About Me
My name is Siddhant and I study in grade 9 at TISB. I really love Maths and Physics and dream of becoming a Physicist one day. I also like playing football, reading books and playing the piano.
Inspiration
I had always wanted to do something about the lack of quality education in India. I thought of the millions of children who were not given enough opportunities to pursue their desired career because they lacked quality education. I was shocked when my driver mentioned that he had only been educated until 2nd grade, and that he had started working by the age of 11. All this, because he had never been shown what opportunities education could have given him. I was moved and felt the urge to do something.
When I joined Future Leaders, and became aware of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it did not take me any time to make up my mind on what I wanted to do. My yearning to create an impact via “Quality Education for the Underprivileged” got a direction.
My Journey
Though I had decided that I was going to do something to improve the quality of education, it was still a vast topic, and I had to concentrate my effort in a smaller subtopic. This took some time to do and was an iterative process.
Originally, when I was researching into the problem, several websites reported a high dropout rate in many government schools in India. Later however, after conducting several interviews with industry experts, I appreciated that tackling dropout rates was going to be extremely difficult, as the most probable reason for dropping out was because the parents wanted their children to work and earn for the family. Moreover, it was not the biggest problem.
After some thought, I discovered that my real passion lied in math, and that if I was to do something, then this would be the area in which I would work on. I did some research into conceptual understanding of underprivileged students in India, and I uncovered some shocking statistics:
These statistics were alarming, and I decided to test them for myself. I visited a low-end private school called ‘My Saviour’ near my locality, and spoke to its principal. Though he refused to accept that his school faced any problems, it was evident from the state of the building and facilities that his statement was false. An interview with my driver and house help, whose children study in that school, also revealed the same.
The same evening, I visited one of the many after-school tuition centres scattered in and around the locality; I had discovered that nearly all the underprivi
leged children in the area went for tuitions after school. After speaking to the teacher at the centre, and teaching a few students at the centre, I realised how dire the situation was; some students in 6th grade didn’t even know proper multiplication! And these weren’t even government school students. One more thing I saw from my visit is that the teacher doesn’t do anything during class. The students are made to study and do homework, and at the end of the day, the teacher will ask them questions from the notebook!
My project slowly transformed into one that aimed to provide personal attention to underprivileged children in Maths and other subjects and teach them in an interactive and fun manner, so they have a clearer understanding of concepts, and can do better in their exams. It will also open up a whole range of job opportunities when the graduate.
I did face some difficulties while trying to search for ideas and implement them. One fact that I discovered from my visit to the ‘My Saviour’ school was that some low-end private schools like these were not very open to the idea of me teaching in an after-school class, and hence claimed that their school didn’t suffer from problems, because they didn’t want people like me to realise the true extent of the problems. On the other hand, after-school tuition centres including the 2 I visited, were very open to the idea of a person like me teaching, especially free of cost. I was taking some of the responsibility by teaching a few children.
However, the tuition centres were very badly equipped with no blackboards, leaving me unable to effectively teach a group of students simultaneously. In some centres, students have to study and do homework on floors. One more problem was that the teacher didn’t do any teaching, so if the students had any questions, I was the only one they could ask. As a result, I would sometimes be surrounded by 5 children all asking me doubts, and I was unable to provide as much personal attention as I had planned to provide.
Nevertheless, this has been an exhilarating experience, which wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my parents and the 1M1B team, who gave me many amazing insights. Two extremely beneficial insights, namely personal attention and interactive learning, now form the basis of my project.
Purna Shiksha
My project, Purna Shiksha, is an initiative that attempts to provide a fun-filled, interactive education for all, by providing personal attention and helping students, mainly underprivileged, in Mathematics and other subjects. Math had always been one of my favorite subjects, and when I came across a report which stated that over 50% of high-school students in India never properly learnt how to solve basic arithmetic problems due to lack of resources and poor teaching quality, I felt a strong need to solve this issue.
I have deep-dived into my project, by teaching Math to the underprivileged children at the tuition centers in my area. The past few weeks of teaching the children from grades 2 to 7, made me realize that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
The comprehension levels in core Mathematical concepts were very weak, but once explained, a few children caught up with zeal and excitement to learn.
My plan is to continue to give personal attention, and start teaching other subjects too, which will help me understand the students’ strengths and weaknesses.
With this understanding, I will work towards building a mini curriculum, enroll volunteers, and utilize technology by building an app with fun, interactive videos which will help in improving the quality of education for the underprivileged children of our country.
I strongly believe that technology with the help of a volunteer-driven program, will boost these children’s exam grades and give them a head-start to towards getting their dream job.
Message to Other Young People
Many of you would have come across a problem or issue in the world which calls you, which you always wanted to solve, but thought that you are too young to do anything about it.
In fact, nothing can be farther than the truth. I think that young people like us have an advantage; we have creative minds and have little difficulty in creating out-of-the-box methods for solving a problem.
Never doubt yourself. As long as you have the passion, commitment and dedication, you can accomplish anything.
Call for Volunteers
If you share the same passion and have a sincere yearning to help the children of India grow and build their knowledge and skills then join me in my mission and let us make a difference together.
Looking forward to collaborating with teachers, students, scientists, educators, and anyone and everyone with a desire to contribute to society, who can add value and make this dream a reality.