forward. Meanwhile, others realise how their product idea may not be worth taking forward. Using that as motivation, they come up with new ideas and maybe end up working in a salaried job for a short while before venturing into entrepreneurship once again with greater clarity,” notes Kavya.

In the past three editions, iB Hubs has supported 79 startups and 130 student entrepreneurs. These startups are powerfully going ahead with 70+ B2B (Business to Business) clients, 25+ accelerations, grants, fundings, and securing top spots in various competitions. Some have even gone back to their colleges, creating their own entrepreneurship cells for their juniors.

As a result, they have received more applications from the same institute and those within its vicinity. Last year, they received applications from 27 states, including the Northeast.

“We receive a minimum of 800-900 applications for our Startup School programme. In 2018, for example, we supported 10 startups in our Hyderabad batch and another 10 in the Lucknow batch. We screen applicants for commitment to their ideas, entrepreneurial mindset, USP of their idea, and their work before. We don’t use traditional methods to screen student entrepreneurs by giving them marks on a test. Our objective is to understand their entrepreneurial DNA and whether they have what it takes. Our objective is to give their ideas the best support moving forward,” notes Kavya.

What’s particularly heartening about the Startup School is selecting student entrepreneurs from elite institutions, major metropolitan cities, lower-ranking colleges, and Tier-2 or Tier-3 cities and towns.

Take the example of Nivedha RM, the founder of Bengaluru-based startup TrashCon​, which offers a one-stop solution for waste management. Their standout product, Trashbot, is a semi-automatic waste segregator that segregates waste within minutes. Attending the iB Hubs Startup School in 2017, this product of RV College of Engineering today has clients ranging from the Adani Group to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Shubham Soni, the co-founder of Namaste Gaon, a Udaipur-based digital media platform that provides users with local news and happenings around municipal towns, is another product of the iB Hubs Startup School. He was in his second year of engineering at Amity University, Jaipur, in 2017, when he attended the Lucknow edition of Startup School.

“We applied with our then startup called Notes Bundle, which uploaded class notes taken by college toppers and professors onto one platform. Attending the Startup School’s Lucknow session changed my life because, before that, no one in college taught us how to start an enterprise, how to raise money for it and monetise our product idea. At Startup School, they taught us everything from scratch. They taught us how to think about an idea, raise funds, expand, validate products with our first customers, understand your go-to-market, market your product and what public relations strategy you can employ, etc. Before attending the Startup School, we knew nothing about these facets,” says Shubham.

Those chosen for the Startup School work on their own startups and ideas. Some of the business concepts taught are the same, but mentors from the industry’s biggest players teach students how to apply them to their specific ideas or startups. “What’s more, all of this was free of cost with no equity charge. They completely changed our mindset towards entrepreneurship because we had such good mentors talking to us,” adds Shubham.

They operated Notes Bundle for a couple of months before handing the operations over to their juniors in Amity University. Instead, Shubham and co-founder Pulkit Khatri pursued another startup idea, which they operate today called Namaste Gaon.

“Pulkit Khatri and I are from small towns in Rajasthan. As residents of small towns heavily dependent on newspapers for their daily news, we understood the demand for hyperlocal news about our particular town or village. Today, our hyperlocal Hindi news app covers news in 25 towns across six districts in Rajasthan. We operate in towns with populations ranging from 10,000 to 5 lakhs, where the majority of people heavily depend on local newspapers to read local news. If we had started Namaste Gaon without training from Startup School, it might have taken us a year to formulate an idea, make a product and acquire our first 1,000 users onboard. On the day we launched Namaste Gaon in 2019, we received our first 1,000 users in 24 hours. That’s the difference iB Hubs Startup Schools made,” he says.

iB Hubs Power to India

“To help our youth realize their true potential and to present them with opportunities in the 4.0 revolution, we initiated iB Hubs Power to India in 2018 and took it across Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, including Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities. This programme is a series of workshops covering entrepreneurship and emerging technologies like IoT, cybersecurity, data analytics, which are being organized in partnership with IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, Dainik Bhaskar and The Indus Entrepreneurs-Hyderabad. Through this initiative, 37 workshops were organised, impacting over 5500 students from 75 colleges,” notes Kavya.

‘India 4.0 – Dr APJ’

The latest initiative that iB Hubs have embarked on is the ambitious 4.0 education for 1 crore children from financially challenged families. Inspired by former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s vision, they offer free education on 4.0 technology to 1 crore students across India. Students from the 5th-10th standard are inducted into this program.

“They will be taken care of until they reach 21 years of age. In Phase-1, the project will be available in 650 districts across India. A specific number of children from each district will be given free 4.0 education. Classes for the first batch commenced on 15 October 2020 with about 12,000 students from 24 states. Apart from bringing prosperity into lakhs of families, these children would become role models in their community, inspiring more people to study and igniting a spark for a greater transformation,” states Kavya.

In a recent press release, they state, “Under this project, the economically backward children will have access to online programs like xPM 4.0 (Exponential Performance Mindset) which accelerates personal and professional growth required for the 21st Century, and CCBP 4.0 (Continuous Capacity Building Program) to build industry-ready skills. They will be trained by industry experts and alumni of Stanford, IITs, IIMs, etc.”

This philanthropic venture is seeing collaboration between various State governments, government schools, for-profit entities like CyberEye Research Labs, a Gurugram-based venture working on cutting smart technologies in cybersecurity, NxtWave, an entity dedicated to building industry-relevant skills, ProYuga, a Mumbai-based venture developing products in virtual, augmented and mixed reality, and non-profits like the Hyderabad-based Make The World Wonderful. Their primary targets here are government school students.

“For Batch 1 students, we have started with an introductory course on everything from 1.0 to 4.0 technology, awareness about different advanced technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, internet of things, space technology, etc. The course is available in three languages–English, Hindi and Telugu. We are working towards translating these courses into other vernacular languages as well. After these introductory courses, we will inculcate basic aptitude skills, a few essential mathematics skills that are not part of their everyday school curriculum, essential English language skills and few modules on personality and mindset development. We have designed a platform that will seek to give utmost personal attention to every student we come across,” says Kavya.

Students have sessions every day from 7-7.30 pm, and the programme is built entirely on the idea of self-based learning. In partnership with NxTWave, they have issued a specially-designed learning portal for their students, and if they miss out on a lesson on any particular day, they can log in and catch up on it. This course is available to them for free till the age of 21, depending on the modules or courses they complete.

A key facet of their course is called the Continuous Capacity Building Program 4.0 (CCBP 4.0), where they have different levels of learning 4.0 technology.

“Traditional academics are designed for multiple objectives, including higher studies, research, etc. It is not particularly focused on making an individual industry-ready. As a result, many are settling for salaries that are at least 2 to 3 times lower than their capability. CCBP 4.0 removes the gap between industry requirements and academic preparation with reverse-engineered curriculum and structured guidance,” notes their website.

By the age of 21, iB Hubs wants the student equipped with technology and personality development skills. They have set targets of harnessing talent for each state and UT. “We have an army of mentors from elite global educational institutions and firms who have voluntarily dedicated their time to develop our course and teach these students,” she says.

Meghana Dabbara, the co-founder of the non-profit Make The World Wonderful, has volunteered to teach some of the introductory courses for these students.

“I have taken about 40-50 sessions since we started with our first batch on 15 October 2020. We have given them historical context to 4.0 technology and how the world is moving around this technology. We are starting with the absolute basics here and will soon start courses around personality and mindset development. We are currently focussing on enhancing their aptitude and developing basic mathematical skills. 3,000 students attend our daily live sessions on average, but everything taught is available on our platform free of cost to all these students across Hindi, English and Telugu,” she says.

People teaching these courses are primarily from the NxtWave and iB Hubs teams, who voluntarily come forward and teach these courses. This course is open to any student who applies from financially challenged families whose annual income doesn’t exceed Rs 1.2 lakhs, and if they have property, its value shouldn’t exceed Rs 5 lakh.

The vision set out by iB Hubs is indeed great, but certain issues require ironing out. One major concern is ironing out the digital divide, particularly the cost of data.

“In the first batch, we found that over 60% of students have access to smartphones. More importantly, neighbours and well-wishers of these registered students are willing to lend their smartphones for these 30-minute sessions. As schools open, government schools with the necessary infrastructure are opening up their facilities to students. We have approached many nonprofits to facilitate learning. The digital divide is a problem, but we recognise the importance of addressing this issue. We are developing a support system on how to combat this problem. For example, the Nagaland government recently put out a notification talking about our programme and asking residents to donate extra smartphones anyone may have to the nearest mandal office for our students,” she says.

In addition, NxtWave, powered by iB Hubs has built India’s largest 4.0 Tech Student Community by bringing together a group of forward-thinking students across India. It’s already 30,000+ strong with students from 500+ colleges across the country. Being a member of this community one can also attend classes by tech minds from Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Stanford. Students will be notified of the latest internships, job opportunities, events, competitions, ideations, and more. Visit www.ccbp.in to know more.

Despite the obstacles before them, one must appreciate the vision of pushing this initiative through. It will take some time before all their issues are ironed out, but until then, one can hope this will facilitate India’s push towards securing its place in 4.0 technology globally.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released an official notification inviting applications for a one-month free training course in Aerospace Welding and CNC Machining.

Through its newly formed commercial wing, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), this residential skill development programme is being conducted in partnership with the National Skill Training Institute (NSTI). This organisation is responsible for providing training in the fitter, turner, machinist, welder, electronic mechanic, electrician, and CSA trades.

The free training programme has been scheduled from 22 March 2021 – 23 April 2021.

Who can apply?

The official website mentions that candidates that fulfil the following criteria can register for the training programme:

• The candidate must be an Indian citizen.
• The candidate must possess a valid National Trade Certificate or National Apprentice Certificate in the welder, fitter, machinist or turner trades.
• Candidates should not exceed the age of 25 years as of 1 March 2021.

Apart from that, candidates without work experience can also apply for the course.

How to apply?

Step 1: Visit the official website.

Step 2: Click on the ‘register’ option provided on the poster.

Step 3: Enter your full name and email address to generate a One-Time-Password (OTP).

Step 4: Once you receive the OTP on your email, enter it to register as a new user.

Step 5: Access the application form using your registered email address and password.

Interested candidates are requested to go through the official notification and submit their application before 5 PM on 12 March, 2021.

Things to remember

The training programme will be conducted at NSTI premises in Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru.

Selected candidates will not be charged any course fee, and will be provided with a boarding facility for the duration of the programme. Candidates can also reimburse their second class train tickets if they are travelling from another city or state.

If you have any queries refer to the official website or send your queries to skd@isro.gov.in

This article has been sponsored by Oswal Publishers.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 exam is scheduled between 4 May 2021 and 7 June 2021. The board has also confirmed that these exams will be conducted offline as a physical written examination.

With lakhs of students preparing for these exams from all across the country, The Better India caught up with Arjun Bedi, currently in class 11 at the Shiv Nadar School, Gurugram. Arjun shares tips and strategies that worked for him in 2019, when he appeared for the Class 10 board examination and secured 97.4 per cent in the examination.

Besides working hard and getting a good score in the exam, Arjun has also been involved with various school projects, which led to the innovation of a simple hack that can help save 1000 litres of water each day.

Arjun is perhaps amongst the handful of students who says he ‘enjoyed’ preparing and appearing for the examination.

He says, “Given that we all had the same subjects and syllabus to complete, the pain points were also similar, and that helped while studying.”

1. 100 per cent focus in class

Arjun emphasises the importance of being focussed in class. A majority of the concepts will get cleared if one is paying attention in class. “It is also easier for you to get your doubts cleared immediately,” he adds.

2. Revision after school

Arjun, who made notes for every subject, says that coming home each day and revising what was taught in class will help retain it better. “I would go through the textbook, underline the important points, and then make my notes. Sometimes the textbook language is ‘wordy’, and making notes helps break it down.”

A great online resource where you can access the last 10 years question papers and also look at the solutions has been curated by Oswal Publishers and can be accessed here.

3. Practice the previous year’s question papers

Once the entire syllabus is completed, Arjun says that he started solving numerous sample papers for all subjects. Most importantly – Mathematics. Arjun also says that it is more than important to stick to studying from NCERT books since these cover the entire syllabus.

The more sample papers students solve, the better they are prepared for the actual examination. It will also help if the same exam like atmosphere is created at home with students attempting the paper in a specified time frame. The answers given in the question bank are as per the board marking scheme, which helps frame answers better.

Gurukul’s 15 + 1 Practice Paper will also help you, click here to access the same.

4. Important to take a break

Just as important as studying in a focussed manner is, taking breaks is also equally essential. Arjun says that he would study at a stretch for about 1.5 hours and take a small half-hour break. “I would ensure that I walked around, played a little, spoke to family members, and then came back to my desk feeling recharged.” These are things that worked for Arjun, and he says that each student must find what works for them personally.

Some other great ways to relax during your preparation time could be

5. Explore group study

As mentioned in the beginning by Arjun, “Since we are all in it together, studying together made sense for me.” While some students could look at it as a distraction, it worked for Arjun, and he urges you to consider it. It helps when one is stuck with a particular concept, and others can help simplify it for you, he adds.

Another great resource where students can solve previous year question papers and access the answer sheets is from Oswal’s 10 Last Years Solved Papers are available on their website here.

Established in 1985, Oswal Publishers was founded by Mukesh Jain with a mission to provide quality educational resources to students. Over the past three decades, Oswal Publishers have been analysing board paper patterns and syllabus with a focused approach on developing quality academic content.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

This article has been sponsored by Oswal Publishers.

Currently pursuing her chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Palak Singh, shares some tips and strategies that worked for her in her class 12 CBSE board examination. Having scored 94.8 per cent in her exams, Palak says that there is no substitute for hard work.

Palak had chosen the science stream, and her subjects were Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, and English. Palak was also preparing for the JEE exam simultaneously. She says some of the strategies overlap for both exams.

Practise all exercise and examples

“Ensure that you practice all the problems and samples that are given in the textbooks,” says Palak. In solving the examples given in the textbooks, students will better understand the concepts. Palak urges students to ensure that every model and exercise mentioned in the notebooks is attempted.

Palak also says that the first reading could be done as you would with a novel – just read through the entire book and let the concepts and diagrams make a mark on you. The next few rounds of reading can be more detailed and focused.

If like Palak, you are also preparing for the JEE exams simultaneously, you could consider picking up Oswal’s Maestro Series of Fundamentals of Physics and Chemistry for CBSE & JEE Main available for both Class 11 and 12 having a set of Textbook and practice book. These will help further strengthen your concepts.

Solve sample papers

Students are often told that there is no better practice than match practise, and in this case, it refers to solving the previous year question papers. It is ideal to replicate the examination setting and attempt the paper in a similar environment. “I would attempt one paper a day, and that helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses,” says Palak.

Chapter wise Last Years Solved Paper and 10 Years Solved Papers for CBSE class 12 will be beneficial for students who wish to practice. You can click here to access the same. Oswal Publishers answer key is as per the Board Marking Scheme, which will further help students fine-tune their answers.

Get your doubts cleared

Students must get their doubts cleared. “I would ensure that all the questions I had doubts with I got cleared with my teachers. I would circle the ones I could not understand, and once I had a substantial number of doubts, I would fix a time with my teachers and seek their help.”

Find ways to relax

For Palak, it was music, and she would use her free time to listen to music. “It helped me relax and take a break from the monotony of studying. This is very personal, and I know many friends who enjoyed dancing and did that,” she says.

Technique to attempt the paper

Palak says that she stuck to the flow of the paper and attempted it in the same order. “I would begin with answering the questions with the least marks and move upwards. I would leave the questions that I was unsure about and come back to it at the end of having completed the paper,” she says.

If along with studying for the CBSE class 12 exams, you are also preparing for JEE, you could refer to New launch IIT-JEE Solved Papers for JEE Main and Advanced.

Head to Oswal Publishers for various Exam Guide books for 2021 Boards.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Last March, while the rest of the country was in lockdown, two villages inhabited by the Kuki and Thankgkul Naga tribes, respectively, in Kamjong district, Manipur, were suffering an ordeal of another kind. The Kukis from the Chassad village and the Tangkhul Nagas from the Sampui village have been engaged in a violent feud over decades-long land dispute. This resulted in armed attacks, burnt down jhum fields, homes and looting of household goods.

Such clashes capture the hostility that has existed between both tribes since colonial times. Suffice it to say, these hostilities revolve primarily over land rights, and more importantly, these clashes in the state aren’t limited to these two tribes or communities. In such a context, it does beg the question, what possibilities can sports create in a region which has historically witnessed different ethnic conflicts, bloodshed and violence?

Mathanmi Hungyo, the founder of Recognize Rise and Empower Association (RREA)—a non-profit which is working towards delivering quality education in Manipur’s border villages—and Rohit Agarwal, a programme director with RREA, explored that possibility in early 2018.

After all, this is a state which has consistently produced elite athletes ranging from Ngangom Bala Devi, the first Indian woman to become a professional footballer who currently plies her trade at Scottish giants Rangers FC to champion amateur boxers like MC Mary Kom and Dingko Singh, and weightlifting legends like Mirabai Chanu.

Tapping into the sporting potential of the state, RREA started an initiative called Sports For Social Development in 2018. They piloted the initiative by collaborating with Tata Trust to launch Manipur’s first grassroots football centre in Kamjong High School. The intention behind this centre was to create a space for children to come and play.

Speaking to The Better India, the 27-year-old Mathanmi Hungyo, who identifies as a Tangkhul Naga, remembers growing up in Imphal city as a minority.

“At school, you could feel the tension and hostility that existed between different communities in terms of how we sat together in class and how we made friends. But on the field, where I loved playing football, we would unite irrespective of which tribe or community we came from. Our only objective was winning and playing the game. Taking note of my personal experience and thinking about our people, who love playing sports, we felt this could be a medium to strengthen our sense of fraternity. A lot of our personal experiences went into developing this programme because we could see how sports could unite us by offering us spaces where we can come together,” notes Mathanmi.

“The pilot programme in 2018 created a monumental impact on developing children’s interest in sports. Many children started participating at the centre. Aside from marginally improving student attendance and enrolment, the most interesting outcome of this initiative was that children from different tribes started playing and interacting with each other. Leaving aside their identity-based differences, which have roots in historical clashes between different tribes in the strife-torn region, sports became a tool of conflict mitigation and peace-building among the students,” claims Rohit.

Breaking barriers through sports

Upon seeing the positive impact of their grassroots football centre at Kamjong High School, over more than one and half years, Mathanmi and Rohit felt a more comprehensive approach was required in their Sports for Social Development initiative. One which would encompass other aspects of children’s education.

Thus, in early 2020, the RREA expanded its grassroots football programme to other government schools—Phungyar Higher Secondary School and Kasom Khullen High School—and included other sports like volleyball, badminton, table tennis and even carrom for those interested in outdoor games.

Funded by the Kochi-based Anaha Trust, the programme also covered elements like developing play spaces in schools. This employs a more participatory approach where school, children, and community become equal participants in developing play spaces. Apart from this, the program intends to increase children’s attendance in school, support their learning competencies and enhance the scope for personality development. It also supplements RREA’s Teach For Northeast Fellowship program.

“These schools are located in places driven by underdevelopment, insurgency, conflict and violence. Therefore, the value of sports is very high. Children from poor and marginalised backgrounds undergo different mental health issues, social dysfunction, and many other issues which affect their ability to learn. In such a context, a mediator like sports can actually ensure children’s right to quality education. The influence of sports on character formation and social cohesion has direct bearing on peaceful attitudes. It also helps children to better express themselves in the process. Self-awareness is an important life skill which children often develop through sports,” argues Rohit.

These elements evidently have a bearing on achieving peace between different communities, an essential objective for any initiative seeking social change.

“Sports offers a platform where children from different ethnic groups participate together to play and interact. This has led to building peace amongst each other. These children would otherwise remain in their own social groups when inside a classroom. But with the advent of our sports programme, their interest in playing with each other has grown. Sports has helped break these social barriers and encouraged children to interact with each other,” he adds.

Inspiring youth, inspiring generations

Driving the RREA’s initiative in these schools are 14 members of the organisation and sports educators, who have left behind good opportunities to return home and make a difference.

Take the example of Viso Shimray, a certified All India Football Federation (AIFF) ‘D’ licensed sports coach, who has previously worked with the Baichung Bhutia Football Academy in Delhi. Viso has come back to Manipur to be around his community in Kamjong and help the children through Sports.

“These educators are passionate youth who come from local communities. The idea is to invest and build capacity of the local youth so that the intervention remains sustainable. Also, these youth can inspire and become role models for the children as they would be able to relate with the local people more than someone from outside,” says Rohit.

The educators are qualified to conduct sports training and have prior experience in the field. They are both graduates and hold a masters degree in physical education. One of their educators, for example, completed his Masters degree from National Sports University.

“Sports sessions at these three schools extend for three-four days in a week, although earlier it was for all school days. But our sports educators felt that students needed regular breaks for physical recovery. Today, these sessions last for about 1.5 hours after school. They are coached for an hour and then play for another 30 minutes. Besides football, there is volleyball, badminton and table tennis. For those not interested in outdoor sports, we give them facilities to play games like carrom board. These students can choose whatever sport they want, but most girls and boys love football. Our project schools also participate in local sports tournaments. One of the schools, Phungyar Higher Secondary School, will host the upcoming inter-district sports competition,” says Mathanmi.

Recently, the Kamjong High School boys football team were awarded the ‘Best Team’ in a district-level school tournament thanks to their fine performances on the pitch. The team is now getting invitations for other tournaments organised at the State level.

Assisting the RREA is the district administration, which has extended their full support.

“We have received total cooperation from the district administration, but no monetary aid. For the recent Border Area Development Programme, a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by the State government, the local district administration has sent a proposal to better equip indoor badminton and basketball courts at these schools. Although the proposal hasn’t been approved yet, they have expressed a genuine desire to help us build the necessary sports-related infrastructure for these schools,” adds Mathanmi.

The boys and girls who love football

Hanminao Malung, a student of Kamjong High School from Bungpa Khullen village, talks about how football has become a genuine medium for self-expression. Before the initiative took shape, she talks about how girls would mostly roam around the corridor or talk amongst their groups during their free time in school or recess. But thanks to educators like Viso, she found a platform to express herself through sports.

“One of the best things about sports in our school is our sports educator. Viso Sir provided us with all the necessary equipment and guidance to play sports. He also teaches us the health benefits of playing sports which no one told me before. Before our new sports educator, we were very hesitant to play sports. We felt that only boys would play sports like football. But our sports educators have also made girls play football. I like it when he brings together both boys and girls into mixed groups to play sports. Besides raising my confidence, the best part of playing football is the friends I have made,” she says.

Mangjalen Haokip, a 13-year-old boy from Chassad village, has always devoted himself to football. He was among the first students to join the sports programme at Kamjong High School in 2018. Prior to it, he played on his village playground without any guidance. Much to their credit, his parents have really encouraged him to pursue his interest in the sport.

“There have been various improvements in me personally and socially after attending the sports sessions. I am more open, confident and motivated. Thanks to sports, I have made many friends from other tribes, which I think helps the larger society,” he says.

Besides technique and skill, Mangjalen says that the football programme has taught him good manners, how to maintain a positive attitude and respect for punctuality.

“One of the biggest impacts of our initiative has been that children from different tribes started playing and interacting together. Children from different tribes are getting along well with each other and communicating in English. Before it was very common to see children interacting only with students from their tribes and speaking in their respective dialects. Also, during these sporting activities, it has been observed that children are now more supportive and accepting towards appointment of captains/other leadership positions towards students from other tribes. This change in the mindset of students and positive behavior development is the most rewarding impact of our initiative,” says Mathanmi.

Another significant impact has been improvement in school attendance. According to the RREA’s own findings, as a result of their intervention across the three government schools, 484 students (240 students – Phungyar High School, 170 students – Kamjong High School, 74 students – Kasom Khullen High School) who would earlier attend class less than 40 percent of the time now have attendance levels averaging over 80 per cent. Meanwhile, for the upcoming academic year, there are 200 students looking to enrol in Phungyar High School alone thanks to their sports development programme.

“The openness of these sports programmes encouraged school-going children to participate in the sport of their choice irrespective of their individual skills and talent levels. Apart from the three project government schools with around 500 direct student beneficiaries, RREA’s sports program is also supporting close to another 500 children from other community schools through sports. In total, we are impacting close to 1000 children. These 500 children are part of other community schools that also come to participate in the sports program. The number of these community schools varies in the range of 12-14 in number with a mix of private, government aided and government schools,” says Rohit.

“Any child who does not have access to play spaces lacks the opportunity to develop holistically. Thus, creation of play spaces in schools provides children with an opportunity to network, socialise and interact with each other. They are now able to establish positive relationships with their peer groups and students from other tribes. In addition, children are able to form a positive self-image, thereby allowing themselves to accept the way they are. This gives children a better understanding of values like empathy where they are no longer judging others. Instead, they are cooperating and supporting each other,” says Mathanmi.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

This article has been sponsored by Canon India.

Just a couple of benches, seats and some sparsely populated classrooms made up a Haryana village school. Low rate of enrollment and lack of proper infrastructure were some of the many problems ailing the school.

But since 2018, things have begun to change in the Maheshwari village for good.

Today, over 250 students are rediscovering their school curriculum through new lenses of curiosity and interactive engagement. The vibrations of social transformation are felt across the village. All of this thanks to an e-learning module and computer class training established at the resource centre.

From pakka and clean roads lit with solar lights to a resource centre — this village has grown into a model example of rural development. This transformation is just one success story in a pool of many empowered villages, thanks to a unique initiative called ‘Adopt a Village’ by Canon India. Dedicated to bringing about social change, Canon India has been organising such initiatives for over nine years and has positively impacted 80,000 people across India.

Transforming one village at a time

Today, in Maheshwari village:

• 259 students participated in resource centre activities and enrolled in e-learning modules of teaching.
• Three batches of computer courses were conducted during the year, in which 46 community youth were enrolled.
• Six School Management Committees (SMCs) were organised for better interaction between parents and teachers.
• 653 community members benefited from a vision centre.
• Three cleaning drives were organised in which 56 people participated from the village.
• 16 kitchen gardens were established during the year.
• Tree plantation activity continued with the active involvement of 30 community people. They planted 150 saplings collectively.

Started in 2012, the ‘Adopt a Village’ initiative is part of the Canon India Involve campaign that aims to empower communities through social infrastructural development, enhanced access to technology and education.

In the past nine years, Canon India has adopted and reformed six more villages, namely Ferozepur Namak in Haryana, Maharaja Katte Village in Bangalore, Sol Gohalia in Kolkata, Maheshwari in Haryana, Annadodi Village in Bangalore, Karanjoti in Mumbai and Parivali Village in Maharashtra-and has touched a total of 86,364 lives.

South India’s Maharaja Katte village is another beneficiary of Canon India’s Adopt a Village initiative. It is the second village adopted by them after Ferozepur Namak and is one of the most successful ones. From empowering the youth to become village changemakers, upskilling women with tailoring training, to upgrading the village school with digital education, they have impacted the lives of over 7,000 inhabitants in Maharaja Katte.

A positive chain of change

Much like the success in Maharaja Katte and many other villages, Karanjoti village’s transformation deserves a mention. Thanks to Canon India’s efforts a total of 200 students benefited from various e-learning modules and activities at the resource centre and school. Through e-learning and remedial classes, the initiative continued to help improve the quality of education in the village.

One example of this improvement is the participation of a total of 183 students in rallies, based on various issues like global warming, road safety and the coronavirus. The students were also taken for an exposure trip to Krishi Tantra Niketan Khaniwali on 7 March 2020. Through these activities, Canon India hopes to ensure that every student has the opportunity for a wholesome education that empowers them with the knowledge that can benefit them and the entire community as well. In addition to reforming education, Canon India also set up a vision centre and organised several eye camps that helped a total of 232 villagers.

The successful feat of building a progressive and sustainable environment at Karanjoti village paved the way for the replication of this model in another nearby village called Parivali in 2021. Here too, Canon India seeks to implement several development activities under the four core areas — Education, Eye Care, Environment and Empowerment. With more than 1,000 people above the age of 60 in the village, their plans for setting up an eye care center, called the Vision Center, is one of their main focuses. At this center, Canon hopes to facilitate free of cost eye checkups for villagers and children.

The establishment of kitchen gardens, formation of common garbage pits and installation of solar panels, are some of the other initiatives that will begin under the environment segment. They also hope to tackle the problem of underemployment through various youth-centric vocational training. By working on all these segments they aim at transforming Parivali into a self-sustaining example for rural development, just like their predecessors.

Kazutada Kobayashi, the president and CEO of Canon India, says that their secret behind these accomplishments is consistency.

“Consistency and continuous support is key to achieving the transformation we hope to see in these villages. So after adopting a village, we dedicate five years to implement the changes and empower the community. After that, we assess our impact there, and if it is good, then replicate that model in other villages. We acknowledge that change is not constant, but an outcome of consistent effort,” he says in conversation with The Better India.

A helping hand during the pandemic

Millions of people across India experienced severe challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the situation was dire, especially in rural areas and low-income communities where there was a gross lack of access to even essentials like food and sanitation items.

Canon India decided to extend a helping hand to its adopted villages with several initiatives. They organised awareness programs among community members to educate them about the dos and don’ts of COVID-19 and deployed hand sanitisers and soaps in resource centres, vision centres and vocational centres. They helped over 12,000 people survive by distributing 3,000 dry food packets.

“COVID-19 prevented us from visiting the villages and orphanages, but it was important to reiterate that they are a part of the Canon India family. So we made arrangements to reach them virtually and assisted them in every possible way. We actively worked with them to combat the effects of the pandemic,” says Kobayashi.

Canon India also extended help to SOS Children’s Village in Faridabad and Hyderabad by distributing sanitisers, liquid soap, cotton masks and other home cleaning products. Owing to their assistance, almost 500 children and caregivers residing in these villages could continue their fight against the pandemic.

Driving impact beyond charity

Kobayashi emphasises that at Canon India, the social impact work goes beyond the conventional discourse of charity.

“For us, CSR is not just a matter of donating funds to certain activities outside but also a more internalised practice, where not just the employees but also their families are actively involved.”

The transformation of Maheshwari village is an example of employee and family involvement in CSR activities. With the help of a special fundraising walkathon called Canon India Involve Impact League, it’s employees and their families raised Rs. 2.9 million by covering 113,000 kilometres in 45 days. This money was then invested in initiating several developmental changes in the village.

Beyond the numbers, Kobayashi adds that impact is not always measured quantitatively. It is sometimes about the lives you change along the way. He says, “I will never forget the sparkle in the eyes of the children and an old lady when I was visiting our first adopted village (Ferozepur Namak) back in 2012. The sea of emotions I could see in my audience made me forget about the prepared speech. This is what motivates us.”

This article has been sponsored by Oswal Publishers.

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education’s (ICSE) class 10 board exams 2021 will be conducted from 4 May until 7 June 2021 and the Indian School Certificate’s class 12 exams is scheduled to take place between 8 April to 16 June 2021. With lakhs of students across the country preparing for these exams, revision tips and strategies will certainly be beneficial for those preparing.

Gaganpreet Ahluwalia, 42, a tutor from Delhi-NCR shares a list of tips that are sure to enhance our preparation strategy.

Be 100% sure of the syllabus

It is imperative for students to be absolutely thorough with the syllabus. Doing this will help understand the weightage that each topic is allotted and students can prepare and revise with that in mind. Get confident with the topics you know well and then work on areas that need more of your time and attention.

“A thorough reading of the syllabus will also help you tackle the question paper better,” says Gaganpreet. This will also help students get their problem areas identified and they can then seek help to work on the same.

Definitions and formulas

Students must ensure that they are well-versed with the definitions and formulas as mentioned in the text-books. There is no scope of alliteration in these and therefore, students must learn these as they are. Derivations in physics and chemistry follow a set pattern and students need to follow just that. “Do not confuse yourself with extra content when it comes to these basics. Follow what your teachers have been teaching you,” says Gaganpreet.

Solving previous years’ question papers

Gaganpreet advises students to attempt at least the last 10 years question papers. This will not only help ease the nervousness that some students might be feeling, but also help them understand the question pattern. She says, “At schools we always set tougher papers and attempting the previous years’ papers helps the students feel more confident.”

Ganganpreet also adds that as soon as the teachers complete the syllabus, students can start attempting the previous year question paper. Students should increase solving the number of previous year question papers and make sure to solve at least one full-length question paper a day within the given time of 3 hours. Students looking for previous years’ papers can also consider the Gurukul’s 10 Years Solved Papers for ICSE here and ISC here.

Make reading magazines and newspapers a practise

As an English subject teacher, Gaganpreet says that there can be no substitute to reading. She encourages her students to read good magazines and newspapers. “These will help build a strong vocabulary and also help in processing information better. This will also help in better sentence formation and understanding various figures of speech,” she says. Students might not naturally be creative to write narratives but these are great aids to help them get better. Use newspapers and magazines to upgrade your vocabulary bank, too.

Stay disciplined throughout the year

“Discipline binds you to a regime,” says Gaganpreet. It is important for students to divide their day and schedule their study time. Do remember that the amount of time you invest in preparing will have a direct impact on the scores you get in your exams. Adding to this, Gaganpreet says, “If you are aiming to get a 96% in the exams, then you must ensure that you score above 92% in all your papers. So, plan accordingly.”

If you allocate two hours to science, then the same two hours must be allocated for languages (English and Hindi) as well. And similarly, with other subjects. Oswal Publishers: Sample Papers will also be a great resource for practice.

Do visit Oswal Publishers website here for more resource material.

About 10 and a half minutes into freelance filmmaker Hemant Gaba’s National Award-winning documentary, An Engineered Dream, an IIT coaching academy teacher is seen telling a group of 15 to 16-year-old students: “This period of nine months is similar to the nine months you were in your mother’s womb… Forget everything else, just remember your parents’ faces the day you left them to come here. You are doing this for them.” As the documentary progresses following the lives of four teenagers from different corners of India to Kota—a city famous for its coaching centres—in Rajasthan, it’s hard not to escape the kind of indoctrination or ‘brainwashing’ that students sent there undergo.

For the duration of their high school, these students cage themselves in cubicle-sized rooms to prepare for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). Every year, 150,000 students make their way from small cities, towns and villages to Kota to get admission into the IITs. With an acceptance rate of less than 1%, it’s one of the toughest undergraduate engineering exams in the world.

Speaking to The Better India, Hemant says the objective of the film is not to criticise or question the hard work students put into preparing for these exams, but whether they were given a choice at all and presented with all the possibilities available to them.

Is this their dream? Or is it a dream forced upon them by their parents? This is perhaps why Hemant chose the title ‘An Engineered Dream’ to highlight this discrepancy.

The Making Of

The process of making this documentary began almost by accident in 2016 when Hemant was approached by a Bollywood-based writer to direct a feature film based in Kota.

“He had pitched a fiction film idea based in Kota and I went to do some research on his behalf. Although I had never been to Kota before, I had heard about the coaching centres and intense pressure students go through while preparing for JEE. While conducting my research, I decided to simultaneously work towards making a documentary,” says Hemant.

After all, he had heard about an open call for human interest documentaries from the Asian Pitch. Launched in 2006, the Asian Pitch is backed by Asian public broadcasters willing to fund high-definition documentaries produced by Asian documentary makers. Initially, all Hemant had to do was create a trailer, write a treatment and synopsis, and submit it. Within three months, his first pitch came through and he soon received an invitation to deliver an in-person pitch in Taiwan. His documentary was chosen among nearly 140 other proposals.

“I first raised funds for the film in September 2016. With funding from Asian Pitch, the film was telecast by public broadcasters in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan in 2018. By the following year, it was licensed to History TV 18 in India and the national broadcaster of China. Despite an original run time of 72 minutes, many of these broadcasters presented a shortened 48-minute version, which we had to make,” he says.

Meanwhile, to shoot this film, Hemant spoke to a variety of students across Kota for a year and even lived in a hostel room for two weeks with one of the four protagonists. A lot of work went into establishing a good relationship with these students to make them feel that they weren’t talking to hostile ‘outsiders’ or strangers. One of his editors even stayed with the family of a girl in Surat for a few days.

“Before shooting this documentary, we spoke to over 100 kids in Kota to finalise our four main characters. We needed to check whether they were comfortable speaking in front of a camera. We also had to obtain consent from students and their parents as well,” he says.

For an hour of raw footage, his team would often have to wait for two days. Along expected lines, however, not all hostels complied with Hemant’s request to shoot the documentary. He had to ask one of the students to shoot the footage himself in a style similar to vlogs.

Asking Difficult Questions

“Through the film, I was trying to ask some hard questions concerning the indoctrination that is passed on from one generation to another and how the pursuit of an engineering course at elite institutions in IITs is a part of it. Today, it’s engineering, but a couple of decades down the line when the profession is less in demand, something else might take its place. What remains is a herd mentality and the process of indoctrination around it imposed by families and the larger society. Children have no choice,” says the 41-year-old freelance filmmaker.

Hemant argues that in the course of interviewing so many parents and students, he realised that nearly all of them weren’t making an informed choice about sending young boys and girls to Kota, where they have no life beyond academics.

“A major motivation driving parents is the desire to see their child climb up the economic ladder. By sending their child to Kota, parents hope that it will result in admission into the IITs and eventually a couple of years later, a well-paying job. These parents feel that within one generation they can climb the economic ladder from lower middle class or middle class to upper middle class or higher. Of course, there is a desire to garner society’s respect in the process. As per my estimation, less than 5 per cent of students study in Kota out of any genuine love for science or engineering,” informs Hemant.

Most children who study there between the age of 15 and 17 aren’t even aware of the other academic or career options before them because their exposure is very limited, he observes.

“Students who come to Kota aren’t usually from big cities, where they have resources and coaching institutions to prepare them. Comparatively speaking, in smaller towns, students have less exposure and endure greater pressure from parents and society,” he adds.

Missing Out on Life

Most children in coaching classes don’t attend regular high school, while some go to Kota after it. It is hard not to observe that they are missing out on life.

“Those years are a major part of growing up. In the first sequence of the film, you can see a very famous ‘godman’ or ‘spiritual guru’ speaking at an event attended by 1 lakh students from different coaching centres. Sponsored by the coaching centres, who have brought him in a helicopter, even the chief minister of the state is in attendance. This ‘godman’ tells students not to focus on relationships, but on their studies. But children at that age [15-17] get into relationships and develop crushes. When children ask questions about feeling lonely in a place like Kota, he tells them to just focus on studying, a message reiterated by parents. How can these children branch out from all this pressure created at home and Kota,” he asks.

Loneliness is a major concern for students even though 150,000 students come to Kota every year. This problem is exacerbated by the intense pressure they are under. Some coaching centres bring in former JEE rank holders to meet the current batches and are absurdly showered with praise for not having other hobbies.

One of the most poignant moments in the documentary is when one of the students, who shot the footage by himself, prays to Donald Trump for starting a Third World War before the exam. He follows this by wondering out aloud the possibility of killing himself. Between 2013 and 2018, 77 students died by suicide in the city, as per government data.

Another major issue is claustrophobia, which Hemant witnessed first hand.

“While making the film, I took a room in one of the better hostels. It was a very small room without a window. Attached with a washroom, there was no daylight coming through. I lived there for about two weeks at a stretch and felt so claustrophobic. Mind you, I’m a well-adjusted adult, who has experienced many challenging circumstances. Living there, I wondered how a 16-year-old child leaving home for the first time in his life, who has never lived without his close family and friends, would feel in this room. Their life consists of sleeping, studying, eating and using the washroom and that cycle goes on,” he recalls.

Despite so many children living in these hostels, there is little to no socialising, which is looked down upon. Fortunately, children in Kota are now talking about loneliness.

There is another part of the documentary, where a gentleman who runs one of the bigger coaching institutes, tells students during an orientation session that they are not there to make friends. He says their personal lives don’t matter at all and that they’re there to take their parents out of their current economic situation to a better place.

Real Villains of The Piece

Though, not all children choose to endure the pressure of getting into IITs. There are few students who don’t want to be in Kota but they don’t have the courage to say no to their parents. Instead, they spend their time playing computer games, making memes, videos, watching porn, etc. This small minority knows that getting admission into an IIT is impossible.

“Before I went to Kota, I would hear the media cursing coaching institutions. But going there, I realised they weren’t the real villains. They are opportunists there to make money. The real villains are families and society who create pressure and foster a toxic environment for these children. These institutions are just catering to a particular demand. None of them are forcing people to come to their coaching institute in Kota. Families exercise an active choice to send their children there. Of course, many coaching institutes engage in sleazy practices, but ultimately it’s the parents’ choice. These institutes are unethical, but they use the same business practices many use to make more money,” says Hemant.

Helping These Students

It’s a sad commentary on Indian society that parents will continue sending their children to coaching institutes in Kota despite these harsh realities. This practise won’t stop in the near future. So, what can be done to alleviate their troubles?

Many coaching institutes have now instituted helplines for students suffering from mental health issues while others have in-house mental health professionals. The problem is that someone alone and severely depressed will not seek professional help.

In the documentary, the local district magistrate tells Hemant that his administration has been introducing a variety of extracurricular activities to take the stress off these children. Despite their best efforts, he admits that suicide rates haven’t dropped. After all, he admits that those who are severely depressed will not participate in such activities or seek help.

“Also, considering the number of students in these hostels attending coaching classes, it’s not logistically possible for each of them to get 30 minutes a week with a mental health professional. It’s a massive task. Coaching institutes can mitigate some of the problems students face there, but that’s not enough. The toxic environment there induces so much pressure. It’s a larger culture that has to be addressed. Governments and mediums of popular culture like movies, TV shows, web series or news media organisations will have to play a role in disseminating a message to parents living in small towns and cities that even chefs, musicians or athletes can enjoy a successful career. After all, it takes one successful generation to break out of the cycle of wanting their children to become a doctor, engineer, civil servant or any of the preferred career options today,” he says.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

With lakhs of students appearing for the upcoming CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) exam, children will be currently neck-deep in revisions. The exam for classes 10 and 12 will commence from 4 May 2021 and will conclude by 10 June 2021.

The Better India caught up with Sanjeev Kumar, postgraduate math teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bhatinda, who has over 18 years of experience teaching at the school’s franchises across India. Sanjeev is now at the forefront of a new role – digital educator. During the lockdown in 2020, Sanjeev took on the role of teaching students online, and so far, he has taught more than 3,000 students from across the globe.

He lists a few pointers that will help students make the most of this time before the exams.

Make a schedule and allot time for each subject

Sanjeev says that at this stage students should ensure that they spend a minimum of one hour on every subject every day. When students feel they are well prepared for a particular subject, they should quickly move on to some other subject. If there are five subjects that each student is preparing for, they must spend a minimum of five hours in revision on each subject.

Assess your strengths

Students, by now, should be aware of where they stand in each subject. Each student must utilise this revision period to get better in the subjects they’re not confident about. Sanjeev says, “Those who score above 80 per cent should strive to reach 90 per cent, those who fall in the 60 per cent bracket should aim for 80 per cent and those who score less than 60 per cent should work towards getting to a 60 per cent score.”

Check and double check the syllabus

“Students must doubly check the CBSE syllabus this year since there have been modifications made to the same,” says Sanjeev. Some students are still unaware of what the reduction in syllabus is and are continuing to study the entire syllabus. Do seek clarity from your teachers regarding the same. When attempting mock tests, do only the questions that are relevant for this year.

Introduction of case study

“Almost 20 per cent of the syllabus this year will consist of a case study. This is to test the comprehension skills of students and they are required to answer a set of questions after reading a passage,” says Sanjeev. This is a completely new addition and students must be prepared to answer these questions. This does not require the students to remember any formula or method. This is to purely to test the knowledge that the students have, therefore students must work on case study-based questions.

Work on your weaknesses

Speaking specifically about mathematics, Sanjeev says, “Imagine you have a quadratic equation question, there are four ways of solving it. Pick the best possible way of solving the equation, concentrate on that alone. Master what you already know well rather than introduce new things.” Remember that in the exam, the method one follows is not important, what is important is to find the right answer within the given time.

General Pointers:

• Attempt as many mock tests as possible – Those that the school sets as well as from online portals.
• Fight the boredom – While it is great to be well prepared, students should not get bored of studying and revising. Always try and attempt a slightly higher level of questions. This will keep you on your toes.
• Take small breaks in between – Remember to step away from the books once every few hours. This will help you refocus and retain more.
• Indulge in a hobby or sport – Besides spending your time studying and revising, students must also find other avenues to engage their mind and body like pursuing sports or taking up a hobby.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

Niyaz Panakaje is an assistant professor of commerce and management at Srinivas University in Mangaluru, Karnataka. A native of Sonanduru village, about 60 km from his workplace, the 29-year-old holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and recently earned a PhD. Becoming a professor is the only dream he carried for years, and he fought his way up to stand among hundreds of students, giving them lessons.

Though, at the onset, it may seem like an ordinary story of a village boy earning a decent living, the journey of Niyaz is extraordinary as it exemplifies what sheer determination and grit and help achieve in a person.

Despite being the youngest sibling among eight, Niyaz has juggled many hats to earn for his family and pursue his dream of becoming a scholar.

His father, Ibrahim, worked as a coolie, and his mother, Zubeda, rolled beedis. But the income was never enough to feed the ten-member family. “From an early age, I realised the need of financially supporting the family. I started selling newspapers when I was in class four and worked as domestic help, such as cleaning toilets, dishes, and other chores. We received food and money in return. The small amount helped to feed the family,” he says.

Left no stone unturned

Since his childhood, Niyaz claims to have done over 20 odd jobs, some of them he cannot remember, and strains his memory while recollecting his journey for The Better India.

“My siblings and I worked on any job that came on the way. At times we were called to carry luggage as a coolie. At the same time, on occasions, we went to work as agricultural labourers picking cow dung, cleaning grass or pursuing other farm activity. We had no option but to accept all the work for money,” he says.

Among other things, Niyaz says he cut trees, climbed areca nut, coconut, mango, jackfruit trees to pluck fruits and plenty of other things. “I worked at grain mills, a salesman at the ration shop and repaired bicycles. The jobs continued till 2009 when I finished class XII,” he adds.

However, in 2012, he took admission to pursue a graduate degree in commerce and took riskier jobs for a better income. “There were fewer volunteers to dig wells as it came with immense risks. As the labourers dig almost 150 feet into the ground, the land could slide, or rocks fall on the workers. But it paid Rs 50 a day, which was a good sum,” Niyaz says.

In 2014, he started pursuing his Masters in Commerce at St Agnes Centre for Postgraduate Studies and Research, and took a job as a mason and involved himself in dangerous places like constructing pillars and building slabs. Additionally, he drove an auto-rickshaw and worked as a receptionist at a lodge.

Niyaz joined as a part-time lecturer between 2014 and 2016 in Badria First Grade College and The Yenepoya College, Mangalore. In 2016, he joined as a full-time assistant professor at St Agnes Centre for Postgraduate Studies and Research until he completed his PhD. He moved to Srinivas University in November 2020.

Niyaz completed his degree and applied for a PhD in 2016 with the same institute to research the topic – ‘Role of cooperative banking in the socio-economic development of rural Muslim community.’

He became eligible for a Rs 25,000 fellowship, but this was never credited on time. “Hence, I continued doing the odd jobs and even sold fish in the market,” Niyaz says, adding, “I was physically fit, and there was no reason stopping me from doing any work that could help the family financially.”

Example of pure grit and determination

However, during all the struggling years, he never let his academics get affected nor allowed his focus to shift from the ultimate goal of becoming a teacher. “I always wanted to become a teacher as the work to educate the masses and create knowledgeable generations fascinated me. If I pursue competitive examinations, I can become a collector or a police officer. But a teacher can create hundreds of able officers who can commit themselves to the welfare of the people. A teacher has much potential,” he cites.

Niyaz says that he studied equally hard and scored 81 per cent in class XII. He completed graduation and post-graduation with 72 per cent and 65 per cent, respectively. “I attended classes in the college and worked during the day hours and spent late evenings studying. But during my masters, I worked night shifts. At times I drove an auto-rickshaw until late and appeared for exams the next day,” he adds.

The assistant professor says to ensure good performance in examinations, he took off during weekends and focussed on studies. “My life was very hectic and physically demanding, but I wanted to become a teacher and study as much as I could. I was more careful about limiting the physical work and study more during exams,” he adds.

His former students are a witness to his struggle and consider him as a source of inspiration. Delan Lobo, a student at St Agnes Centre for Postgraduate Studies and Research between 2016 and 2018, says, “The struggle of Niyaz sir is encouraging and has inspired hundreds. We have great regards for him and a constant source of motivation. We have seen him arriving by an auto-rickshaw driven by his brother to the college, and later he would drive the same vehicle to ferry passengers and earn money.”

Delan says that Niyaz also gave free tuitions for students and guided them in their studies.

His brother Nawaz is the only other member in the family to pursue a graduation in business management. “We all struggled hard, but Niyaz went the extra mile to achieve success. His day started at 5 am and ended late hours. We were financially poor, but poverty did not exist in terms of education or academics for him,” he says.

Nawaz adds the entire family is proud of him and his achievements. “He has even become popular in the village,” he says.

Besides the PhD he was awarded in 2021, Niyaz has been an ardent academician writing about various topics. He has contributed over 25 journals and research papers on different platforms.

Along with teaching at the university for a living, Niyaz spends time supporting students in education. “I provide career guidance for needy students and support in their higher education for free. I have experienced the problems faced as an underprivileged and want to empower the segment of society,” he says.

Niyaz says he plans to apply for a fellowship to pursue Doctor of Literature D. Litt abroad. “Through the studies, I want to develop a socio-economic indicator model and a platform to uplift the underprivileged sector,” he adds.

On concluding notes, Niyaz says that one should not shy from doing any work. Every job has dignity. I don’t feel there is any job that I cannot do. I have done all kinds of work which has made me an expert in those respective fields. With years of unique experiences, I know I can survive any odds in life,” he adds.

Edited by Vinayak Hegde

This article has been sponsored by Lenovo SmarterEd

The last year has been exceptionally difficult for India — with some struggling more than others. But for students, all across the country, the ongoing pandemic has brought forth an air of uncertainty and confusion. Unable to look beyond their current reality and plan for the future, these students are now at a huge disadvantage.

And this disadvantage grows furthermore in places where students do not have access to basic infrastructure. This pushes schools to experience a high volume of dropouts citing various reasons like familial pressures and financial problems. However, even before the pandemic was in the picture, there was and has been another reason ailing the education sector today — the immense shortage of teachers. Regardless of the pandemic, hundreds of classrooms across the country continue to be without a teacher, despite the mounting vacancy of teaching jobs everywhere. A 2019 media report confirms this, stating that India faces a massive problem with a shortage of more than 10 lakh teachers today.

To bridge the gap created due to this problem, and to solve the shortage of teachers in the country, Lenovo India came up with a solution in 2020. Christened as Lenovo SmarterEd, this unique initiative facilitated free virtual education for students during the lockdown by connecting any volunteer, a professional teacher or a layperson, with students from across the country. These volunteers through the efficient use of technology are helping the students to continue their studies on a day to day basis, just like any other school teacher.
Exactly one year later, Lenovo’s initiative has created a humongous positive impact. The ground-breaking matching program has registered more than 11,000 volunteer teachers helping nearly 15,000 students within a year of its launch in April 2020.

The initiative has encouraged Indian youth from 654 cities to volunteer and students from 571 cities to learn using technology, establishing itself as a new model to tackle the gap of education in India.

Elaborating on the qualitative impact created by one of the volunteer teachers, Dev says, “During the lockdown, it was crystal clear that not every school could provide online classes. To add to that there were technical issues faced by both teachers and students to connect together. It’s not possible for every child to grab a WiFi router and join his or her classes. This is where Lenovo SmarterEd worked as an advantage, providing students with a one-on-one interaction opportunity with the teachers.”

SmarterEd accomplished this feat by offering learners from class 5 to 12 a repository of learning material through links to NCERT and State syllabus e-books in addition to the seamless personalised guidance from volunteer teachers via various online mediums, including a chat engine. Lenovo’s smarter technology matched teachers and students using an algorithm taking into account their respective teaching and learning styles.

Rahul Kumar is one such beneficiary who joined the platform during the lockdown to seek help with high school Science and Mathematics. Thanks to the SmarterEd platform and its teachers, he was able to excel in all his schoolwork, including weekly exams. He was also able to catch up with his studies once school classes resumed online.

Working as a catalyst, Lenovo’s SmarterEd was able to light the fire of social transformation and encourage thousands of volunteers to do their part in solving the problem of shortage of teachers. Here’s a video that highlights how each one of us can be a teacher in our own capacity, with a potential to positively influence the next generation. A homemaker, a college student or an office-goer possess the potential to be agents of change through education.

If you too are waiting for an opportunity to make a difference, here’s your chance. You can access the SmartEd platform, as a teacher or student here, and become a valuable part of a massive revolution.

What happens when two kindred spirits meet and realise that their lives have a greater purpose than a conventional and comfortable corporate job? (Image above of Binu Verma and Ramesh Balasundaram who have changed the lives of nearly 800,000 students in government schools across Karnataka)

They begin by finding that purpose.

In the late 2000s, Binu Verma and Ramesh Balasundaram were courting each other for marriage and also growing tired of the dreariness associated with working as corporate trainers in Bengaluru.

Instead of dedicating their lives to training young Indians to join the corporate workforce, the couple felt that their energies would be better spent addressing the inequities of the public education system.

After all, Binu’s parents and extended family ran schools in Delhi, while Ramesh’s grandparents worked as school teachers and principals in the past. As the couple began the process of quitting their jobs, they were researching the public education system, especially in Karnataka, and the role each sector—private, nonprofit and government—played in addressing its myriad of problems. They soon found a report which would change their lives.

In 2009, the Central Statistical Institute of India reported that there were 3.3 million NGOs registered or one NGO for every 400 Indian citizens. Reading this, they weren’t sure what they could bring to the table. However, they also found that NGOs, governments and the private sector were almost trying to solve the same issues, often competing with each other or working at cross-purposes. Any long-lasting change required each of these sectors to complement each other and take on board various stakeholders.

After carefully studying the public school education space in India, the couple decided to set up an NGO called Bal Utsav in 2009. Incidentally, the couple got married the same year. Their mission was to empower children of the country and provide a better future for them.

They began small by developing the concept of a ‘museum school’, which was essentially a ‘bridge school’ inside well-known museums in Bengaluru for children from low-income households who had dropped out of government schools. Children were taught to read, learn key concepts in subjects, including mathematics and basic sciences.

They were even picked up from their homes and dropped back while receiving free meals. It was a multi-grade learning model for children from urban slums, helping them learn and get into an age-appropriate class in two years from the time they joined.

After incorporating Bal Utsav in 2011, the couple launched ‘The Museum School’ at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) on Kasturba Road. ‘Out of School’ children from urban slums were taught here with museum exhibits employed as subjects of study. Despite initial success, Binu and Ramesh felt a larger overhaul of the public education system in Karnataka was needed. After all, some fundamental concerns were starting to emerge in these government schools with regards to quality of teaching, basic infrastructure and opportunities afforded to students there once they reach high school and beyond. Also, more than 60% of the state’s children studied in government schools.

In 2012, Bal Utsav began the process of adopting government schools to bring about what they call ‘holistic reformation’ and developed a 360-degree school revitalisation program. Since the inception of this program, Bal Utsav has revitalised more than 200 government schools in Karnataka, while a variety of their flagship programs have benefited nearly 800,000 students. They go on to claim that their work has led to an increase in government school enrolment, reverse migration from private schools and a reduction in dropouts.

Revamping Public School System in Karnataka

“Through our flagship programs of Sampoorna Shaala and iShaala, we are implementing our 360-degree school revitalisation programme, addressing four key components—school infrastructure, WaSH (water, sanitation and hygiene), teacher development and scholarships for students. We are establishing and operating ‘Model Schools’ for children and their families, where they are given the best resources, and thus making available opportunities to realise their full potential. Most schools and NGOs were used to one-dimensional interventions, whereas we were focused on multiple interventions,” says Binu, speaking to The Better India.

Sampoorna Shaala is a model school designed for large schools with over 500 children, which is “innovative, inclusive, interactive, internet-powered and inspires communities”. iShaala is a model school designed for small schools with under 100 children, which also imparts the same qualities as their larger counterparts. While Sampoorna Shaala aims at the revitalisation of large and urban institutional models, iShaala relies more on technology to rejuvenate the smaller schools with an average strength of 40 students.

Sampoorna Shala was launched in 2015 with four government schools in the Bengaluru area. After incorporating all their learnings from Sampoorna Shala and narrowing down on the specifics for smaller institutions in rural areas, iShaala was formally launched in April 2019. One of the schools they adopted was the government school in Kallahalli village in Bhadravathi Taluk, Shivamogga district.

“Bal Utsav and their CSR partner DXC technology have performed yeoman service to this community by adopting this school. This partnership is a testimony to the cause of delivering quality education and bringing about a change in the lives of our children. Our school, an iShaala, is an example of what an ideal rural school should be. Many schools in India need this kind of support, and my wish is to see all these schools changing as our school has. The transformation of our government school has been done in a manner that nurtures our language and culture,” says Sri Shekharappa Gowda, village head.

Process of Adopting a School

Ramesh lays down the process by which the school is adopted. “We first secure the funding for the schools and then look for schools in need in that specific geography. Our MoU with the Government is at the State or District Level and we thus have enough elbow room to choose the schools that are (the most) in need and not necessarily be influenced by local intervention. Meanwhile, some schools do approach us for adoption and only after due consideration, including if they can form a cluster of schools, and are a combination of schools that feed into each other, we spell out the intent for adoption. We prefer to take co-educational schools, followed by gender-based ones. The School Principal along with the SDMC (School Development and Monitoring Committee) then give us a formal request for adoption along with consent to sign up for the performance-based outcome model.”

After assessing the school’s needs, Bal Utsav prepares a ‘School Development Plan’, a broad roadmap for three to five years for the school. To execute this plan, a budget is prepared and mapped to committed resources. This is followed by ongoing interventions at the Selected Schools and from the second year onwards scholarships are rolled out.

“At the end of the funding cycle, we revert to the donor and offer them a right of first refusal to continue to support the school. The following interventions lead to an increase in enrolment, decrease in attrition and better learning outcomes, while also increasing the perceived value of the school in a variety of ways,” says Ramesh.

So, what are these interventions?

Schools without adequate or crumbling hard infrastructure—dilapidated classrooms, toilets, or compound walls, among others—or soft infrastructure like lights, fans, notebooks, etc, suggest apathy, lack of imagination and structural flaws in how they’re managed.

“Our focussed interventions make a difference in making available resources that effectively help the children learn and stay in school. For example, at the Government Primary School in Immadihalli in Whitefield, Bal Utsav has organised painting and repairs of the entire school, installed new lights and fans, a first aid kit with refills provided annually and a rainwater harvesting solution. Meanwhile, at the Government Upper Primary School in Vajarahalli in the Tumkur area, they have installed an e-classroom. In another school, we have provided tablets and installed a WiFi mesh to ensure learning can happen anywhere in school while staying connected to high-quality content and delivered school kits comprising school bags, water bottles, notebooks, shoes, examination pads, etc,” explains Ramesh.

Bal Utsav also runs a successful Menstrual Hygiene Program for girls in all their schools, providing free menstrual hygiene supplies and menstrual waste disposal IOT-enabled mechanisms, coupled with awareness sessions to enable girls to attend school 365 days a year. “We appoint janitors and equip them with washroom cleaning supplies to maintain clean, hygienic toilets,” adds Binu.

“To ensure students are learning effectively, we are changing the way teacher development programs are facilitated through workshops, and personalised coaching. We equip teachers with innovative, interactive methodologies and age-appropriate, dynamic materials to enhance teaching of the national curriculum. Through this we ensure students are receiving a high-quality education, and we provide teachers with necessary training and innovative resources, thus enhancing the delivery of the curriculum and empowering them to lead dynamic and effective lessons. We make available Para Teachers where required to fill the gap of acute teacher shortage, thereby making amends to the skewed student-teacher ratio and enabling teachers to deliver better at the supported schools,” says Ramesh.

Eligible students from our Sampoorna Shaala and iShaala programs are taken through a carefully planned process of selection and the top 1 to 3% are finally selected.

These are fully funded scholarships that take care of elements like fees, books, uniforms, etc. and are paid for all students who continue to demonstrate commitment and combine it with academic excellence leading to employment.

“We currently have over a 100 students who are beneficiaries of our scholarship program. The scholarship program is designed for the top 1% (academics) of students from our Sampoorna Shaala and iShaala programs. In very limited cases we do extend this scholarship to specific individuals who suffer a physical disability or need support after the loss of life of a family member, among other extenuating circumstances. The average investment we make per child per year is approximately Rs 1,50,000,” says Binu.

While Bal Utsav commits to a minimum of 5% increase in enrolment at each of their schools, they have seen instances when there is an increase of over 20% in an academic year. For example, the Government Higher Primary School in Nidige, Shimoga District, is one of the schools under their iShaala programme that has demonstrated a 20% increase in enrolment.

“Most children who come to our school are from farming communities. The government mandates a school within a kilometre radius. However, some of our school children come from a distance of more than 2 kms. Summer, winter or rain, our children walk across fields and through narrow pathways to reach the school every day. The motivation for them to do this is the high quality of the facilities that they receive here,” says V. Hiremath, Headmaster of the Government Higher Primary School in Kallahalli village.

Results from these programs start showing in the first year itself, although for total transformation, it usually takes about three years, claims Ramesh.

However, none of these programs take off without the requisite funding. Their current sources of funding include individuals, organisations, CSR, donations from Indians settled abroad (FCRA), support from private foundations and also from participation in events, etc.

“We are supported by over 60 corporates, many of whom channelise their CSR funds through us. We haven’t finalised our books of accounts for the last year, but the provisional data reflects approximately Rs 5 Crores during what was a COVID year,” says Binu.

Tackling COVID

With schools largely closed down during the pandemic, students had to resort to online learning. This transition was made easier for students attending Bal Utsav-supported schools because of prior emphasis on online modes of learning.

“There is no denying that the effectiveness of learning can be supplemented through digital interventions. The challenge, however, is when people start believing that online learning is an alternative to going to school. It’s obviously not. The ideal way is to adopt a blended learning mechanism during extraordinary circumstances like these so that children continue learning either from their homes on personal or shared devices. We should supplement existing initiatives of the government and make available more Digital Content (Device Agnostic) in various languages for children to consume and couple that with learning analysis based on how children are using them,” says Binu.

However, Bal Utsav has gone beyond facilitating online learning. Since the first lockdown last year, through their Dayvita program, they have distributed 24,000 tonnes of food and other supplies to over 30,000 families. Since 2020, the team claims to have distributed over 78,000 food and hygiene kits each, more than 30,000 litres of water, 1.4 crore meals, over 11 lakh sanitary pads, 1 lakh ORS packets in Karnataka and adjoining areas—procuring them with the help of donations, both in terms of cash and material aid.

The immediate road ahead is to alleviate the financial and resource crunch suffered by families of these students, particularly in rural Karnataka. However, the long term goal is to adopt more government schools beyond Karnataka.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is inviting applications from students and professionals for two online courses. Through its Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) centre, it is offering a course titled Geospatial Modelling for Watershed Management and Geospatial Technology for Hydrological Modelling.

Both the courses are free of cost and candidates will receive a certificate upon completion.

Geospatial Modelling for Watershed Management:

Course dates: 2 August 2021 – 6 August 2021

Things to know:

1. The course will provide an overview of the principles of watershed management and the use of geospatial technology for watershed management.
2. Study material for this course include video-recorded lectures, open-source software, and practical demonstrations.
3. All the study material will be made available through the e-class platform.
4. The live workshops will be conducted through IIRS’s YouTube channel.
5. The course can be attended by both students and professionals with an interest in soil and water conservation.
6. If you miss any of the live programs, a recorded version can be accessed through the e-class platform.
7. Candidates with 70% attendance for the courses will be awarded a certificate.

To know more, read the official brochure for this course.

How to apply?

Step 1: Visit the IIRS page.
Step 2: Access the registration form for Geospatial Modelling for Watershed Management.
Step 3: Fill in the necessary information and register yourself.

There are limited seats available for the program and candidates will be admitted based on first-come-first-serve basis.

Geospatial Technology for Hydrological Modelling

Course dates: 19 July 2021 – 30 July 2021

Things to know:

1. This course covers detailed lectures on the overview and sources of various satellite-based hydrological parameters, integration of geospatial data in hydrological models, and practical applicability of widely used hydrological models.
2. The course is designed for professionals, students and researchers engaged in water resources management.
3. Study material for this course include video-recorded lectures, open-source software, and practical demonstrations that can be accessed through the e-class platform and IIRS’s YouTube channel.
4. If you miss any of the live programs, a recorded version can be accessed through the e-class platform.
5. Candidates with 70% attendance for the courses will be awarded a certificate.

To know more, read the official brochure for this course.

How to apply?

Step 1: Visit the IIRS page
Step 2: Access the registration form for Geospatial Technology for Hydrological Modelling
Step 3: Fill in the necessary information and register.

Candidates will be admitted based on first-come-first serve basis.

Recently, 28-year-old Raju Jijabai Aatmaram Kendre made headlines for winning the UK’s Chevening Scholarship in June this year. This is one of the most prestigious scholarships offered to international students and young changemakers looking to pursue higher studies in the country.

Raju, who received a scholarship worth Rs 45 lakh to cover all his expenses, arguably became one of the few, if not the first, students coming from a Marathi-medium school and a nomadic tribe in the heart of Maharashtra to receive this scholarship. Today, he runs the Eklavya Movement, an organisation that aims to bring mainstream education to the grassroots through the right guidance. In the last four years since its inception, Eklavya has helped over 125 underprivileged students pursue higher education and prestigious fellowships. Some have gone on to start their own enterprises.

Raju’s organisation is the result of the hardships he saw throughout his life. Hailing from a village named Pimpri Khandare in Vidarbha’s Buldhana district in Maharashtra, his parents, belonging to the Warkari community, are farmers who studied till Class 4. They were forced to drop out of school due to financial constraints.

“In our tribe, child marriage is quite commonplace. My mother wanted to study but couldn’t due to those traditions. But my parents ensured that my brother and I had access to education. After my brother was married, they even helped my sister-in-law complete her graduation. My brother and I are the first-generation graduates in our family,” Raju tells The Better India.

A burning desire to drive change

Growing up, Raju pursued his education with an aim to do something that would help him serve society. First, he thought about pursuing medicine, but later changed his mind to integrate himself into civic administration. “There are millions in India like my parents. I wanted to do something for them,” he notes.

After he completed Class 12, Raju went to Pune to prepare for competitive exams. However, a lack of awareness, mentorship and financial support led to him to fail. So he took admission in an open university and left Pune. While he had been preparing for the competitive exams, he had visited the Melghat region in Amravati, where he saw how an NGO named Maitri organise an event called ‘Dhadak Mohim’ every year during the monsoon, which aims to reduce child mortality and malnutrition in the region. Raju joined the movement as a volunteer and formed a network of thousands of volunteers across Maharashtra.

His experience with this NGO, alongside the struggles he faced to pursue his own education, left Raju with a burning desire to engage in social work. He tried briefly to find a stable source of income, including a job at a call centre, but says his heart was never into it. He left it behind and spent two years working with various organisations to work towards grassroot changes. As he met more volunteers from all over the country, he was told about the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Raju pursued his post graduation in Social Work & Rural Development at TISS Tuljapur, where he worked for the education of children across various villages. “My experience with TISS and working in Melghat left me with a better understanding of how much untapped potential there is in tribal communities. Whether it’s sports or education, there’s a lot to unfurl at the grassroots, but the people belonging to these communities don’t have the right platform,” he explains.

“The memories of my brother having to cycle for 12 kilometres just to get to school, my parents struggling to make ends meet, and the experiences I encountered during my years of social work led me to start Eklavya Movement,” Raju says.

Eklavya provides mentorship, training and guidance to first-generation learners from underprivileged communities with non-English medium backgrounds to pursue higher education. Raju notes, “An understanding of rural development will come from lived experiences. Living in urban cities will give you limited knowledge on that front. So our idea is to shape leaders at the grassroots who are trying to bring change. Higher education needs diversity,” he says.

Mentoring grassroot leadership

In Yavatmal’s Galwah village, Gopal Gofane completed his primary education in his native village and relocated to Amravati to pursue his junior college. However, since he came from a Marathi-medium school, he faced a massive language barrier. “I was mentally stressed and my academic performance was affected. My parents insisted I leave my education and join a local hardware store to earn money,” he says.

At 18, Gopal was travelling 15 kilometres a day between his home and the store. On his way, he would spot young kids holding bags and books heading to and from college. He wanted to be one of them. In search of guidance, he met Eklavya’s team. He participated in a few scholarships and overcame his fears surrounding communication. Today, Gopal has gained admission in the Gandhi Research Foundation for a one-year course.

Raju says, “We just want to provide them with the right support and direction so that they can realise their own dreams. Traditional universities lack a critical approach. Kids are not encouraged to even ask questions. In fact, sometimes they don’t even know what questions to ask. So we want to cover these gaps.”

“When you look at big organisations that have a worldwide reach working for marginalised sections, who are leading these? These organisations deserve leaders that come from the communities they’re working for. Farmer suicides are rampant in Vidarbha, while people are writing a report about it in Delhi. You need a farmer’s kid on your committee who can help you grasp the real picture, right?” he explains. “And it’s not just the development sector. Law, media, arts or culture — all sectors require grassroots leadership.”

Speaking about the challenges Raju faces while running Eklavya, he says, “Financial support is the biggest challenge. One Raju Kendre by himself won’t be able to bring enough change. We run a small centre that has influenced 100-200 kids, but we need to expand. I think we need to start at least four-five centres in the next five years or so, but we need financial support for that. People often call me to start these centres across various parts of Maharashtra, but unless I have the funds, that will be hard for me to do. We need a permanent centre where students can come and stay and have adequate time and resources at their disposal. We also need adequate human resources and infrastructure.”

Another problem is convincing the students to pursue higher education in the first place. “There’s a lot of hesitation in these children because of cultural or language barriers and financial constraints. They don’t think they can move outside their villages or districts to go to bigger cities. There’s a sense of inferiority because they find it hard to articulate their thoughts,” Raju explains. “We just tell them, ‘You study hard and leave the rest to us. We will take care of you’.”

Raju says that he too finds himself in such precarious spots sometimes. “I find it hard to articulate my own thoughts in English. I gave an interview for a university around three years ago and I cried when I came out, because I was unable to speak to the panel,” he notes.

Speaking about his scholarship, Raju says it took him a long time to get here. “I approached many organisations, trusts and universities for help. But the amount they offered was not enough to cover my expenditure for going abroad. My father once even considered selling our farm but we knew even that wouldn’t be enough. I have cried and felt disheartened several times,” he recalls. “Many big platforms and schemes across India rejected me because my degree was in a vernacular language from an open university.”

He adds, “Our system lacks the awareness that scholarships such as Chevening need to reach students in the remotest corners of the country.”

Raju says this scholarship will also be the base on which he builds his dream of empowering several first-generation students like him. Meanwhile, Eklavya is working on building a more robust team so that by 2030, they have covered all parts of Maharashtra through their centres. “We want to work with 1,000 children across the region. Till now, we have focussed on post graduation but now we will work with undergraduates as well,” he says.

“This scholarship is not for me alone — I am dedicating it to millions of first-generation learners,” Raju says.

You can reach out to Raju or Eklavya through LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. You can also learn more about them via YouTube or their website. 

Edited by Yoshita Rao