One of the best outcomes of technological advancements and social media is the blurring of boundaries and distance. The world is becoming a global village and Shaloo Jeswani (47), who has spent two decades of her life in the US, agrees completely.

After having worked with an IT company for many years, she decided to call it quits two years ago and leveraged the power of technology and social media to bring about a meaningful change in people’s lives.

Shaloo has created a mentoring network for the underprivileged to provide them with the right knowledge, support, and most of all – a means to bond.

Speaking to The Better India, Shaloo says that the class divide that is prevalent in India is something that prevents people from making real progress. While many provide money and financial support, she firmly believes that people need to take time to listen to how the other half lives.

It all began when, like many other Non-Resident Indians (NRI), Shaloo would make an annual trip back to her hometown in Delhi. Here, she would often strike up conversations with the domestic staff in her parents’ home and says that those conversations were very telling of the situation in India. “Year after year, I would have these conversations and while the intention was also to find ways to help, I never did. Three years ago, something changed, and with the way in which WhatsApp and technology is used in India, it became so much easier to give wings to my little plan.”

Lending a Listening Ear

Sitting miles away in the US, Shaloo was able to forge a lovely relationship with the daughters of the domestic staff in her parents’ home. “What I started off with is just connecting with them on a call and speaking to them once a week. These conversations were just a way for me to stay in touch and find out how the girls were doing in school — whether they needed help or if they wanted to share something that happened with them.”

What Shaloo started doing was fill the gaps that she felt the girls were facing – both in academics and in their social growth. From filling out forms for college to connecting them with the right people to get more information on a subject, Shaloo is now in touch with five such families in Delhi.

“The first family I started working with was one with five sisters,” Shaloo recalls.

“I started speaking with the two youngest girls. They are both in a Hindi medium government school in Delhi in Class 9 and 10, respectively.”

While Shaloo is also providing the girls with financial assistance, she says that what they really need is guidance. “A month’s math tuition fees for the girls is about the same amount that one would pay for an hour of tutoring in the US. So, while I am providing them with financial assistance, this is so much more than that for me — helping them strive to lead better lives,” she says.

Since Shaloo is a mother to two teenage girls herself, having conversations with these young girls was easy. “The conversation was never forced but would flow organically. We would discuss movies, food, school, etc. When I was in India, I also spent a lot of time with them and took them out to give them different experiences,” says Shaloo.

It was during one such outing that Shaloo got to witness the unwelcome glances from the ice cream parlour owner, which made the girls uncomfortable. “It breaks my heart to see the biases and disparities people have based on one’s socio-economic status. While things are changing with more jobs opening up and a change in people’s mindset, it seems to be a very slow process,” she says.

Raj, another young girl whom Shaloo supports, is a single girl in her early 30s. Shaloo says, “You will find her zipping fast on her bicycle in and around the Vasant Kunj area of Delhi. She works as a cook in several homes and supports her alcoholic father, younger sister and brother. Her sole aim is to ensure that her sister, Khushi, is able to build a meaningful life for herself. It is for this reason that she has chosen to stay single as well.”

During one of her visits to Delhi, Shaloo met and spoke with Raj a few times and that is how their connection started. The lockdown was rather harsh on Raj and her family, with her younger brother dying by suicide. “All through that period, I kept calling and checking in on Raj. It would be a brief conversation but it gave her a sense of security.”

A Community of Support

Yet another family that Shaloo has been supporting is that of Seeta, who has two young kids to support. “With Seeta, I have been helping with trying to figure out which schools in Delhi her kids can apply to, filling out the application forms and understanding government policies to make it easier for them to access education.” Every now and then, Shaloo also sends them books and gifts that the kids cherish and wait for.

“The bond I have forged with them is just so beautiful. On one of my birthdays, one of the girls made and sent a card that was bigger than the one my own daughter made,” she chuckles. “I am happy that they have become part of my life and I am part of theirs.”

What Shaloo did was to create a small community. “Once I was back in California, I continued to stay in touch with them through WhatsApp calls and constant messages. Every small milestone that they achieved, they shared with me and that is how we created a strong bond,” she says.

Subsequently, over the past two years, Shaloo has connected with five such families, each of them unique in their own way.

She says, “Besides the chit-chat and laughter, I’ve tried to make myself available to them for any kind of help. These are hard working people with pride. They are not looking for free money but some support and guidance. A common theme among all of them is that none of the parents went to school beyond middle school. So, if all stays good, their kids will be the first generation to complete their schooling and, hopefully, college. I would consider this to be a huge accomplishment.”

Shaloo is not alone in this endeavour.

She says, “My whole family is involved in these relationships. Sometimes, when I am on a video call with one of the girls, my husband pops in to sing for them. Both my daughters are also involved and know the girls well.”

She adds, “Imagine if each of us would bond with five such families, this could be an endless chain of support. A chain of ek ka paanch (1 to 5), that touches many families. We could make this world a better place. I know many of my friends have the intention to help and are looking for ways to do so. I find this to be a very easy way to help and feel so much gratification with these relationships.”

From being called ‘chocolate wali aunty’ to trivial fights over who gets to speak to Shaloo first when they video call – Shaloo says that the association with these people has been so heartwarming. She says, “Along with opening up your purse strings, try and open up your hearts as well. That support is bound to take these girls a very long way.”

Here’s how you can do something similar:

1. Every time you visit India, try and have multiple conversations with the support staff at home. Understand their pain points and see if you can offer a solution to that.
2. Make this a long-term commitment. Try to be there for the person you are supporting more than just providing financial assistance. Get as involved as you can in their day-to-day lives.
3. Look beyond the financial help. It’s the additional resources that you need to help them through.
4. Keep your ears open. Do not be patronising. It is important to understand that the world they come from might be so different from your own reality. While neither of you can step into the other’s shoes, it is essential for you to be empathetic.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) is inviting applications for a free online course on ‘Electric Vehicles and Renewable Energy’. The course is approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and is open to students and professionals.

Things to know:

1. Students and professionals with an interest in EVs can apply for this course. However, according to the official advertisement, it is most beneficial for students pursuing their BTech, MTech, MS, PhD or professionals working in the field of engineering design and aerospace engineering.
2. The course will be conducted through the SWAYAM – NPTEL platform.
3. The course will be taught by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor at IIT-M, who has previously taught at Washington State University, USA.
4. The course will discuss key topics, including an overview of EVs in India, vehicle dynamics, storage for EVs, among others.
5. Participants will be given regular assignments. Students need to maintain an average of 25% to be eligible for obtaining a certificate.
6. A charge of Rs 1,000 will be applicable for the certificate.
7. Participants will have to pass an online written exam conducted at one of the designated centres.
8. The course will be conducted from 26 July 2021 to 15 October 2021.
9. The exam will be conducted on 24 October 2021. However, registration for this will be announced at a later date.
10. The course also carries three credit points, which will be beneficial for students.

To know more read through the official notification.

How to apply

Step 1: Visit the SWAYAM website.
Step 2: Read through the guidelines and select ‘join’.
Step 3: Enter the necessary details and apply.

The last date to enrol for the course is 2 August 2021.

This article has been published in partnership with Childrens’ Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) as part of #PromptHerNow, a campaign through which The Better India, Population Foundation of India and CIFF bring to light the work of various organisations and individuals who are working to help bring girls back to schools.

Two years ago, Savita (name changed) joined the classes conducted by a Bengaluru-based NGO, Dream School Foundation. At the time, she was a 14-year-old girl brimming with potential and aspirations. One of the brightest in her class, she wanted to grow up to be independent, just like Maitreyee Kumar — the founder of DSF, who has been supporting and mentoring many girls like Savita.

Deep within her heart, she cradled big dreams and a promise of a better future. But today, her dreams are far from reality.

Now, Savita is a 16-year-old mother to a newborn.

The pandemic shattered her dreams, like it did for countless young girls in India who battle with society and sometimes their families to exercise their basic right to education.

Born at the turn of this century, Savita was a part of a new wave of change in the education sector of the country. As pointed out in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) launched in 2019, Savita and many girls like her were responsible for crashing the dropout rate of girl students from 10.3 per cent in 2006 to 4.1 per cent in 2018. She was a part of a positive trend simmering even in the interior parts of India with a promise to bridge the gender gap in education.

However, this celebration was short-lived.

As schools shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the gender gap in education once again began to increase. Although most educationists decided to migrate online to mend the gap, a glaring gender-based digital divide also surfaced. Several studies, like the one by Young Lives, show how girls in rural areas and urban slums are not afforded the same privileges as boys, with access to smartphones or laptops for online learning.

From increased financial limitations to an amplified digital divide, the pandemic has drastically affected girl child education in India. Some studies estimate that close to 10 million girls may never return to schools following the pandemic. And, Savita might be one of them.

“We lost many students, especially girls during the pandemic due to these issues. In Savita’s case, back in 2019, we had intervened when her family had decided to marry her off to a relative. We convinced her family that giving her an opportunity of education was the best choice and they agreed. But, after the lockdown, when the family’s income came to a halt, they decided to secretly marry her to the same relative. By the time we got to know about Savita, it was too late. A 16-year-old child was mothering her own child by then. Unfortunately, in several parts of India, young girls are still perceived as ‘burdens’,” says Maitreyee, who has had to experience many of these moments of failures while running DSF for the last 17 years. However, this never deterred her from her path.

DSF, aims to provide quality education to the children of migrant and daily wage labourers studying in government schools, all of whom are first-generation school goers.

Maitreyee takes every failure as an opportunity to do better and help more people. So now with classes steadily resuming and a glimmer of hope for normalcy, she and many individuals like her have begun to pick up the pieces, starting from scratch and working towards building a bigger and better future for India’s youth, especially young girls.

Crossing The Digital Divide

With the first wave of COVID-19, the education sector suffered a huge shakedown. Reeling in uncertainty, many educational institutions took time to migrate online and offer a semblance of normalcy. Organisations that worked with children from underprivileged backgrounds had another hurdle to cross — A digital divide that continues to plague both urban and rural parts of the country.

In collaboration with corporates, DSF managed to introduce a solution by providing gadgets like smartphones, tablets and laptops to the students to continue classes online. “It took us some time to acclimatise to the situation and make up for lost time. By June 2020, we had distributed smart devices to the kids to continue classes online and since then we have had good progress. The online classes ensured that the students were up to speed with their coursework and we have fortunately had almost a 95 per cent retention rate due to this,” Maitreyee shares.

However, that hasn’t been the case for the UP-based techie couple, Ashita and Anish Nath who run the first-of-its-kind agriculture school for girls called the Good Harvest School in Paschim Gaon, Unnao district.

Speaking about a myriad of challenges in the path of furthering girl child education, Anish says, “It is not just the digital divide that fuels the gender gap in education. It is deeper than that. Not only do girls have lesser access to technology as compared to their male peers, they are also pressured to prioritise housework over studies — something that stuck out like a thorn during the lockdown. The school provides a physical safe space that allows them to learn freely but the home environment is not always conducive for learning. Because of this we have had drop-outs, and those that came back had forgotten most of their lessons. We were back to square one convincing parents to send their girls to school. We had to literally start from scratch.”

A Middle Path

Who is to blame for this situation? Is it the parents, the education sector or society? Anish says the answer is not simplistic.

“When one is struggling to survive and manage basic necessities like food and medicines, education becomes secondary. Families in this region have been financially drained to the brink of poverty. In such a situation, we need to come up with solutions that do not isolate the parents but help them survive without compromising on their daughters’ education,” he says.

Be it through technological intervention, financial support or tangible incentives to parents, there needs to be a wholesome and sustainable approach undertaken by several stakeholders to ensure immediate prevention of girl child dropouts.

For this, Anish and Ashita began to distribute smartphones to the girls free of cost. They have also begun to hold classes at the school with small batches of students. Additionally, to ensure last mile reach, they are also travelling to nearby villages to set up makeshift classrooms and conduct classes near their homes.

Calling this approach ‘a middle path’, co-founder of Bal Utsav, a Karnataka-based social impact organisation, Ramesh Balasundaram shares how providing smartphones to students is only a small part of the solution. “A lot of parents, especially from lower income backgrounds, are yet to make peace with the idea of online education. To them, looking at the phone all day is not learning but a distraction.”

He adds, “This becomes worse when the student is a girl. Hence, the solution to this requires online content with offline worksheets to help students continue their studies despite the lockdown.”

It is due to this approach that Bal Utsav has managed to survive the shutdown of schools without losing connection with almost 8 lakh students.

With such diverse efforts, these individuals continue to strive towards a single goal — to help girl children get the same opportunities as their male counterparts and be instrumental in building a society with equal opportunities for all. It is time we empower our daughters by encouraging them to go back to school and set in motion a positive cycle of change in society.

Kanpur-based Nitin Kumar’s childhood recalls watching his mother, who worked as a domestic help in various households, toil hard to put together meals for her family. She earned a measly Rs 25 a day, and the school fees for her children cost Rs 300 a month. “My father never had a steady job, and my parents’ earnings were insufficient to feed our family of six and bear the expense of our education,” Nitin says.

The 28-year-old tells The Better India, “Very often, my siblings and I would eat the stale, leftover food given to my mother by the households where she worked. Meanwhile, she’d mix sugar with water to fill her own stomach.”

“Even as I managed to attend school, we did not have enough money for notebooks, pencils, pens, uniforms, and other expenses such as class projects or contributions for school events. My classmates attended private tuitions, but I had to rely on myself for studies,” he says.

Regardless, Nitin found his way and pursued a degree in law, which he is set to complete this year. But to ensure that young students like him do not struggle the way he did, he teaches 200 students from nursery to Class 12, giving them lessons in their respective subjects, as well as others like Sanskrit, French, and music.

‘Ghat waala school’

Nitin says that living through such tough times helped him realise that academics could improve his financial conditions and lifestyle.

“My elder brother quit studying in Class 8 and took a job to financially support the family. Meanwhile, after completing Class 10 in 2007, I started offering free tuition to children in the slums. In these areas, parents are often not educated themselves, and children fail to understand the importance of education at a young age. Moreover, there is no person to guide them, unlike in the case of students from privileged backgrounds,” he says.

He adds that educated and working parents have a good understanding of how important it is to make kids study. “They use their knowledge to guide their children, recognise their talents, and channel efforts in a way that helps fulfil their child’s career ambitions. But such initiatives rarely happen with slum kids,” he says.

So Nitin started offering free education by putting only one condition for his students. Everyone studying with him had to promise that they would teach younger children for free.

The number of students increased as he reached Class 12, and he had to start looking for a bigger space. By 2009, he started conducting evening coaching for children at Kamleshwar Ghat along the Ganga River. These kids mostly belonged to government schools and led the same life as him.

In 2015, he named it ‘ghaat wala school’, which means a school at the banks. “Children from weaker sections of societies, like those from slum areas, or those whose parents were ragpickers, found this arrangement convenient. They were more comfortable studying in an open space than at someone’s house” he notes.

The evening activity caught the attention of other students as well as locals and devotees in the area who, out of curiosity, approached Nitin. Some then became part of his endeavour.

Harsh Shukla is one such person. “One evening in 2018, I was passing through the ghats after visiting a temple in the vicinity when I saw children studying at the river banks. I inquired about the topics that they were learning and about the unique initiative. I was impressed by what Nitin was doing, so I decided to volunteer to teach as well,” he says.

Harsh, a graduate in science, says he himself had struggled to seek career guidance from experts during his academic years. So he decided to help students with revisions and explore career options. “I do it as a service and not for financial or social media recognition,” he adds.

Over the past seven years, Nitin and his team of volunteers have been teaching 200 students and have even paid their school fees. Some of these students are now completing Class 12 and preparing for higher studies.

Manasi Nisar is one such student of Class 12, who has been studying with Nitin since she was in Class 8. “I belong to Dibnipurwa, a village across the river. I visited the bank with a friend of mine and when I saw Nitin and his students, I asked him if I could also attend. I inquired about the fees and he told me the classes were free,” she says.

She says attending classes every day for an hour or two helped her in English, Hindi and Mathematics. “I never liked studying mathematics, but Nitin helped me develop an interest in the subject. I also took basic lessons in Sanskrit and French,” she says.

Manasi adds that she and four others are the only girls from their village who have made it beyond Class 8. “Our village does not have a higher secondary school, and parents do not encourage girls to study in institutions located far away. But Nitin convinced the parents and paid our fees, allowing us to further pursue studies,” she says, adding that she aims to become an Air Force pilot one day.

Anita, also one of Nitin’s students, says her marks have improved since she started taking lessons at his school. “He teaches us how to attempt exams, how questions need to be answered, and how to plan our studies well,” she adds.

For a life of self-respect and dignity

While Nitin is witnessing the results of his efforts over the years, his struggle for finances has not ended. “In 2018, I established Ek Nayee Rahh Foundation to seek donations for monetary support. But it is mainly the private individuals in the vicinity who help us fund the studies of these children,” he says.

He adds that the COVID-19 lockdown only made matters worse. “Earlier, the open school gave us visibility, and passers-by often helped us with money or stationery items. But after COVID-19, our classes have now moved to a small room nearby, away from the sight of those walking by,” he says.

He says that Nandini Upadhyay, associate professor and his mentor at Dayanand Law College, has been helping by paying the room rent and electricity bills. “She also teaches as time permits,” he adds.

Nitin says he has tried to find a job, but the hunt has been unsuccessful so far. “I need money to fund these children’s education, or sometimes take them for dance or sports competitions. At times, I do have money to fill fuel in the bike to drop them for a dance competition,” he notes.

However, for now, his biggest worry is to fund Manasi’s education, as well as that of the other four girls who will soon finish their Class 8 exams. “I want them to seek admission at the university or a government college. Even if one student finds a good job, it will be a success and inspire many others from the village,” he says.

Citing an example, he says, “It’s like Geeta Phogat, the wrestler. After she became an international wrestling champion, many women were inspired and took up the sport. Similarly, getting good jobs will motivate other girls to pursue higher studies in her village.”

Sharing another reason for the girls to succeed, Nitin adds, “The residents in the village often ask, ‘Why are the girls studying? Will they become district collectors or get jobs? What will they achieve in life by studying?’ But they fail to understand that only education can help them achieve those positions. It is a long process of putting years of studies to achieve such results, and the residents have to realise the same.”

Nitin says, “Education is also about self-respect and living a life of dignity in the society. Despite hurdles, I will continue the work of educating these children until they become examples for many.”

To help Nitin in his cause, you can send him money via Google Pay at 6389007700

OR, transfer funds to the following details:

Bank Name – SBI P.P.N MARKET 96/12 PARADE KANPUR NAGAR
A/C Name – EK NAYEE RAAH FOUNDATION
A/C NO. – 39083989906
IFSC: SBIN0001784

Edited by Divya Sethu 

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed schools to go online and with that the task of uploading the homework and even classwork submissions have by and large fallen upon parents. On most weekday mornings, you would find me flitting in and out of rooms, almost like a headless chicken, trying to help my kids log in to their respective classes. There are times when I have uploaded my younger child’s homework in place of the older ones and vice versa.

It’s in times like these that I find myself wishing for a forewarning about submission deadlines, bus pick-ups and drops and even upcoming meetings with teachers. Enter Kriyo. Founded in 2017, it was created by Sucharitha Dasireddy (IIM-A), Shashi Reddy (ISB), and Shyam Reddy (IIT-Kharagpur) who left their corporate jobs to bring digital transformation in the education sector.

This Hyderabad-based free school management platform addresses all these issues and helps educators go digital in under five minutes, without the need for any training.

With over 2,300 schools from over 102 countries using Kriyo, a vast majority of its users are from India, USA and South Africa.

A Fix For ‘Mundane Tasks’

“While working at Amazon after my graduation from IIM Ahmedabad, I would often hear colleagues speak about how opaque school communication with parents was and how often it led to utter chaos,” Sucharitha says. However, the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was an incident that she was privy to. “I had accompanied my nephew to his school to collect the school uniform. What should have taken half an hour took us a gruelling three hours. Standing there I thought about how much of a waste the day was for us,” she says.

The incident got her thinking about streamlining some of the processes that schools followed to make it easier for parents. “I also did enough research to understand what the pain points for the school and teachers were. I wanted to find a balance between academics and managing the day-to-day operations, which mostly included routine, repetitive and mundane tasks that consume the bulk of their time.”

She then leveraged technology to ease school operations and brought about a change in the communication channel between parents and teachers. Adding to this, Shashi, Head of Products, says, “We built the Kriyo app keeping in mind the diverse requirements of schools. Be it a small preschool or a child care center with just a few kids or a chain of K-12 Schools with branches all across the country, Kriyo has you covered.”

One-Stop Shop For School

“Shashi and I were sure that we wanted to use technology to solve the problem at hand. We had no doubt in our mind that it was a problem that needed technology intervention,” says Sucharitha. Rather than building a product and trying to find a way to market it, the founders of Kriyo identified a problem and went about building a product to address that need and solve the issue.

They started with servicing 39 schools in Bengaluru in 2018 and that was a pilot project, which helped them understand what tweaks the product needed and where there was scope for improvement. Speaking about how the app helps, Sucharitha says, “The app is a one-stop shop for everything related to school — from fee payment to submission enquiries, daily attendance trackers, smart school bus tracking to communication between parents and teachers. It can all be done at the click of a button.”

She continues, “The app is useful not just for current parents of a school but also prospective parents. While applying for admission, one usually has to visit the school, get the physical form and fill it out. The app has completely digitised this process and saves parents multiple trips to the schools. Once you scan the QR code, the application form becomes accessible to the parents to fill.”

Even from the school’s perspective, going digital helps in keeping track of the hundreds of enquiries that they receive during the admission season. Jessica, who is the centre head and owner of Curious Tots says, “With the Kriyo app, I am able to manage all types of communication with parents digitally. It is time saving and cost efficient. Additionally, I can track enquiries, fee payments and many more features on my mobile at the click of a button.”

Sucharitha describes the app akin to a private community online where teachers and parents can communicate with each other seamlessly.

“Think of it as Facebook for parents and teachers,” she says. The app also has features which allows users to share information like application forms, circulars from school, etc, with other parents and stakeholders. There is also scope to set reminders and track conversations which you feel are important to you.

The biggest USP of the app is how user-friendly it is and how it can be used across multiple operating systems. “IOS, android and even desktop and laptop users can download the app and use it,” says Sucharitha.

Having raised a small round of seed funding from their network, Sucharitha says that they are planning on raising the next round of funding soon. “The funding will help us get the product to reach more people and also to work on making it better for our end-users,” she concludes.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

This article has been sponsored by BIC Cello.

When we speak of changemakers and unconventional heroes, we realise that most of their resolve stems from their own struggles. Their path to success is often lined with failures and limited means, and it is in such situations that education comes to the fore.

Hailing from a country where, not too long ago, the literacy rate stood as low as 42 per cent, is perhaps what drove a few pathbreakers to make a difference. In the pursuit of knowledge, many have gone on to achieve big dreams for the larger good and have taken the world with them.

As Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Putting this to practice, driven individuals have used education time and again to drive social change in times of crises, to alleviate poverty, fight climate change, for law enforcement and cultural dissonance.

Today, the consistent efforts of several changemakers have ensured steady growth, which has escalated India’s overall literacy rate up to 77 per cent. BIC Cello in partnership with The Better India celebrates such inspiring stories created through the power of education.

BIC Cello believes education plays an integral role in positively transforming the community. Hence, this Independence Day, here’s celebrating the people who have fulfilled their dreams by using education as a key tool and gaining independence from poverty and despair, like the following three heroes.

Jaykumar Vaidya

Today, Jaykumar Vaidya is a scientist pursuing her PhD at University of Virginia, USA. However, his journey began from an 8X10 in the Kurla slum of Mumbai.

Imbued with abject poverty and a broken family, Jaykumar had to work hard and give tuitions to put himself through college. But even today he attributes his success to his mother, Nalini. Suffering a long-drawn divorce along with supporting her child, Nalini would often work odd jobs and reach out to local trusts and NGOs to get by. Amidst constant turmoil, she was a source of motivation for her son, motivating him “to live for the next day”.

So, making the most of any assistance they received, this driven youngster chose to steer his fascination with the universe towards making a successful career. While there was never any money for school picnics, eating or hanging out with friends, he became enthusiastic about nanoscale physics.

Through focussed attention towards academics, he graduated in Electrical Engineering from KJ Somaiya College of Engineering with the help of borrowed loans.

After graduation, he began earning a monthly salary of Rs 30,000 at the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Mentorship under the organisation pushed him to apply for a PhD. That’s how he went on to study nanotechnology, nano-oscillators, nanoscale device applications and architecture.

Today, he earns a monthly stipend of $2,000, a part of which he sends his mother. Now, Jaykumar aspires to use his education in making India self-reliant in hardware technologies. “After my PhD, I want to get an industrial job and eventually set up a company in India. I want India to become a self-reliant manufacturing hub of technology. I also want to help girl children and underprivileged students in fulfilling their potential,” he said.

Wasima Shaikh

“My mother will no longer toil under the harsh sun in other people’s fields, for I have become a Deputy Collector,” Wasima Shaikh told The Better India. She secured the third rank among women in the recent Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exams.

Wasima’s social milieu was as much a hindrance as an inspiration for her current achievement. Hailing from a Maharasthran village replete with illiteracy, poverty, child marriage and domestic violence, she came to understand dearth of resources all too well. In a family of eight, her mother and brother were the only earning members.

Nevertheless, her family supported her, and that was all she needed. Facing challenges head on, she prepared for her exams without coaching classes or even electricity. She completed her graduation in Arts from Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University in 2015 and went on to pursue a career in the civil service.

“I have experienced grassroots distress first-hand and I realised that people who hold government positions have the power to build a welfare state and empower people through their initiatives. I wanted to be that person who would bring a change and make lives easier,” she said.

However, preparation for government exams requires hours of coaching, extensive study material, and hefty investments. It was then that her eldest brother, Imran, who had dropped out in his second year of BSc and started driving an auto, stepped in to help her out.

Even though she failed her first attempt, Wasima persevered through all odds to top her second attempt. She was even selected as a Grade Two officer in Nagpur’s sales tax department and went on to support her brother to complete his graduation.

Vishnu Auti

Vishnu Auti strived to live by what his father told him, “If you do not study well you will end up toiling under the sun like me. Become the person who sits under the shade, not a labourer.”

He went on to put his heart and soul into ending the cycle of acute poverty for himself and his family.

Hailing from Maharashtra’s Kumbharwadi village, he was born to parents with disabilities. He reminisces filling his stomach on roti with a side of salt, which they would provide for their kids while often going hungry themselves.

Around the age of 10, he began assisting villagers in odd jobs for some pocket money while pursuing his education with focussed attention. Years later he went on to clear his Class 10 boards.

Realising the significance of education and the lack of it in his region, Vishnu went on to complete his Diploma in Education and took up a teaching job in 1999.

This was when he heard about the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examinations. His determined efforts bore fruit, as in 2010 he cracked the state services exam in his first attempt and got his first posting as Assistant Commission of Sales Tax in Jalgaon.

But he was not done yet. Auti wanted to serve at the national level and thus began his preparations for the Union Public Service Commission in 2013. Burning the midnight oil, he persevered until the exam was cleared in the third attempt with an All India Rank of 1064 in 2016. Life completed a full circle around this time, as in the same year his son cleared his Class 10 boards with distinction.

In the last four years, Vishnu has travelled and worked in several offices to bring in change at the grassroot level. He has worked his way up through sheer hard work and determination to become the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in Aurangabad.

Through these inspiring stories, we would urge all young minds to believe in the infinite power of education and the role it plays in making dreams come true. BIC Cello’s campaign #AzaadiJoKalamUthaKaiMile stands for the ability to recognize that education gives choices and empowers people to change their lives. BIC Cello lauds the indomitable spirit of these people who have pushed boundaries and hopes that this initiative inspires the millions of people who may be struggling.

When associate law professor Dr Lalita Sharma moved to Indore’s new locality in 2009, she noticed a bunch of young teenagers and children from a nearby slum gambling, street fighting and loitering aimlessly. Being an educationist for 18 years, it pained her to see the children tamper with their future.

After a brief intervention with the local vegetable vendor, dhobiwala and her domestic help, she learnt that most slum dwelling children were left unattended as parents worked the entire day. So she decided to tutor four to five children, post her work. She kept aside an hour or two daily to teach them the school curriculum and soon found herself with 20 children from the slums.

Today, she runs an NGO called ‘Abha Kunj’, and educates around 500 students annually. She has had an army of 200 volunteers over the years who have joined her in this mission. The impact of Sharma’s interventions has been extraordinary. Her students have surpassed the emotional, social and development barriers to learning to become nurses, marketing executives, engineers and so on.

Tailored Courses

When she approached the parents many believed that education would not change their fate. Some refused stating their daughters were meant to get married. Along with addressing the concerns of the parents she had to reassure herself that she was in it for the long haul.

“The children go through emotional trauma or difficulties at home due to poverty, quarrelling parents, bullying by senior students, lack of empathy from school teachers, etc. They need someone who can turn up every day and be there for them or show them the possibility of a bright future. I had to be emotionally available and physically present,” Sharma tells The Better India.

Initially, she taught the children in her living room and later moved to the porch when the students increased. The first month was tricky as she had to teach them to keep themselves clean by cutting their nails, dressing well and combing their hair without sounding offensive or elite. A few weeks later, she was glad to see the oil stains on her wall as the kids got into the habit of oiling their hair neatly.

Sharma roped in her mother-in-law and a few of her college students to volunteer, too. The college students saw this as an internship opportunity and even started counselling the children with career prospects. As the word about Abha Kunj spread, she got volunteering requests from working professionals, homemakers and retired personnel.

The students are divided into batches as per their school timings and volunteers are assigned accordingly.

“Since all students do not have the same calibre and knowledge skill set, we customise our course for school dropouts, kids of migratory parents and the ones who cannot cope with school education. For example, we have had girls and boys in Class 8 who could not form a simple sentence. So, we give every child personal attention, especially when they join to ensure less dropout rate. We have also enrolled children who have never attended school, in the secondary section after teaching them the basic curriculum,” says Sharma.

‘Education turned my life around’

Many of Sharma’s students who finished school return to teach more students. To such volunteers, Sharma provides a monthly honorarium, knowing their financial background. She even invites experts from fields of law, medicine, marketing and more to provide career counselling, workshops and vocational training.

One such student is Kajal Chandel, who is in her final year BCom. She was forced to drop out of school after her father suffered from a paralytic attack but with the help of Abha Kunj she was re-enrolled.

She says, “Education turned my life around, and Lalita Ma’am played a huge role in it. She changed the mindset of my parents’ who didn’t believe in spending money for my education. From paying fees to mentoring me at every stage, Ma’am did everything for me. I want to give the same guidance to other underprivileged children and hence I will continue to volunteer for as long as I can.”

Another student started free tutoring in her colony. Sharma says she was surprised to learn that her student was teaching Math to 15 children from the primary section.

Another student, Pooja Singh, completed her MSc and is now working with Cipla as an analyst.

“Besides academics, I learnt a lot about physical education and moral values that helped me in personality development. College curriculum can be complicated but Lalita Ma’am’s tutoring made it easy and interesting which helped me score well and land a good job,” Pooja says.

Apart from the big impacts, there are everyday victories that motivate Sharma to continue her endeavours. Like the girl who was abandoned by her father at birth. Sharma gave her special attention and by the time she reached Class 3, she was able to recite tables from 2 to 46.

Last year Sharma started ‘Mohalla’ classes for kids who weren’t able to attend digital classes. There are 22 such centres run by volunteers in their respective localities.

Running the initiative for so many years has been a daunting task for Sharma, especially considering that she has been using her personal savings to meet the expenses like stationery, school fees, stipends, etc. Three years ago she quit her job to scale up her programmes, which meant an increased financial pressure.

“Sure, there are challenges even now, but being an educationist, teaching is my primary role that I don’t want to give up. These children may not have the privileges but they are bright and hardworking. Someone has to tap their potential and make a difference,” she adds.

For her selfless service, Sharma has bagged several recognitions and awards including the New York-based Global Women’s Award in the ‘influencer category’ in 2018. She was also felicitated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development under ‘100 Most Impactful Women of India’ in 2016.

You can reach Sharma here.

Edited by Yoshita Rao

“We will eat half a chapati, to afford studying in a school,” a group of young girls scream in unison, as they rally through the labyrinthine alleys of two villages, Shahpur Khalwapatti and Mishroli, in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.

Led by four girls—Rinku Kumari, Nisha, Puneeta and Pinky Kumari—this school-enrollment movement of sorts has brought about a sea change in a region that is historically known to have been suffering from acute poverty and gender-based discrimination.

Supported by a local NGO—Samudaik Kalyan Evam Vikas Sansthan (Community Welfare and Development Society) also known as SKVS—these young volunteers are striving to take control of their future and empower the young generation by advocating for an equal opportunity of education. Thanks to their efforts, Kushinagar, a place that was considered one of the most backward regions in India, is now emerging as a model example of community-led social transformation.

Fighting discrimination, one student at a time

“The majority of the population in this region comes from a tribal Musahar community. Extremely marginalised, this community has been suffering for decades. They don’t have any land to cultivate or much education to allow other opportunities. Even the land on which their houses are built do not belong to them. Historically known to be the ‘rat-catching’ community, they are known to survive on a diet of rats because of the acute level of poverty. This has also contributed in the marginalisation and discrimination against the community,” says Amarnath, a local social worker with over a decade of ground experience in this area.

He along with SKVS began working towards empowering the Musahar community in 2009. But soon their findings led them to a conclusion that along with caste-based discrimination the region was also plagued with gender-based discrimination and low-literacy, both of which contributed to their poor socio-economic status.

He adds that almost 5 years ago, SKVS found that out of an approximate population of 40,000 people in Kushinagar, only 4,000 had managed to study beyond Class 8. This discovery pushed for a consolidated effort to bring about grassroots change, thus ushering in the inception of a localised intervention to educate the youth, especially girls.

“Education and skill training are two of the ways adopted by SKVS to help them come out of the cycle of poverty and achieve social equality,” says Amarnath who works as the programme coordinator of SKVS. Led by seven Dalit women, this Kushinagar-based voluntary organisation has advocated various issues like land rights, women’s rights and child rights, as avenues to enable community development and empowerment.

School Chalo Abhiyan

Today, young girls across Shahpur Khalwapatti and Mishroli villages look up to the Rinku, Nisha, Puneeta and Pinky as role models who fought against centuries-old social norms to ensure a better and more equal future for girls.

With SKVS at the helm, these girls formed two Kishori Sangathans or young women’s collective, and led the School Chalo Abhiyan that impacted hundreds of students across 10 villages of the region. While Puneeta and Nisha oversee operations in Shahpur Khalwapatti, Pinky and Rinku lead them in Mishroli.

During this campaign, the girls managed to identify a total of 216 student dropouts from the Musahar community. While 103 of them were boys, the majority of 113 were girls.

Speaking about the disparity Amarnath says, “The reason why more girls tend to drop out is either because of getting married at a very young age or house-work. So, we had to change their perspective by showing them how both boys and girls can be successful professionals and look after them in their old age. Usually, creating impact in the face of these challenges is a slow process requiring a lot of patience.”

But the girls managed this feat by convincing parents of the various benefits of educating their children, especially daughters. Owing to their efforts, they managed to garner participation of 407 girls under the two collectives, who in turn mobilised youth to initiate change. Together they were successful in directly and indirectly sensitising 1,500 families across 10 villages and inspired 166 children with no access to education to be finally enrolled in a school.

“Education is something we need in every single thing we do and illiteracy is a lack that we all need to overcome,” concludes Puneeta, who heads the Shahpur Khalwapatti’s Kishori Sangathan as the chairperson.

Edited by Yoshita Rao

“When I grow up, I want to become a Collector and help people like me who struggle with basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education. I want to take care of my grandparents and make them proud. I owe everything to them.”

This is the dream of Rakesh, a 14-year-old boy who is currently finding it hard to complete his school education and achieve his goal.

However, there is still hope.

Tiny Humans, Big Dreams

Rakesh lost his father at the age of one. “His death snatched away my mother’s hopes, and she abandoned me. I have lived with my grandparents ever since,” he told The Better India. A diligent attitude has kept Rakesh going all this time. While his days would begin early with house chores like washing clothes and filling water, he would await the time he got to attend school.

Rakesh is a student of a government school in Bengaluru, and often found it difficult to keep up with the basics of his subjects. But this hardly ever dampened his spirit. However, he has strived to improve himself by working hard.

Meanwhile, he watched his grandmother, now 63, work odd jobs in school just to be able to raise him. His grandfather has continued as a construction worker even today.

Through these rugged realities of an underprivileged life, what has driven Rakesh is his desire to make a difference. He was never one to back down, and would eagerly focus on his education with the hopes of using it to make life better for himself and those around him.

But the onset of an unprecedented pandemic slowly dampened his hopes. Like many others, his grandparents have been struggling to get back on their feet after losing their jobs, with Rakesh remaining the only hopeful breadwinner. Since June of 2021, he has been considering dropping out of school to get a job. This seems like the only way to make things easier.

Like him, many children are caught in unique webs of dearth, compulsion and helplessness.

Another such young learner is Madhumita, who is the first girl in her family to have ever received any formal education. While her father is a daily wage worker and her mother is a domestic helper, Madhumita dares to dream of becoming a teacher and spreading the gift of knowledge.

But at times when families struggle to eat one meal a day, education begins seeming like a distant aspiration.

Project Dream School

Since last year, The Better India in partnership with Dream School Foundation has been helping such children studying in government, semi government-aided, and private schools of Bengaluru with #projectdreamschool. Through your contribution under this campaign, these children have taken one more step towards realising their dreams.

Today, 30 of these students are set to begin Class 10. But they cannot do it without our support. We urge you to once again come forward and help them stay in school and complete their education.

Make a difference. Donate here: https://bit.ly/dreamschool2021

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has announced a scholarship for the year 2021-22. This scholarship aims to provide financial assistance to students with disabilities pursuing their degree or diploma from any of the AICTE approved institutions.

Things to know:

• This scholarship is called ‘Saksham’ and is an initiative by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
• It aims to encourage students to pursue technical education.
• The candidate should be admitted to the first year of degree level course or second year of degree level course.
• Selected candidates will be paid a yearly scholarship amount of Rs 50,000 for each year of the course.
• This scholarship will be for a maximum of three years for first-year admitted students and a maximum of two years for the second year admitted students through lateral entry for diploma students.
• In the case of students pursuing their technical degrees, those selected will be paid a yearly scholarship amount of Rs 50,000 for every year of study, which is a maximum of four years for first-year admitted students and a maximum of three years for second-year students through lateral entry.
• Interested and eligible candidates need to fill out the online application form on or before 30 November 2021.

Who can apply?

• Candidates with disabilities applying for this should have a disability of not less than 40 per cent.
• The family income from all sources should not be more than Rs 8 lakh per annum during the current financial year.
• Candidates applying for the scholarship must also furnish a valid income certificate issued by the State /UT Government.
• The candidate fulfilling the eligibility conditions needs to apply online on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).
• Incomplete applications will be rejected, and only verified online applications will be considered for the award of scholarship.
• The grant of scholarship is subject to the condition that the student does not receive any financial assistance in the shape of scholarship or any emoluments, salary or stipend from any other source during their course of study in the institute.
• For other details, interested candidates can click here to access the official brochure.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

In Chitarpur village of Jharkhand, students of Class 3 have brought oranges, lemons, bitter gourds, turmeric and other food items from home. While the students will eventually consume these items for their nutritional values, today, they’re going to be learning about whether the food is acidic, alkaline or a base, by tasting it.

Looking at curious students seated before him, Mohammad Sajid Hussain, a scientist, educator, and a native of the village, recalls his own school days, when he was studying among 110 students in his classroom. After their schooling, only a handful of them were able to successfully climb the career ladder. Others barely managed to scrape earnings from low-skilled jobs.

The experience remained deeply rooted in his mind, and after pursuing metallurgical engineering and a PhD from Germany, he returned to India in 2012 and bagged a job with National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL).

“After earning exposure from studying at different educational institutions, I realised that the poor academic condition and lack of access to educational infrastructure were stopping children from unravelling their full potential. This affected their progress in their academic as well as professional lives,” he tells The Better India.

Sajid says students belonging to the elite sections of society had access to high-end educational infrastructure and later on scored better positions in society. “Financially weak students remained deprived of the same, thus hindering their progress and creating an educational divide. I wanted to change that,” he says.

So Sajid quit his job in 2015 and moved to Chitarpur.

A different approach to education

“During my stint as a scientist at NAL, I thought that if I could help such students by providing better education, I could help create hundreds of scientists and engineers,” adds the 35-year-old.

He founded Schoolasium the same year. This is an experiential learning school that works as a resource centre to provide necessary infrastructural support to thousands of students across the state. His model became successful and is now being adopted and implemented by government and private schools across the state, he says.

Explaining the term, Sajid says, “Schoolasium is a blend of ‘school’ and ‘gymnasium’. I believe that the students should exercise their brains through practical lessons, similar to what physical workout does to the body muscles.”

He adds, “Our school does not follow conventional practices of teaching, which involve monologues and one-way dissemination of knowledge from teacher to students.”

Describing the teaching techniques, Sajid says the school acts as a study lab for students, where they gain access to academic materials for practical learning. Citing an example, he says, “Students are given a handful of grains, cereals and vegetables from home and made to understand the nutrient content in them.”

He adds that students also receive lessons on organic farming. “Such an approach to teaching helps students to get a holistic learning experience by touching, smelling and observing the items. The next time they see a vegetable or a grain, they are able to recall what they had learned about it. They do not have to memorise its characteristics from a textbook,” he adds.

He says that similar teaching methods apply to other academic subjects as well. “The teachings are aligned with the classroom syllabus to ensure that students follow the learning curve as suggested by the state education board,” he says, adding, “The school charges a fee of Rs 500 a month, which is waived off if the parents cannot afford it.”

The innovative learning techniques brought a positive change in the students, and the state government took note of it. “We demonstrated the model before officials, who were impressed and decided to adopt it,” he says.

“Apart from students, teachers also received training in implementing innovative methods to impact education,” he notes.

Sajid says that over 26,618 students from 85 villages have been reached with this educational model, with more than 621 teachers implementing it in 122 schools. “There are 177 educators who conduct training for the teachers,” Sajid adds.

A ladder for the marginalised

Shikha Kumari, a student of Class 10 says, “I joined Schoolasium when I entered Class 3 after my parents learned about it during an event. My father is a bicycle mechanic and could not afford tuition fees, but Sajid sir offered to cover my educational expenses.”

Shikha adds, “I used to study at a government school before, but the teaching methods were primitive and focussed on earning the highest marks possible. However, switching to experiential learning added fun to our lessons and helped us understand the concepts better.”

Jitendra Kumar Singh, principal at one of the government schools, says the children are placed better in terms of educational reforms. “I have been associated with the school for the past three years and have seen students improve their ability to grasp various topics. Those from marginalised communities or poor financial conditions face additional challenges in coping with their counterparts, who come from a better educational and financial background,” he says.

Jitendra adds that underprivileged students have fewer resources to academically compete with their counterparts. It is the same reason that such experiential roles can play a pivotal role in creating favourable conditions for the former.

He says, “On one occasion, students bought blades, batteries and motors to make an electronic fan during summer months. The small project provided them relief during hot days and they were proud of finding a solution to their own woes. These are the visible changes in the region.”

But Sajid says that despite the success, there is a lot more to be achieved. “We face multiple challenges, from sourcing funds for the cause to changing the mindset of people. The education system is more examination driven than learning-based and needs to change,” he adds.

He says teachers often question the need for innovative teaching methods and wish to continue executing traditional practices. “We have to explain and convince them by informing them how changes in their teaching methods could benefit the students in multiple ways,” Sajid adds.

Regardless, he aims to create organic scientists and engineers that can potentially become job creators. “I want to help them increase their thinking abilities, give them due respect as students rather than regimenting them through uniforms, discipline and mugging from textbooks,” he adds.

Edited by Divya Sethu

At 21, Shahen is a published author, positive psychology coach, scriptwriter and public speaker. His book ‘Burnout No More’ was recently purchased by a renowned school in Mumbai and Shahen has been invited by several schools to talk about this book on examination induced stress.

For someone as young as him, one might guess he set his goal of writing a book from early on. But becoming a writer was never a part of his childhood dreams.

From tennis, dance, journalism, advertisements to coding, his career goals changed at various junctions just like every other kid.

The only difference was he tried his hand at all of them before freezing on his current profession. He played tennis for six months, learnt to code, enrolled himself in a dance class and interned at an ad agency.

Labelling this as a ‘process of elimination’, Shahen had the liberty to fail and make mistakes without being under pressure to quickly hop onto his definite career ride.

It comes as a surprise to many when Shahen reveals he is a product of homeschooling. He chose to drop out of school in class seven. He later joined a college but soon decided institutional learning was not for him.

Meanwhile, his brother, Shahaan studied in school till class two. For the last eight years, he too has been homeschooled. He wants to become an animal conservation expert.

It was neither financial compulsion nor any learning disability that made Shahen and Shahaan’s parents opt for homeschooling. In fact, both the brothers were top rankers in their respective classrooms.

“It was the freedom, discipline and a stress-free lifestyle that appealed to us the most. We did not want our sons to be defined with degrees, rankings and studies. Learnings, setbacks, creativity, life skills should be the key ingredients for every child while growing up,” Sonnal Pardiwala, the matriarch, tells The Better India.

Shahaan, who is currently in his final year of graduation, says, “The best part about homeschooling is having the freedom to go to a beach on a Wednesday afternoon. I have more control over my routine so I have to be vigilant about how I spend my time and energy. Studying does not feel like a burden.”

Sonnal and her husband, Nozzer are both tutors by profession. They share insights on everything about homeschooling – from dilemmas, challenges, structure, daily routines, milestones to learnings.

What homeschooling entails

Sonnal, who is originally from Surat, was a pioneer in her family in many ways. She fought hard to pursue Masters in Psychology and was the first one in her family to complete her education. She did a love marriage outside her community back when it was frowned upon.

So choosing to opt for an unconventional path to raise the children was not surprising. However, the irony is not lost upon Sonnal who is proud of her academic degrees.

“As a student, I did not realise the limitations of a set curriculum or classroom teaching. When I started taking tuitions, it suddenly dawned on me the futility of punishments, homework, mugging and result-oriented outcomes. Why should a child be subjected to homework after attending several classes and school? The triggering point was in 2013 when I attended an annual meet of homeschooling parents. There I met so many bright, confident, kind and smart children,” says Sonnal.

The decision was followed by a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts.

“Was I taking away the laurels that my kids get in school? What if they resent me or regret this in future? Will the discipline set in? What will my children do by sitting at home all day? These questions kept us awake at night. We addressed each doubt and question with logic and patience,” says Nozzer.

The husband-wife duo list points that they considered in their homeschooling plan:

• Get parents and children on board with the concept of homeschooling while assuring that there is a return point. They can go back to school.
• Identify schools that accept homeschooled children by charging 50% fees. They share timetables, resources and provide assessments to children studying at home.
• Give public exams at key junctures like 10th and 12th boards. The NIOS board allows the same.
• Have a vision about what the kids will do at home and allow them to develop interests at their own pace.
• Trust children to own their mistakes and do not resort to silent treatments, passive-aggressive behaviour, punishments, beatings or shouting.
• Let children make their own daily schedule. This way they will not slack away and you will not have to monitor them.
• Involve children in household chores and daily errands to impart life skills.
• As parents, be ready to learn, adjust and compromise
• Avoid throwing the age card. Instead use experience and wisdom wisely to resolve conflicts, give suggestions, etc.

How homeschooling actually works

A typical day in the Pardiwala household begins at any time they like but each member is responsible for doing some work like cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, chopping vegetables, mopping, etc. The rest of the day is spent doing what they like.

While this may sound like a non-profitable deal especially to parents who feel guilty about not doing enough for their children. It is quite the opposite.

From the very beginning, both the kids were inculcated with the reading habit. Instead of teaching them a particular chapter, the boys are allowed to understand the concept on their own and only when there are doubts, the parents step in.

“As we grew, our dependence on parents to learn all subjects became less and less. We gathered knowledge from various resources apart from textbooks. If I was in class nine, it was okay to read the syllabus of higher standards. Our academics are not defined by years. We do not memorise, we understand the concept. We define and measure our own progress,” says Shahen.

Shahaan, who is meanwhile quietly processing his elder brother’s response, excitedly jumps in and shares his take on exams. In the last eight years, he has not appeared for any formal exams. He loves taking online tests for fun and prefers correcting his own paper.

“I don’t shy away from highlighting my errors. In fact, it helps me not to repeat mistakes. I take tests only for subjects that are not my strong points to monitor my progress. For me, fewer errors are more important than scoring high marks,” says Shahaan who recently scored 79 on 100 in an English test.

Ahead of examinations, the boys are neither expected to study for hours nor are stopped from leisurely activities. In between his board papers, Shahen was assisting his father in making short movies for YouTube.

“We have to trust our kids if they say they are prepared. This is a great way to ensure they are liable for their own actions and are ready to bear the consequences. A case in point is Shahen who scored 93% in boards,” says the proud mother.

This level of faith was also reflected when the elder one decided to quit college. He stated his goals of doing psychology and public speaking and delivered them.

Life skills and non-academic activities are other arenas that are given equal emphasis as education. At 21, Shahen is already filing his IT returns for the money he earns through his online training and books. Both the brothers can cook, clean and purchase almost everything, from groceries to gold.

“One day Shahen saw one dirty bottle of water and ended up cleaning all the bottles without anyone noticing. As a parent, I don’t have to micromanage or point out to-do things. My wife and I have our own lives and things to do. This is one of the reasons my sons learn things on their own and come to us only if necessary,” says Nozzer.

Shahaan and Shahen are always encouraged to pursue their interests whether it is directing movies, acting, dancing or adopting a dog. When Shahaan expressed he wanted to become a canine behaviourist, the parents got a dog to help him understand more about the profession.

Several parents fear homeschooling might take away the socialising aspect of growing up. Sonnal and Nozzer too feared the same but quickly identified solutions by enrolling them in different activities.

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to parenting or homeschooling. It is a constant process of learning and unlearning keeping children’s interests in mind.

However, if there is one motto that the Pardiwala family truly believes in is to sleep happy at night instead of fretting about what is going to happen next.

You can follow Sonnal and her blogs on homeschooling here.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Muhammad Ali (43) is grateful for all the accolades that have come his way since receiving the National Teachers Award last month for transforming the lives of his students at the Government Middle School in Karith Shargole, a remote village, in Kargil district. Felicitated specifically for his imaginative initiative of setting up subject-specific classrooms, this award is the result of the five years he invested in his students and validates his philosophy of teaching.

(Image above of Muhammad Ali on the left and students at the Government Middle School, Karith, on the right.)

“My objective as a teacher is not restricted to helping students obtain high marks in examinations. I want them to learn for life. I want them to pick up knowledge and skills that can prove useful to them even as adults. Also, I don’t think we should induce stress on our children for marks. This is no way to truly learn. After all, not every child can come first in class,” says Ali, in a conversation with The Better India earlier this week.

He admits that “the award has brought upon greater expectation and pressure to raise the bar”. But he remains steadfast in his desire to deliver further as Acting Head Teacher of a government school where internet connectivity is virtually non-existent. Karith, a village with a population of barely 500 residents, is located about 36 km away from Kargil and set amidst dramatically coloured mountains, patches of green fields and awe-inspiring moon-line terrain.

In the past month, however, the village has made headlines in national and local publications, besides becoming famous on social media, purely because of the work he has done. The Government Middle School has become a model for other such institutions in the district. Nearly 20 private and government schools have visited this remote village since 2018 to understand what the fuss is all about.

A Stimulating Environment

Born and raised in the Chanchik locality of Kargil, Ali’s family were originally inhabitants of Kanor village in Sanku tehsil. He studied at local government schools before completing his graduation in Amar Singh College, Jammu. After graduation, he taught at a local private school for two years before being appointed as a government school teacher in 2006.

While undertaking his responsibilities as a government school teacher, he obtained his MSc in environmental science, MA in English and MEd (Master’s degree in Education) through distance learning. The son of a cameraman for the local information department admits that he “wasn’t the brightest student” but lived in a family where passion for academics loomed large. It’s what kept him in the pursuit of higher education even after he got a job.

After 10 years of serving in different parts of Ladakh from Sanku to Zanskar and Leh, Ali was appointed Acting Head Teacher at the Government Middle School in Karith in 2016.

“When I first got there, it had many of the basic failings associated with government schools like the classrooms weren’t properly painted and the matting on the floor was coming off. Enrolment levels were reasonably high given that it’s at a remote location with few schools nearby. With poor learning levels, children were very shy to express themselves, under confident and largely weak in their academics, particularly their reading and writing skills,” he recalls.

Getting Students to Learn

During his time at Karith, Ali developed a couple of interesting teaching methods. One of the first issues he sought to address was the lack of confidence, aptitude and skills in reading English and Urdu. He notes that usually these languages are often taught by translation in the local language, and then written questions and answers are given towards the end of each class.

“Languages are meant to be spoken, written and learnt. So, I decided to gather the teachers under my office and revamp the way languages are taught. We began by acquiring a Rapidex English Speaking Course textbook, and decided to develop a grade-wise syllabus using the lessons in it. Little kids were taught the basics of spoken English and as the grade got higher so did the complexity. Also, in order to improve pronunciation during the early stretch of his tenure, he also taught basic phonetics to students and teachers. This was done by taking out only 5 minutes a day during morning assembly for nearly two months in 2016,” he explains.

Today, on each school day, he organises a 25 minute spoken English and Urdu class apart from other conventional classes. Besides teaching them spoken English, the teachers under his office also conduct a variety of activities associated with language learning like conducting short plays. Going further, teachers asked all the 41 students enrolled in the school to conduct presentations in English in the morning assembly as well. They designated each morning to one class, where students would do a presentation during assembly.

Since every morning assembly was assigned to one class, students had time to prepare and practice their presentations. Initially, the students found it odd, but presently on each school morning they present on a wide variety of topics or stories either in English or Urdu.

Another initiative was directed at subjects or topics where students would struggle with remembering tough concepts. One such example was learning the elements and their atomic numbers in the periodic table or the capital cities of different countries. What they did was designate an element in the periodic table and its respective atomic number to each student.

All students were asked to memorise the element and their atomic numbers assigned. Before the morning assembly, while taking attendance, instead of calling out their class roll numbers, teachers would announce their atomic numbers and students would respond with the element they were designated. As teachers kept repeating this exercise every day, soon the students from both primary and middle school remembered the names of many elements and their respective atomic numbers. They conducted similar exercises to help students remember the name of Indian states, countries and their capitals, and other subjects.

“The third initiative we took was to construct an artificial glacier (ice stupa) during the winter holidays at Karith so that they continue learning through the season. Earlier students would come back from their three month winter break forgetting a lot of what they learnt and lose touch with the learning process. To address this problem and ensure students maintain some degree of contact with the school, we decided to embark on an artificial glacier project. Thankfully, my staff members were very supportive of this initiative, and worked through the winter,” he recalls.

The first artificial glacier they constructed was in the winter of 2016. “It fortunately failed,” he adds, because it forced them to try again the following year. In the winter of 2017, the students constructed a 40 ft tall artificial glacier. Soon, word about their project reached well-known social activist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk, who popularised these structures in the Leh area.

“He felicitated our work and gave the school a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. This was nearly four times the amount we would get annually from the government for construction and maintenance work in our school. In the following year, we were also felicitated at the national level in 2018 by the union water resources ministry for their artificial glacier project,” recalls Ali.

The school was given the first prize for Best Research/Innovation/Adaptation of New Technology for Water Conservation in the Project Glacier category. The school received a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. In 2019, the ice stupa they built was at 73 feet high. In the words of National Geographic, “Nestled in the shade of a peak, it lasted through August (2020), allowing farmers to water their fields.”

However, the standout initiative Ali introduced was the concept of subject-specific classrooms in 2018.

His school does not have class (grade)-wise classrooms but subject-specific ones. They go to different classes where they are taught by the respective subject teacher with relevant teaching-learning material (TLM). With subject-specific classrooms, children have the option of not only going through their TLM, but also TLMs of higher grades. These subject-specific classrooms will not only make students familiar with higher grade TLMs, but also serve as a platform where children can revise their previous grade’s lessons.

These classrooms from Class 1 to 8 are attractive, stimulating and thus furthers the student’s understanding of their respective subjects. Piloted in 2016, the school today has 9 teachers and 10 subject-specific classrooms for social studies, science, language, games, mathematics, ABC Class, 123 Class, Urdu, smart classroom and a library as well. “Each subject teacher took this suggestion on board, developed their own respective TLMs and eventually began taking full responsibility for maintaining their own subject-specific classrooms,” he notes.

COVID-19 Challenges

There is no denying the past year and a half have been extremely challenging for school kids. In a village with virtually no internet connectivity and little preparation for what was to come, Ali admits that most of 2020 was a washout for his students with no learning happening.

“In fact, on 15 February 2021, the administration allowed schools in places with no online connectivity to reopen. When we opened up briefly, we realised that schools shutting down for most of 2020 had a debilitating impact on their learning. However, with the incoming second wave, schools were shut down again in March-April. Of course, we couldn’t sit down and do nothing this time around. We designed weekly class-wise assignments for students, and asked teachers living there to deliver them each weekend to homes in the vicinity of their residence. Given the requirement for social distancing, students would bring their written assignments on to the gate, and the teachers would take photos of them, check them and present their assessments. This was our way of keeping students engaged,” recalls Ali.

This went on for about two months, before community classes commenced at meadows, pastures and barren lands in different villages in collaboration with the village coordinator appointed by the Education Department and the Village Education Community.

Government school teachers in a given village and qualified youths who came back home during the second wave were engaged as voluntary teachers for community classes along with the VEC (village education committee) and PRI (Panchayati Raj Institution) members. The situation has improved since schools were reopened, and Ali says that “it’s a relief”.

For someone who was given a two-year tenure in 2016, it has now been five years. Given his stellar work here, it’s no surprise he continues to teach at Karith. “I hope to continue here and help these students further given how they suffered [during COVID],” he concludes.

(All images courtesy Muhammad Ali)

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

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“If we donate water, its impact lasts for four hours. Food lasts for about 72 hours. But if we donate education, the impact is felt for generations to come,” says Nishita Rajput, one of India’s many daughters who used the values and education they grew up with to help uplift the community at large.

The 29-year-old has transformed the lives of 34,500 girls with access to education, food and employment while helping their families become self-sufficient.

Beginning early

“When I was a child, my father would take me to the streets of Vadodara and we would feed the homeless who had no one to look after them. Similarly, I would watch him help orphaned children with food, education and shelter every now and then,” she tells The Better India.

After completing her graduation, she went on to pursue her Masters in Human Resources and acquired a Post Graduate Diploma in Corporate Social Responsibility (PGDCSR).

In 2010, when an incident occurred during her vacation from college, she was quick and equipped to respond to it.

“I was home during the time and saw our domestic help bring in her daughter to work. As it turned out, she used to take her to help with work in order to be able to earn more. The girl was around 14 years old, but couldn’t even read the time. She had no theoretical knowledge or life skills. I was aware that this wasn’t a rare occurrence. So I decided to do something about girls’ education,” Nishita recalls.

She felt that every girl had basic knowledge, it would at the least ensure that they weren’t cheated or left behind as an adult in the real world.

She convinced the mother to allow her to support the girl’s education. “Fortunately, my father was a big supporter of the cause,” she says.

She soon identified 150 more girls from the impoverished communities her family had been helping for years, and kickstarted her initiative on a large scale.

For their education, Nishta has collaborated with over 140 local schools like Maharani School, RNK Padya High School and Sri Vidyalaya that run on a non-profit basis. This means that the annual fee charged for the underprivileged kids does not exceed Rs 10,000 a month.

Instead of playing the messiah, Nishita decided to be a mediator of the change.

“I wanted to ensure that girls like my domestic help’s daughter get to complete their education. So I decided to contact everyone around me to donate funds that could help with the numerous fees,” she says.

She shares that the task, as noble as it sounds, was not at all easy. The main challenge she faced was to convince people to give away their money for a girl they had never met in their life.

“Their concern was valid, but I had to find a way around it,” she says, and adds that this prompted her to come up with a 100 per cent transparent process of transaction.

Bold measures for a big impact

Nishita and her father have set up a system where each transaction is handled by them personally.

“We only accept account payee cheques from the donors, each of which is cut in the name of the school. From thereon, they receive the bio data and performance mark sheets of the girl they’re helping,” Nishtha reveals.

This means that each benefactor knows whom they’re paying for and what impact it is creating in the student’s life. The mark sheets are not only a confirmation of their money being used on education, but also a marker of the girl’s performance in school.

Amidst the flurry of managing all ends, Nishta might not have bothered to keep digitised data. But according to her estimates, she has been able to raise Rs 3.80 crore from donors till now.

She and her father receive about 30 cheques daily, she says. Most of the donors have become recurrent benefactors after seeing the results of their charity.

“In 2019, The Leuva Patidar Samaj (LPS) of USA gave us Rs 14 lakh. Around Rs 25 lakh a year come from a local senior community,” she shares.

Despite this support, many parents still found it difficult to change their ways of life.

Nishita says, “Often, they would get careless about their daughter’s education and give up mid year. The only solution to this was accountability. Funds had begun coming in in large sums, so we decided to pay the entire year’s fee for each child in one go to ensure she remained enrolled in school.”

Naturally, there were also parents who were grateful for the education their children were receiving.

Chandrika Goswami and her husband, who is an auto rickshaw driver, heard of Nishita’s work some seven years ago while they were in dire straits. “We went to her for help and she immediately took up the case of both my children,” she says. Chandrika has a son who is in Class 10 and a daughter, Devanshi, who recently completed Class 12.

“I’m applying at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda for electrical engineering now,” Devanshi shares elatedly.

Like her, Nishita is currently supporting over 5,000 girls and a few boys for their entire schooling, while others she helps as per their need.

“We provided many women with sewing machines so they could earn for themselves and support their children. For others, we started a cloud tiffin service network where we connect underprivileged women with customers looking for home cooked food,” she says.

Upon being asked about the impact of the pandemic on her operations, she reveals that donations slimmed as people began losing their own incomes.

“Thankfully, we were able to collect enough funds to pay for the children we have under us permanently. We also distributed ration kits to middle class families,” she adds.

As Nishita shares her journey with us, she is taken back to a day at the project’s incipient stage. Upon hearing about her plan, she was posed with an obvious question then — “Till when can you keep this haphazard operation running?”

“Well, it’s been 11 years, and I only see more and more girls learning every day. There is no dearth of willing donors, and the eagerness of the children is limitless,” she answers.

Edited by Divya Sethu

Feature Image Source: Instagram

Aayush Gupta, a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has a special relationship with competitive exams and selection processes. He cleared the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) with a 99.7 percentile score and subsequently aced all his interviews.

Earlier in his academic career, Aayush had also aced the Delhi University Joint Admission Test (JAT), which is considered to be amongst the most challenging undergraduate entrance examinations. He subsequently also co-founded two internationally recognised social entrepreneurship ventures during his undergraduate level. He also founded the first Asian Chapter of International Financial Management Association and also spearheaded IIM-A’s first international case competition with Harvard Business School and HEC Paris (École des hautes études commerciales de Paris).

Speaking to The Better India, provides some insights and tips that can help aspirants be successful in the challenging personal interview (PI) rounds.

1. Reach out to alumni from specific institutes:

“To understand the workings of a particular institute it would be best to reach out to the alumni or current students there,” says Aayush. They will be able to assist you with the PI preparation. Aayush says that he tapped into his network and spoke to as many alumni as he could and that gave him a better insight into how each institute functioned and what he should be prepared with while appearing for the PI.

“Find out what the institute wants from its students and see if you can deliver that,” he adds.

2. Prep yourself for the oft asked questions:

“You will have a fair idea of some of the often-asked questions. Ensure that you start preparing answers for these and practise them. Looking for these repeated questions on Quora or other prep material online is a great starting point. To gather more information about these questions, I also started having pointed conversations with people to gather as much information as I could,” he says.

3. Stay up to date with current affairs:

“This is one aspect that you just cannot neglect. You must stay updated about everything happening around you and ensure that you have a basic to good understanding of the topic. Besides reading the newspaper and following the editorials of good newspapers, form a discussion group with friends to get a better and wider perspective. Also during these discussions always keep an open mind and listen to everything being said,” he says. Having said that, Aayush also warns aspirants against faking an answer and says it is best to say you do not know the answer.

4. Exude confidence in your interview:

“One of the best things you can walk into the interview room with is your confidence. Look at it like a conversation and try to engage the interviewers as much as possible. Make the conversation flow with ease and put forth your points in a well-structured and cohesive manner,” he says. Even if one feels stressed it is important to not let that show during the interview. “Maintaining a calm demeanour will also help you think through what is being asked of you,” he adds.

5. Be ready for ‘googly’ questions:

“No matter how well you are prepared there are chances that the interviewers might throw a googly in your direction. Do not get flustered by this. If you feel the need, ask them to either repeat the question or take a moment to formulate a response to it,” he says. Also remember that you need not know the answer to every question that is asked. Saying ‘I do not know’ is also an answer.

6. Create an institute format curriculum vitae (CV):

One thing that worked for Aayush was creating a CV which was as close to the institute’s format as possible. He says, “For this as well I reached out to alumni and requested them to review the same and incorporate the changes they suggested. At least with IIM A, B and C I tried to do this as this also shows how keen you are on getting into that particular institute.” He also suggests that while filling out the form issued by the institute, one must answer the question to the point and not put out more information than asked for.

7. Be well-versed with your application form:

“Everything you fill out in your application form can and will be questioned – therefore ensure that you are sure of everything that you put down. One must also be ready to defend and support the points that you have mentioned in your application form,” says Aayush. He also adds that doing some back-end research on every sentence that has been put down in the application form will hold the candidate in good stead. “You cannot falter in this aspect and remember to put your best foot forward while answering questions about your own application form,” he says.

In conclusion, he says, “What is most important is your own confidence levels – be 100 per cent sure of that and have a can-do attitude when you appear for the examination. Do not let any sort of self-doubt creep in. Be comfortable in your skin.”

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

In 2018, the Karnataka government announced that it was shutting down almost 29,000 government and aided schools due to poor attendance and the deteriorating education infrastructure in these institutions. Despite government efforts to revamp these schools, the issue has seen no respite, and an additional 5% of the remaining 50,000 schools may close down as well, the government announced in 2021.

However, a group of passionate weekend riders are trying to change the tide through their small contribution to education by revamping these schools.

Giving a fresh lease of life

In 2018, Rakesh Ramesh and Sanjay S, corporate professionals from Bengaluru, were riding bikes near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, distributing pencils and other stationery items to children.

“We were trying to check the status of fair and free education in the rural area and distributed educational items to children to connect and interact with the locals. Our visit to 20 government schools made us realise the dire state of educational infrastructure in the institutions,” Rakesh tells The Better India.

On one occasion, Rakesh handed a pencil to a boy. “The kid was so excited that he started dancing with joy. His reaction surprised me. When I asked him why he was so happy, he told me that it was the first pencil he had ever received. The kid had never used a fresh pencil before,” he says.

The incident moved Rakesh and Sanjay. They decided to use their weekend riding adventures for a social cause and work in the education sector. In 2019, the duo founded an NGO named Ride For Cause.

The NGO has since revamped nine government schools in different parts of Karnataka, which has helped improve student attendance.

Sanjay says the NGO is an attempt at showing gratitude to society. “We started to identify rural government schools that were in poor conditions and on the verge of closing down. With a bunch of volunteers, we approached the villagers and sought their permission. As a part of the revamping, the schools were painted, and educational kits were provided to students, which included stationery and activity books,” he adds.

Slowly, other riders joined their cause and decided to volunteer on weekends.

He says that the group visits the schools and identifies their requirements. “We are selective about the schools as the locals should be willing to maintain and continue the smooth operations for self-sustenance,” he adds.

Recently, the volunteers started distributing 1,000 educational kits for students. The kits include workbooks designed by the volunteers. “The workbooks help students learn better and recall various concepts in subjects like English, Maths and Science,” he says, adding that about 32 schools have been identified, and 600 students have already received the kits.

Following Kalam

The efforts have helped to improve attendance by at least 15 per cent in these revamped schools. Anand Ballagere, a native of the Ballagere village, says he has been following the work of the NGO since 2019 and approached them to work on the school at his native.

“The group of 50 volunteers visited the village, painted the school and introduced necessary infrastructure for the school on August 15. Since then, the attendance of the class 10 students has increased to around 150, which was close to 100 before,” he adds.

Anand says that the colourful paintings on the exterior school building have attracted many passersby. “The headmasters from nearby villages have approached me and expressed their interest in giving a new life to their schools,” he adds.

Moreover, the NGO has approached Spin Master Global, a toy manufacturing company that has agreed to give away 2,000 toys for free. “The company discards toys annually to replace them with fresh stock. We approached the managers and requested them to donate their products to us instead. The children in rural India do not get access to good quality toys, and it is an effort to provide them with better interactive products that will improve their cognitive and learning skills,” Sanjay says.

However, all social work comes with different levels of hardships. Madhu, president of the NGO, says, “Selecting a school is a major challenge as the effort has to sustain. It requires a lot of effort and willingness from the villagers and stakeholders to continue the work. Sometimes we find it difficult to get sponsors to fund the projects. Logistics and managing volunteers in a rural area for stay also becomes a challenge at times.”

Rakesh says the group wants to follow the beliefs of late APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India, who said that “A pencil and a dream can take you anywhere”. “We want to provide better education in every rural part of India,” he adds.

Edited by Divya Sethu

Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. – Bob Talbert

One person who has followed this lesson to the ‘T’ is C M Nagaraja, a school teacher from Bengaluru. Although he teaches science to students of Class 8, 9 and 10, he has gone beyond his call of duty to inculcate healthy lifestyle changes in his teachings.

For the same, he was felicitated with the National Awards for Teachers (NAT) on Teacher’s Day (September 5) this year and his school, Government High School Doddabanahalli, was given a special mention.

Nagaraja was awarded for introducing eco-conscious initiatives to throw light on the magnitude of global warming and climate crisis. The Ministry of Education also highlighted his innovative methods to science.

“In my 15 years of teaching, I always tried to make the subject interesting and fun,” Nagaraja tells The Better India.

Sustainable Hacks That Impressed All

Having led an eco-friendly lifestyle, introducing such practices to others was not as challenging as getting funds to execute the same.

Nagaraja joined the school in 2018, and initially his ideas were met with enthusiasm but due to lack of funds, his project was delayed. So, he did the next best thing – approached NGOs in the city.

Simultaneously, he worked on kick starting a waste management programme. He repurposed the old and broken metal-based furniture, including chairs and tables, and converted around 20 broken pieces into newspaper reading stands, a projector screen, dias, podium, name plates and cupboards for the teaching staff.

Discarded milk pouches were another eyesore.

“We serve milk to our students as part of the mid-day meals scheme. But the 1-2 litre pouches are carelessly thrown in the compound. I gathered 2-3 parents of our students who are tailors and came up with a plan,” says Nagaraja.

A few weeks later, 20 computer systems in school were adorned with new stylish covers that were made by upcycling the discarded milk pouches.

Seeing these initiatives, five NGOs came on board to scale Nagaraja’s endeavours.

The first thing he did was purchase two bio-waste converters and bins for paper and plastic waste.

“One converter is for biowaste like leaves and agri-waste that we collect from nearby farms and the other is for food waste generated in the school’s kitchen. In six to eight months, we generated 1 tonne of manure that was used in our one-acre garden. Meanwhile, 58 kilos of plastic and paper waste collected in a year was given to the local recycler,” he adds.

The school has five underground water recharging pits to store rainwater and wastewater that is further reused for non-potable purposes.

The school uses 1,500 litres of water daily to wash utensils and for watering the plants. The wastewater is transported to one of the pits and that is connected to a tank.

“After recharging the pits, the leftover water is percolated into the tank with a capacity of 4,500 litres. It is filled with stones which obstruct the solid waste and purifies the water. We have connected a pump to the tank from where we collect the water every three to four days. It is a well-rounded cycle,” explains Nagaraja. With the help of students, Nagaraja also installed sprinkles for drip irrigation to save more water.

Thanks to the habit of safely disposing and repurposing waste, Nagaraja was able to make a chemistry kit for his students using discarded bottles. He made mini portable kits, which the students use to conduct chemical experiments at home.

Government schools in India generally do not have a very reputable image, however in the last few years we are seeing a shift, thanks to teachers like Nagaraja who work hard to elevate minds, ignite creativity and encourage out-of-the-box thinking among the pupils.

“A child’s interest or disinterest in any field can stem from how that subject was taught. So, it is important to remember that a teacher can create lasting impressions on students,” he concludes.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

This article has been published in partnership with Childrens’ Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) as part of #PromptHerNow, a campaign through which The Better India, Population Foundation of India and CIFF bring to light the work of various organisations and individuals who are working to help bring girls back to schools.

Radha was on top of the world.

She cupped a few broken pieces of jaggery in her hand and ran around the neighborhood going door to door, exclaiming, “I will go to school again.”

This moment of pure joy came after months of struggle and fear of losing a prized possession — her future.

With the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacting the education sector, many girls like Radha were on the brink of losing the opportunity to be educated. The pre-existing gender gap was said to have widened due to an increased number of drop-outs by female students during this period. India was said to experience an estimated loss of close to 10 million girls during this time.

But the 16-year-old from Hindaun Block of Karauli district, Rajasthan was the lucky one to escape this fate. One of the most backward regions in the state, this district has had several cases of child marriages and teenage pregnancies. Even the act of stepping out alone is seen to be rebellious, let alone pursuing one’s dream.

“Most of the families in our community think that educating a girl child is not necessary and is an added expense. They limit the potential of a girl to household work, marriage and nurturing kids. This mindset became more predominant during the pandemic when many of my friends got married,” says Radha, who wants to grow up to be a nurse.

She recalls how at the onset of the pandemic, her neighbours began to call her parents suggesting that they should get her married. “It was so that the burden of feeding one family member could be reduced. With the restriction on people gathering due to COVID-19, they also thought this time would be optimal for getting me married,” she says.

Radha adds that she would have been one among the many married teenagers in her area, if not for the pre-matric scholarship she received under a government scheme, implemented on-ground by an organisation called IPE Global. An Indian international development consulting group, IPE Global’s project Udaan has been working in Rajasthan to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancies and child marriage for the past four years.

Under this, they have worked to change public perception and fight the gender bias plaguing the society by enabling girl child education. The scholarship is a major step towards it.

“With my poor financial condition and society’s pressure to get my daughter married, I was almost about to remove her from school. But then, she reminded me about the scholarship money, which would take care of her education. Seeing her passion to study I was motivated to rethink my decision and let her continue studies,” shares Naval Kishor Meena, Radha’s father.

With her father’s support, Radha was ready to fight the world and chase her dreams. She soon convinced him to add some money to the existing scholarship and buy a smartphone to continue online classes. “I am glad that the scholarship empowered me to take control of my future,” she adds.

‘I Write My Own Story’

While Radha convinced her father to get a smartphone to continue studies online, 16-year-old Santosh Bairwa was not so lucky.
A Class 10 student in Government Senior Secondary School, Jamola, Ajmer, Santosh struggled hard before she devised a way to overcome the limitations of her access to education.

“My father is a daily-wage labourer, and during the pandemic he would spend days searching for work. Whatever he would earn, he would end up spending on alcohol. Getting regular meals was a big deal let alone a phone. Although he already had a smartphone, he refused to let me use it, as girls here are not usually allowed to do so,” shares Santosh. With the news about schools reopening still in the blur, her father Ramesh even suggested dropping out as he didn’t believe in online classes.

But even the thought of leaving school haunted her, as she knew that it would be followed up with her getting married, and eventually, she would end up pregnant. It was the norm in her village and had happened to many girls before her, but Santosh was not ready to give up just yet.

Recipient of the pre-matric scholarship just like Radha, Santosh received money for all her school expenses like fees, books and other educational resources. She decided she would use the scholarship money to figure out a way.

“On discussing this fear with my classmate, I figured out that she has a smartphone. However, given the amount of data consumed, she was struggling to meet the internet cost per month. This gave me an idea and together we decided to use her smartphone through an internet top-up on my expenses. This helped us attend regular online classes together,” adds Santosh who used some of her scholarship money to fund this expense.

Simultaneously, at this point Udaan volunteers along with her school teachers intervened to convince her parents against making her drop out. After much effort, they all were successful in retaining Santosh’s enrollment.

“I feel elated that I was able to continue studies through tough times. I see now how important it is for a girl to receive this scholarship amount. Having this amount on my own saved me and helped me write my own story,” adds Santosh who wants to grow up to become a police officer.

In the last four years of working in the region, Udaan has accomplished quite a feat, helping more than 6.9 lakh girls receive this scholarship. While enabling the girls to continue their studies online, they are also planning on conducting special remedial bridge courses once the schools reopen. They plan to take every necessary step so that the dreams these girls have carefully crafted eventually lead to fruition.

If there is anyone who can fully grasp Benjamin Franklin’s quote, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”, it is Karnataka-based Sabiha Hashmi. Having been an educator for over four decades, Sabiha says she was not willing to part ways with teaching even after she retired.

The 72-year-old started to teach and sponsor the education of girls in Jyothipalaya village of Ramanagara district in 2011. From providing books and skill training to the students to footing their school fees and teaching subjects like English, she is going the extra mile to uplift the young girls from marginal backgrounds.

Originally from Delhi, she is a PhD holder from the National Museum Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology. She taught art including sketching, painting, art history and more at Modern School in Delhi and Heritage School in Gurugram.

“I would regularly trek in the northern Himalayas, where I would find innumerable case studies where girls wanted to study but had to drop out. In Himalayan villages, when men leave their homes and migrate to urban areas, women and girls are left to toil on the farms. As a result, they lose out on education. This is further tied up with the rate of early marriages. When I moved to Karnataka in 2010 to be with my children, I saw the same issue here. Now with time and resources in my hand, it was time to make a difference,” she tells The Better India.

First, Sabiha built a small cottage in the village next to her farms and started teaching girls for free. When she realised they would also need money for higher education, she returned to teaching to ensure a steady source of income. She taught at Poorna Learning Centre and Pramiti School for a while and saved enough to help the eight girls under her care.

Here’s how you can help

After relying on donations from her friends and family in the first year of the project, Sabiha realised that a long term solution needs to be put in place to sustain her initiative.

She channeled her art expertise and taught the girls and their mothers to make products including book racks, pencil holders, remote boxes, jewellery boxes, and bins from upcycled waste like cloth and paper. The proceeds of the sale are collected and used for paying the girls’ school or tuition fees.

“We were already making sales by the end of the training. One of our customers is the Delhi Public School (DPS) in Delhi. They use our products frequently as a gifting option for their guests and visiting faculty. Poorna School helps in setting up exhibitions to sell the products,” says Sabiha.

Gradually, she scaled her initiatives and started donating notebooks, bags, pencils and more to school going children. She notes that a highlight of the donations she has received in cash and kind include a vast collection of fiction and non-fiction books written in Kannada. Many children are able to read enthralling stories and inculcate a regular reading habit, thanks to her.

Talking about the impact, Sabiha proudly reveals that four of her students have cleared Class 10. One of them recently completed her B Ed and another one scored 74% in B Com final year. The latter is presently working as an accountant in a multinational company.

“I teach girls and young mothers who dropped out of or never attended school. One common characteristic among them is the eagerness to gather knowledge and form an identity of their own,” she adds.

Sabiha is in the process of building a library and a learning centre for children living in Jyothipalaya and neighbouring villages. At ‘Ajji’s Learning Centre’, the children can borrow books, study and learn basic computing skills and media arts. They can also come here and explore their creative side with Sabiha’s assistance in story writing, painting, sketching, screen printing, collage making, recycling and more.

The centre will be eco-friendly with solar power installations and rainwater harvesting structures. She is using the donations received for construction. However, she needs help to build the interiors of this library.

“We need funds for ten computers for our centre, library shelves, chairs, tables and more. This centre is going to positively impact the kids. I will focus on their overall growth and learning. I am going to hire three teachers who will teach a group of ten students in two batches,” says Sabiha.

You can support this initiative by donating kind or cash to:

Ajji’s Learning Centre
Jyothipalaya, Karlamangla Post, Magadi Taluk,
Ramanagara District, Karnataka, 561201

For further details please contact: 9900 690411 or send an email to sabihashmi@yahoo.com.

Edited by Divya Sethu 

Studying in India’s premier institute, IIT-Kanpur still feels like a dream to Umashankar Mondal, a resident of West Bengal’s Tantipara village. Growing up in a weaver’s family, education was never a priority, and he was predestined to join his family.

But he was different, not just from his family but also from other children in the village. Going to school and scoring distinction was his gateway to success.

All he needed was a platform and professional career guidance, which he found in Sayambharataa Rural Skill Development Foundation (SRSDF).

“I was in Class 9 when Gargi (Dey) ma’am, an IIT professor, introduced me to the institute that taught our nation’s brightest minds. I wanted to be a part of that. With her guidance, support and academic teachings, I completed my chemistry honours from Jadavpur University. The foundation believed in me and funded my education. This guidance continued when I gave entrance for MSc for IIT and I cracked it in 2020,” Umashankar tells The Better India.

Umashankar’s journey has inspired several children in the village while giving hope to parents who cannot afford education. His own younger brother has joined the foundation to follow a similar path.

“I would’ve never got out of my village had it not been for the SRSDF. They changed my life and showed me our circumstances can be changed with proper support,” adds the IITian.

Umashankar is one of the many children from the village whose life has changed for the better by the foundation, which was started by a couple of friends in 2014.

Not a Charity

Subrata Bose co-founded SRSDF with his friends Sharbari Bhattacharya, Debjani Mitra andPradyut Bhattacharya. Sandip Ghosh, Sushmita Bose and Kalpana Dutta joined in as active members.

The software engineer from Kolkata, had been a couple of years into philanthropic work when he visited Tantipara village as part of a social welfare project.

Here, he met Madhusudan Ghosh, a daily wager who asked Subrata to donate some money for his son, Bapan. The desperate father even showed his topper son’s report card.

But Subrata came up with an idea of establishing a system where children from marginal families would be guided by experts and supported financially with the condition that they would repay society. This could either be by paying back the money, sponsoring a destitute child or offering teaching services to the juniors.

Presently, 15 students are being funded by ex-students.

“Charity may not always be helpful and not everyone realises its value. We gave some money to Madhusudan and realised there must be several children willing to go to school. When we did an informal survey, we found that 45% of students, especially girls, in the village dropout after Class 8. The first generational learners accept that they have to work as farm labourers and girls assume marriage is the finish line. We wanted to change this,” Subrata says.

The beauty of SRSDF is that anyone can join the core committee by involving themselves in the planning and execution.

So far, close to 2,000 students across 12 villages have studied under the foundation. It has three learning centres and one resource centre where students are tutored. The foundation has hired 11 teachers and eight senior students who act as mentors.

Coping with the Challenges

The core committee members met with several problems in the initial period. It took a lot of time and effort to build trust and convince parents to send children to the centres instead of taking them for work.

Additionally, most of the members live in Kolkata so commuting was another challenge. They hired villagers to run the resource centres and involved local teachers as well to sustain the project.

“We identified subjects that the students needed the most help with and began the classes with 85 students of Class 8, 9 and 10. The goal was to ensure they completed their schooling. The students, who once couldn’t relate to science, maths and english, were now scoring high marks. For the first time they realised these subjects had real life applications. As the word spread, more students joined and we opened the centres for students below Class 8,” says Subrata.

A year later or so, the organisation began the mentoring programme and gave a monthly stipend of Rs 500 to senior students. These students play, read and tutor the young ones.

The organisation also started collaborating with other local NGOs to formulate policies, provide skill and vocational training and engage experts as guest lecturers.

The centre has an audio-visual room to impart digital learnings. This room is also used to conduct extracurriculars like drama, science workshops and art and craft classes.

“The foundation gives an all-around development to students, which helps in confidence boosting, improves our overall knowledge and enhances our analytical thinking. This is enough for any child to believe they have a bright future,” adds Umashankar.

In their 7-year-long stint, the foundation has observed that not all students may be able to reach Umashankar’s level i.e. higher education. They are provided vocational training in stitching, mechanics, making handicrafts, etc.

Tara Ghosh, a nurse, is one of them. Her father, a daily wage labourer, who sold his cattle to fund Tara’s education but she was finding it difficult to meet the living expenses in Kolkata. She reached out to SRSDF for financial aid three years ago.

“We were surprised but happy to know that the father gave importance to his child’s education. She is extremely hard working and now is employed at a government hospital earning more than Rs 30,000. We also helped her younger brother who will begin his M-Tech in IISC in Shibpur,” adds Subrata.

Tara, who once faced a bleak future and had tremendous self-doubt, has today built a permanent house for her father.

You can reach SRSDF here.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)