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Ten-year-old Prince Singh’s excitement is unforgettable as the clock strikes 2 pm, signaling the end of the school day at SDMC Pratibha Vidyalaya in Delhi’s Defense Colony. Her favorite part of the day is just about to begin – math lessons after school.
What has fueled this love for a subject that most of his classmates are often intimidated by?
Prince says that his mentor Savya Mittal is behind making these classes “exciting and enjoyable”. Savya is one of the 100 student volunteers who have registered on the ‘Volunteers for MCD Schools’ mobile app, an initiative by Delhi resident Anant Bagrodia, himself a Class 12 student at Vasant Valley School.
While the Prince is amazed at how maths can be simplified to such an extent, Savya thoroughly enjoys the teaching process. While the duo spread their notes, ready for another class of learning combined with entertainment, Ananth says that this was the objective with which he launched the mobile app.
“It all started as a passion project,” he explains.
decision to educate children
The 16-year-old, who is currently busy with his studies and extra-curricular activities, recalls the day when an anecdote shared by his mother was shaping this unique journey.
Anant’s mother Shivani will devote hours to teaching underprivileged children in MCD schools as part of a volunteer project. Sometime in January, she recalled to her son that one of the many children she tutored had caught his attention. The Prince, as he later told Anant, was a gifted child who could grasp concepts very well with the right teaching and help.
“But he is still struggling,” said Anant’s mother. With the intention of helping the young boy in some way, Ananth took up the challenge and decided to devote two hours every week to it. Over video calls, she and the Prince would connect with each other, learn the nuances of English grammar and the Prince would clear the other’s doubts.
This continued for two months and Ananth’s friends – who had seen how the experience had changed him – also wanted to help. “However, while many fellow students were interested in teaching underprivileged children, there was no system in place,” explains Ananth, adding that it was only during the pandemic that the state of the educational infrastructure became apparent and gave them the final push He needed to find a solution.
“With schools going online, countless children from government schools, who lacked computer and internet connection facilities, lost the opportunity to attend school for almost two whole years.” This, says Ananth, meant they fell behind in terms of being on par with other kids their age who had access to technology.
Delving deeper into the research, they found that 2020 Annual Status Report of Education The state says only 8.1 per cent children in government schools attended online classes.
He points out that this created a significant educational gap that got worse as the pandemic progressed. The problem, they thought, would not end, but would only get worse as schools reopened. This is because in order to catch up on lost time, these children will need additional support to enhance their understanding and complete their education.
He said, “I saw it myself, because I was engaged in teaching Prince.” May not be able to afford tuition classes.”
There was only one solution to this web of problems.
Creating an app that catalyzes learning
While deciding the target group for his experiment, Anant chose the MCD school children of Delhi. This is because these schools lacked digital infrastructure to conduct online classes during the pandemic.
In the months from May 2022 to July 2022, they discussed their plans with school officials, detailing how the children would benefit from the extra tuition. The latter fully agreed with Anant’s proposal. Now it was time to launch the app.
Ananth, who has always had a fascination for technology, machine learning and data science, applied this store of skills and, by September that year, was ready to launch. “This platform connects needy students with willing student volunteers. Through this model, I hope to inculcate the spirit of volunteerism among the youth and address the educational disparities brought to the fore by the pandemic before it is too late.”
Today, there are 19 MCD schools across Delhi – including areas such as Kailash Colony, Vasant Vihar, Hauz Khas, Defense Colony and Lajpat Nagar – that are being helped through the app. The app is available for download on the Google Play Store and has over 100 student volunteers who have registered to dedicate their time and skills to help these children.
“Students from class 6 to class 10 can volunteer,” says Ananth. “Once they register on the app, the principal of the concerned MCD school will reach out to those students explaining their needs, that require special attention.”
These student volunteers not only help children with maths, science, English, history and other academic subjects, but also organize chess workshops, music lessons, life skills training, activities like solving Rubik’s Cube, basketball training and much more Are.
These classes are held at a time that is mutually decided based on the convenience of both the school and the student volunteer. While sometimes they are after school hours, sometimes it is on the weekend.
Rahul Kumar, a Class IV student at MCD Primary School in Andrews Ganj, says his favorite class was the chess workshop taught by Sara Mehta.
“I learned chess from Sara, who was very kind and understanding. He helped me learn to play chess step by step,” he added. These activities create a sense of curiosity in children, expand their horizons beyond the four walls of the classroom and expose them to a lot.
Even the student volunteers say these classes are thrilling to say the least. Sara, who studies in Class 11 and has been tutoring for three months, says the experience has been enriching. “It has become the highlight of my week which I am eagerly looking forward to. The children I work with display remarkable intelligence and it has been truly gratifying and personally rewarding to see their curiosity and growing interest in learning chess.”
Meanwhile, Anant is constantly looking at expanding this idea to reach out to more schools across Delhi. The young changemaker recently raised funds from friends and family and donated 30 tablets to three MCD schools, enabling better integration of technology into the curriculum. He informed that through the reach created by the app, they have managed to help more than 600 students.
Looking at the momentum of this unique endeavor and how it has shaped him personally, he says he feels grateful. The love of imparting knowledge along with an idea has now become a ray of hope for many students of the national capital.
If you want to be a student volunteer, you can download the app Here and register yourself.
