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The idea of EduMentum has already transformed into a program and we could not be more proud. The journey for us has just started and its the same for our very first cohort. As our co-founder Mr. Santosh More says, that it’s the people at the end of the day who bring about a change, we have managed to find some great entrepreneurs as a part of the first cohort.
So here are our heroes who have taken the path less traveled to achieve educational equity in India.
Loop Education Foundation
LOOP Education Foundation was started in 2016 with a focus on empowering direct stakeholders (Teachers and School Leaders) in low-cost schools in Hyderabad. Through their solution, they want to empower the schools and its stakeholders to take ownership of their development. They work on school transformation through a cluster-based approach and empower schools to provide an excellent education through the power of collective action. They believe that this will lead to a lasting impact on the lives of children.
After finishing his B.Tech in Civil Engg from IIT Kharagpur, Ashish worked at Oracle India for a year. After that, he joined Teach For India as a fellow. Post his fellowship he worked with a waste management startup where he was involved in improving the livelihood of waste-pickers. Then he traveled to rural Andhra and Rajasthan to gain more ground-level experience, he volunteered with Barefoot College Tilonia for 4 months where he worked on various projects in water and sanitation, agriculture and education. In his leisure time, Ashish loves to cook, watch movies and play sports. He is also an avid traveler and adventure enthusiast.
Vikrant started his professional career as a banker with ICICI bank. After 4 years of accounting, data analysis, and number crunching, he joined Teach For India in 2012. Post-fellowship he continued working with the school and is still part of the school team as the Vice President of M.A.Ideal Schools and looks after Curriculum and Teacher Support. Vikrant also worked with India School Leadership Institute (ISLI) as a Program Manager in 2015-16 in Hyderabad. He loves introducing himself as a teacher and a storyteller.
Vidhya Vidhai
Vidhya Vidhai is a not for profit organization founded in June 2017 with a vision “To create an egalitarian society through education”, where the place of birth of a child would not dictate the opportunities s/he gets in life. “Vidhya Vidhai” is a Tamil phrase that means ‘Seed for Education’. This organization aims to bridge the gap between the resourced and under-resourced schools.
Ram studied in a low-fee, English medium school and completed his engineering from Govt. College of Technology (GCT), Coimbatore. Soon his passion towards education enabled him to quit his job at UB group and enter impact space despite resistance from family. To gain a good understanding of the domain, he joined Masters in Education course at Azim Premji University. Knowledge around perspectives and aims of education helped him become confident as a social change leader and hence, I co-founded Vidhya Vidhai.
Regila completed her Masters in Education at Azim Premji University. It was her experience here that helped her mold and evolve into a teacher, a leader, a good listener, an encourager and an entrepreneur. Azim Premji University has helped her realize her own self and gave her confidence to start her own social venture called “Vidhya Vidhai”, which aims “to create an egalitarian society through education”.
Simple Education Foundation
Simple Education Foundation (SEF) is a not for profit organization that’s based out of Delhi. It was started by a group of Teach for India alumni, with this belief that every child deserves to get an excellent education. They work to design & implement holistic learning models that aim to transform and strengthen the public schools from within.
Armed with an MBA from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, Rahul is committed to changing the education landscape of the country by improving teaching and learning practices in public schools. He is a Teach For India Alumnus and also holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from Coventry University. When he’s not busy working, he spends his time pampering his little boy Shiv.
Mainak is an engineer by training and a teacher by choice. His fellowship experience with Teach For India transformed his career choices, as he took upon himself to strengthen the movement of education equity. When he’s not thinking about school transformation, he loves reading and writing poetry. He is also an Acumen India Fellow.
Samarthya
Samarthya’s mission is to foster parent leadership in communities which will help children access their rights and improve their learning. They do this by equipping SMC (School Management Committees) parent members with the knowledge and skills required to perform their duties as mandated by Section 21 of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE). They are currently working with 238 parent members of 14 SMCs in 4 communities across East and West Delhi.
Sidharth works as a Community Lead at Samarthya which enables parents in ensuring that their children get good quality education. His job is to ensure that all the training and support gets delivered to the parents as and when they require. He studied Bachelors in Sciences from Panjab University, Chandigarh. At the same time, he was also managing an after-school program for the education of children. Then he joined Teach For India as a fellow where he taught 50 7th and 8th-grade children for 2 years.
Rishabh Bansal studied engineering from BITS Pilani-Goa before joining Teach for India as a fellow. He believes that people will get their rights when governance will be effective, accountable and transparent; and when policies will be accessible at last mile. He strengthens the program by conducting field studies, finding appropriate partners for the organization.
Sanjhi Sikhiya
Sanjhi Sikhya’s vision is to build a cadre of youth leaders all across Punjab who will develop into public problem solvers and work towards addressing systemic education issues with a sustainable approach. For this purpose, a two-year full-time leadership development program called Punjab Youth Leaders Program (PYLP) has been launched with the aim of keeping education reforms at the center to revive the strong value system Punjab was once known for. Sanjhi Sikhya has been curated by the passionate alumni of Young India Fellowship, Teach For India, TISS, Stanford and Panjab University. This team’s experience in the development space ranges from leading non-profit organizations to developing noteworthy education and community building CSR programmes.
Simranpreet leads the design and implementation of new strategic CSR projects at Genpact, India. The focus of his projects has been on leveraging Genpact’s expertise in ‘Process Transformation’ for the benefit of nonprofits and state governments in the domain of education. He is also setting-up an organization for transforming education in the state of Punjab. Prior to this, he was leading Shoshit Samadhan Kendra, a residential school in Bihar. This school is dedicated to the children from the Musahar community, one of the most marginalized communities in the country. Simranpreet is a Young India Fellow from Ashoka University and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pune University.
Rajat is a TISS graduate who has an electrical engineering degree from NIT Trichy. Previously, he has worked with the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
i-Saksham
i-Saksham aims to work towards empowering the school ecosystem in the tribal areas of Bihar. Currently, they are working towards achieving school transformation in Jamui. The organization envisions to create a sustainable change in the ecosystem and hence create long-term changes in Bihar.
Shravan is an Acumen Fellow. He has also been a Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellow (PMRDF). He believes that the change in the society is possible through engaging the youth in the field of education. He has been working very closely with the youth in Jamui, Bihar and has redefined the concept of tutions in the area. He is a graduate of Banaras Hindu University post which he completed his Masters from Symbiosis International University.
Two more organizations have joined us on this journey as our fellow travelers. We are delighted to have Involve, a Chennai based organization working on peer teaching model and Sahyog Foundation which focuses on learning and development of children mainly from rural/underserved communities, studying in Government schools in classes 1 to 8 on board with us.
The journey so far has been quite great. The road ahead might be difficult, but with these amazing people as our tribe, we are bound to make it an interesting story!
More updates on EduMentum coming up soon…