#Shaheen Mistri

[swynlake-rp]

Hello! I am currently on a Turning Red kick and I miss RPing so could I trouble you for FC suggestions for Mei, Ming, Priya, or Aaron T?

Hey anon!

Happy to help, here's some idea for Mei, Ming, Priya, and Aaron T. By the way I have many more FC ideas so if you're still stuck and none of these jive, don't hesitate to message us again.

Mei: Zhao Lusi, Stephanie Hsu, Lai Meiyun, Jelly Lin, Song Yuqi, Sun Zhenni, Esther Yu, Li Landi

Ming: Michelle Yeoh, Ming Na-wen, Gong Li, Rosalind Chao, Lucy Liu

Priya: Geraldine Viswanathan, Haiesha Mistry, Megan Suri, Prajakta Koli, Dimple Hayathi, Amrit Kaur, Muskkaan Jaferi, Aparna Brielle

Aaron T: Bilal Hasna, Yacoub Shaheen, Omar Ayuso, Emilio Sakraya, Ali Hadji-Heshmati, Shayan Sobhian, Sami Outalbali

Hope these help!

~ Admin Team

[cashific-blog]

10 social entrepreneurs in India who are changing the country for the better

New Post has been published on http://cashific.com/10-social-entrepreneurs-in-india-who-are-changing-the-country-for-the-better/

10 social entrepreneurs in India who are changing the country for the better

Social Entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.

– Ashoka, CEO and Founder Bill Drayton

Well, that is the thing about social entrepreneurs. These people are not social workers. Mind the difference between both the class of people. With respect to each other, their work is quite contrasting. Social entrepreneurship means business – Social Business.

Then what does Social entrepreneurship exactly stand for?

It is not unknown that there persists cultural, social as well as environmental issues all over the globe which prey upon the masses. People suffer and the consequences? – the whole world suffers as a whole.

Now, this is where Social Entrepreneurs come in. Acquiring a better and modest understanding of the issues persisting in the society, they work towards innovative and effective solutions and mobilizing effective solutions for the collective good of the global world by harnessing funds and resources through techniques employed by any entrepreneur.

Mentioned below are 10 social entrepreneurs of the country and their contributions towards society to draw inspiration from. These people have indeed been a great help to our country. So the least we can do for them is acknowledge the work they have done!

1. Jeroo Billimoria

Founder of multiple award winning NGO’s, she has distinguished herself on a global scale earning honorary fellowships. Presently she works as the founder and managing director of Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI). She has ably led CYFI to work with 91 governments to create national initiatives for Economic Citizenship Education and Financial Inclusion and aided the addition of financial inclusion and economic citizenship education in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Globally respected and regarded as an advocate of economic empowerment for children, her humanitarian work has touched the lives of children all around the world. The Child and Youth Finance Movement has associated itself with partners and stakeholders in 124 countries and collectively reached over 36 Million children and youth.

2. Ajaita Shah

The founder/CEO of Frontier Markets and the President of Frontier Innovation, her company – Frontier Markets is a rural marketing, sales, and service distribution company providing access to affordable and quality consumer durables to low-income households. Ajaita has worked on numerous development projects in 7 states in India. Frontier Markets started operations in rural India and are working with clean energy products like solar lighting and smokeless stoves. To date, Frontier Markets has sold over 20,000 clean energy products in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. We are present in 16 districts of each state. Her company, Frontier Markets is targeting 50 million households in next in 5 years.

3. Harish Hande

The co-founder of SELCO and the recipient of the prestigious “Ramon Magsaysay Award” in 2011, Harish Hande’s social enterprise – SELCO has been working vigorously with the objective of putting the solar power technology within the reach of the poor. Hard pressed with solving the problem of energy requirement in the rural households, Hande led SELCO is dedicated towards providing sustainable energy services to the poor. He believes providing sustainable technologies to the rural people is the key to poverty eradication in Rural India. He has successfully earned himself the reputation of installing 120,000 systems in Karnataka. India Today marked him as one of the 50 pioneers of change in India.

4. Sushmita Ghosh

Formerly a journalist, she founded Changemakers in 1992, which is an online platform for open source problem solving. It now provides instructions in change making for social change organizations and ordinary citizens, ultimately aspiring to form a self-energizing community of changemakers. She later served as President of Ashoka from 2000 to 2005. Serving as a board member of a multitude of non-profit organizations around the world, and a council member at the American India Foundation. Her leadership has driven Ashoka’s growth and its support programs for the global citizen sector.

5. Trilochan Sastry

Professor Trilochan Shastry, formerly the Dean (Academics) at IIM Bangalore is presently the Cofounder of Centre for Collective Development (CCD), a Hyderabad based NGO. His NGO, working for the cause of the farmers, has successfully set up 50 cooperatives with 2500 members over two districts of Andhra Pradesh – Adilabad and Anantapur. In the wait of more funds, he says he will consider taking a 2 year sabbatical from IIM-B and engaging full time with CCD. Nevertheless, he has been managing work at two fronts and is completely dedicated to solving the issues of the poor, especially the farmers.

6. Hanumappa Sudarshan

One of the well renowned social entrepreneurs and tribal rights activists, Hanumappa’s pursuits towards helping the downtrodden section of the society has made him a prestigious recipient of the Padma Shri and the Right Livelihood Award. After graduating from Bangalore Medical College, he decided to work with tribal communities. In 1980, he started the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra for the integrated development of the tribals in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. He is also the founder and Honorary Secretary of the Karuna trust, which is dedicated towards the cause of rural development in the states of Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh.

7. Akanksha Hazari

A Social Entrepreneur, Businesswoman and Peace negotiator, her pursuits in solving the problem of global water shortage in the form of m.Paani led her all the way to be honored by President Bill Clinton with 1 Million dollars. She is working towards empowering underserved families with the skills, knowledge, and tools necessary to achieve the life they aspire through a mobile-based rewards program that empowers underserved communities by connecting their spending and positive behaviors to valuable points that are redeemed for social impact rewards to transform their lives.

8. Shaheen Mistri

The Founder of the Akansha Foundation, her objective is to educate the unprivileged, belonging to the downtrodden sections of the society. The Akanksha Foundation, works primarily in education to impact the lives of such children. Over a period of 20 years, Akanksha Foundation, which started with just 15 children in one center, now teaches over 3,500 children in 58 centers and 6 schools. Her objective is to remove illiteracy at the grassroot level.

9. Aditya Baran Mallik

His Initiative- The Institute for Quality skill training works towards skill training to the youth belonging to poor background in order to help them achieve a better life. He believes that providing skilled training to everyone, especially the downtrodden, is the key for them to achieve a better livelihood. Aditya and his team plan to set up training centers over 13 states in India to reach a training capacity of 50,000 students annually.

10. Chetna Gala Sinha

Founder and President of Mann Deshi Foundation and a great advocate of women empowerment, she aims to empower women in the rural areas by inculcating entrepreneurial skills. She aspires to create 1 Million women entrepreneurs in India by 2020. She helps in coordinating and managing three institutions that together help create alternate livelihoods and incomes for rural women: a women-owned rural cooperative bank that extends a range of financial services; a rural mobile MBA school that offers skill and entrepreneurship training; and a chamber of commerce that facilitates market and policy linkages.

If you think we have missed out on a few names which are ought to be in the list of top social entrepreneurs in India, let us know through the comments below or you can mail us at team[at]thehackerstreet[dot]com.

Team THS

The Hacker Street is an online media publishing platform working with the early stage Indian startups and visionary entrepreneurs. With a mission to help and nurture the startup ecosystem in India.

Latest posts by Team THS (see all)

[businesstouchmagazine]

Teach For India (TFI), an education-focused nonprofit that gets graduates and young professionals to teach children

Read Full article on.. Visit : https://businesstouchmagazine.com/shaheen-mistri-teach-for-india-helping-children-from-marginalised-communities Email : info@businesstouchmagazine.com Call : +919034004324

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[krishnamaheshwari30098]

3 Simple ways to help an underprivileged child.

Millions of people are famishing and forced to live a life in the absence of basic comforts. They do not have food, clothes, and houses to live safe and healthy. 40% of India's population is below the age of 18 years which at 400 million is the world's largest child population. One in every ten children is disabled in India. Only 38% of India's children below the age of 2 years are immunized. In India, only 53% of dwellings have a primary school. In India, only 20% of the population have a secondary school. On an average, a higher primary school is 3 km away in 22% of areas under habitations. In nearly 60% of schools, there are less than two teachers to teach Classes I to V. On average, there are less than three teachers per primary school. They have to conduct classes from I to V every day. Dropout rates increase alarmingly in class III to V, its 50% for boys, 58% for girls. 1 in 40, a primary school in India is conducted in open spaces or tents. More than 50 percent of girls fail to enrol in school; those that do are likely to drop out by the age of 12. 50% of Indian children aged 6-18 do not go to school.

What can we do as individuals?

- Support them

- NGO

Connect with NGOs to understand the need in the community and support the families who are struggling to support and fund their children's future. Below mentioned are some NGOs working towards the same goal of raising money for the underprivileged children.

Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA)

BBA is one such organisation that is running with local law enforcement and policy-makers to preserve child rights. Millions of migrant workers & daily wage earners and labourers have lost their livelihood due to the lockdown. Their young children are at risk of becoming victims of trafficking, forced/bonded labour, commercial sexual exploitation, or even illegal organ harvesting. Donate to this organisation today to protect child rights.

Make A Difference (MAD)

Ideated by six passionate friends in Kochi, this youth-driven organization registered as a nonprofit in 2006. Currently, the organization works with 3,400 children in 23 cities with the help of an impressive 3,800 strong volunteer base.

Teach for India (TFI)

Shaheen Mistri, the founder of TFI, believes that only a people’s movement can ensure children’s quality education. With a presence in 7 cities where 1,100 fellows are shaping the lives of 38,000 students, TFI is ensuring children receive education and at the same time building dynamic young leaders.

Child Help Foundation (CHF)

CHF imparts quality education to needy children through our various projects. Child Help Foundation today supports Child Care Institutes and Schools across the country. CHF supports them to complete their primary and secondary education.

Child help foundation today has touched the lives of 3,24,207 children staying in various Child Care Institutions and Schools and still reaching out to those who need our support.

- Raise Funds and Seek donations

Raising funds online is the new trend and is the easiest way to provide help to the unfortunate and needy. Anyone interested in raising funds can raise campaigns with a proper and accurate cause and storyline to raise funds for the children in need.  

Causes can be raised for the supply of educational materials to building a school for the backward and underprivileged.

- Adopt a career for the child

Help any child who has visions for his future and provide the child with mental and financial support. Guide the child with the right path to his dreams. Render him with ideas and suggestions for the road which the child has chosen for himself.

- Give them hope in life

Every life born in this world should have a fair chance in life, but sometimes it is difficult for some due to lack of facilities, opportunities and mostly because of money. This leads to a loss of light or hope in life, where the child cannot walk down the path that the child wants to.

Therefore, We need to motivate children, help them when they are moving down the wrong path and guide them.

- Educate them

- Mobile School

Convert any abandoned bus, vans to a classroom and help educate children in rural areas by driving into the depths of rural areas where there are villages located. In this manner, this can become a mobile school. Money can be raised online to help in the management of these types of methods

.- Create a positive atmosphere

Children living in slums tend to get distracted very easily with other random things happening. It is a key point to create a positive atmosphere, so the children can understand all the possibilities and opportunities they have moving on in life.

- Determine what each student is interested in

Every single child has their imaginations and mindset with respect to things. Understanding a child's need is the main objective to help in guiding the child's future.

- Measure this progress frequently

All children have their own mental capabilities in understanding school work and subjects. It is essential to track the progress of the child in his school work and help those who lack behind. This will help children who require extra tutoring in studies.

- Volunteer

You can volunteer as a teacher and as a guidance counsellor in helping the children and educating them.

-  Provide them with study materials

Donate study materials such as books, digest, textbooks, publications, and children. Help in raising money for the study matter or start an online campaign of a crowdfunding website. Due to Covid Pandemic, every learning institute opted for online methods securing social distancing to avoid the spread of the ongoing pandemic. This created a digital divide between the privileged and not so privileged, there was chaos in the start specially in middle class and lower class families due to unavailability of these advanced resources. You can help us provide them with these materials so that they can cope up with the privileged and not lag behind in their studies.

Arrange activities

- Set Up a small training unit to teach skills to children

Step up training programmes to help kids learn new skills and also to create interest in new upcoming projects and activities. Young people need to hold on to the curiosity and love of learning they possessed as children. The early the skill process is started, the best it will be for the coming future.

- Present children with Outdoor sports activities

Children have time and freedom to move around, run off their energy, potential and develop sweat, through physical outdoor activities, they can improve their speed, strength, stamina and instrument skills. This results in support of the improvement of their self-image, self-esteem and an awareness of their own body. Outdoor sports build one's character and his/ her good for keeping physical health in check.

- Introduce them to arts and craft

Arts and craft help in bringing out the creative side of the child. It provides children with a unique, fun, creative, opportunity to learn and improve their skills. A creative outlet shows your child that he or she can make choices and be innovative in a variety of ways.

Contributing in small ways and helping in making others' lives better will give you immense joy and pleasure. This is the time to contribute and raise money for our upcoming future.

Raise money through our crowdfunding website https://filaantro.org/

[sugermint]

This motivational story of Indian women entrepreneur, Shaheen Mistri will inspire you.

[naaradpr]

MY MOTHER ALWAYS SAID UNLESS YOU ARE INDEPENDENTLY EARNING, DO NOT GET MARRIED – SONALI BENDRE AFTER SUSHMITA SEN AND SONAM KAPOOR, SONALI BENDRE TO BE HONOURED WITH THE 'I AM WOMAN’ AWARD The ‘I am Woman’ Awards, an initiative that celebrates the inspiration of women was created by Harvard & IE Alumnus Dr. Karan Gupta and IE Business School four years ago. This award is a movement that believes the fact that women are reservoirs of strength. On this platform every year, powerful women speak about their personal and professional lives, thereby inspiring many others. In its fourth edition, the I Am Woman Awards once again celebrated and awarded women achievers for their extraordinary work, breaking the glass ceiling in their respective fields. The awardees this year included Actor and Author Sonali Bendre, Entrepreneur and Designer Neeta Lulla, Activist Dr. Sindhutai Sakpal, Infosys Learning Head Kisha Gupta, Genesis Cofounder Deepika Gehani, Author Priya Kumar, Activist and Lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat and Activist Neehari Mandali while the event was hosted by power women Actress Manasi Joshi Roy and Singer Manasi Scott alongside Actors and Directors Rohit Roy, Tanuj Virwani and Parvin Dabas. Guests and celebrities at the prestigious award ceremony included Zayed Khan, Sulaiman Merchant, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, and Sandeep Soparkar, among others. I Am Woman 2017 winner Krishika Lulla and I Am Woman 2016 winners Kiran Bawa, Maheka Mirpuri and Reshma Merchant were also present. This discussions this year ranged from empowering women in business to how women can create positive impact in their respective communities. Empowering women, actor Sonali Bendre who was undergoing treatment for a high-grade cancer in New York and is back to work after a long hiatus, stated, “My mother always said unless you are independently earning, do not get married. If you are not economically independent, you can never really stand up for yourself. Then it’s up to you, if you want to give it up tomorrow. That’s different. That’s a choice you make. But you have to start out with being economically independent. Given that, there is always a kind of equality in your relationship.” She further added, “I always love awards, as well as the rewards but awards are always special. And I think that the Karan Gupta Education Foundation is doing a lot of good work and this award means more specially because there is so much of good work going into it,” enthused Sonali Bendre. The other awardees of this year also shared their honour and delight at receiving the award this year. In 2018, the I Am Woman Award was given to Sushmita Sen, Tata Group Industrialist Leah Tata, Actress & RJ Malishka Mendonsa, Activists Jyoti Dhawale and Preethi Srinivasan, Advocate Abha Singh, Artist and Philanthropist Michelle Poonawalla, International Designer Falguni Shane Peacock, and Entrepreneur Bhavna Jasra; in 2017, the I Am Woman Award was given to Amruta Fadnavis, Laxmi Agarwal, Gauri Sawant, Farah Khan Ali, Malini Agarwal, Shaheen Mistry, and Krishika Lulla while in In 2016, the award was given to Sonam Kapoor, Reshma Merchant, Maheka Mirpuri, Raunaq Roy, Kiran Bawa, Nisha Jamvwal, Devita Saraf, Amrita Raichand, Rouble Nagi and Lucky Morani. Expressed Dr. Karan Gupta, ““IE Business School and KGEF actively support and encourage women in business and have special scholarships for women. We recognize the challenges that women in business face and wish to support them in every way that we possibly can.” Winding up, one cannot help but think of to a song that dates back to the 70’s… ‘I am a Woman… Hear me roar, In numbers too big to ignore. If I have to, I can do anything. I am strong, I am invincible, I am a Woman.’

[inventivaindia]

With a myriad of poems and stories, Shaheen Mistri brought a wholesome emotion to the usual hustle-bustle of TechSparks

With a myriad of poems and stories, Shaheen Mistri brought a wholesome emotion to the usual hustle-bustle of TechSparks

After hearing about brand strategies, blockchain and business-models, Teach for India’s Shaheen Mistri brought a different dynamic to TechSparks, with a heartfelt poem and many touching stories. 

At TechSparks2018, Teach for India’s CEO Shaheen Mistri was a breath of fresh air. After panels and sessions on product strategies, education and scaling up businesses, the auditorium was enamoured with…

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Shaheen Mistri

Shaheen Mistri was born on March 16, 1971 in Mumbai, India. In 1989, she founded the Akanksha Center. This later grew into the Akanksha Foundation, a charity for low-income children that now serves over four thousand children in 16 schools and 51 centers. She is also a founder and CEO of Teach for India, and serves on the boards of several other charities.

Happy birthday, Shaheen Mistri!

[beforbeauty]

The Way Forward with Shaheen Mistri and The Good Crusaders

The Way Forward with Shaheen Mistri and The Good Crusaders

They are people, like me, who hope to write and instill courage and compassion, and there are some of us who actually do something about it.

When I started this blog, I wanted to be able to write about things that didn’t fit in a magazine format. Things that had touched me or that I felt for. With our tagline “all things beautiful”, both Pragati and I feel that education has a huge role to play…

[sauradevelopers]

CELEBRATING 5 YEARS OF FOAID <a href="https://www.savidevelopers.com">Savi Developers</a>

CELEBRATING 5 YEARS OF FOAID 

Post-event report Mumbai edition :

lavish inaugural launched by distinguished architects and designers kick-started the Festival of Architecture and Interior Designing into its 5th year of design celebration. As FOAID received over 3000 prolific minds from around the country at the Mumbai edition, it truly transformed into a networking platform to exchange ideas, inspire and engage in knowledgeable conversations about the design industry. The Design Arena had visitors witness art and furniture installations designed by students. Illustrious architects and designers showcased over 250 built, un-built and ongoing national and international projects at the exhibition. FOAID brought about an air of interaction and expanding vision.

  Having brought together prominent panelists, speakers, and jury members, the conference organized a number of keynote addresses, presentations, panel discussions and competitions across two days. The topics for the conference were conceived to inspire and encourage delegates to raise questions and initiate a conversation. Design Manthan at FOAID was especially an excellent opportunity for all delegates traveling from other cities to be guided by and intermix with key designers present at the event as speakers & jurors.

  (L-R) Sunil Philip, Patricia Emma Fernandez Ortiz, Vivek Gupta, Richa Bahl (Large)

The panel discussions were devised keeping in mind the theme for the edition, ��Time to Re:Imagine’. These covered a wide range from presenting personal views over the practice of collaborating with foreign firms to a light-hearted dialogue on design becoming a visual spectacle. Eminent designers like Naresh Narasimhan, Tony Joseph, Asha Sairam, Tony Kunnel, Nuru Karim, and many more and many more delivered compact and inspiring presentations on varying topics.

The topics for the conference were conceived to inspire and encourage delegates to raise questions and initiate a conversation. One such topic that garnered soared attention from the audience was a discussion on fees in the profession. Prashant Sutaria steered the discussion with fellow panelists Anubhav Gupta, Barun Pal Chowdhury, J.P Agrawal, Ratan J Batliboi, Sandeep Shikhre and Virendra Khare. The panel corresponded ideas through which the fee structure can be re-imagined, amongst other things.

(L-R) Prashant Sutaria, Anubhav Gupta, Barun Pal Chowdhury, J.P. Agrawal, Ratan J Batliboi, Sandeep Shikre, Virendra Khare during panel discussion (Large)

Anubhav referenced foreign practices while suggesting migration from the quantity of area standpoint to a staffing exercise while structuring fees. Ar. Batliboi and Mr. Barun agreed to a counterpoint. They opined working smarter, establishing and respecting your own worth and not agreeing to anything lower than what you deserve as key changes that need to be made to handle client dealings. “How can you choose somebody based on the fee structure?” Sandeep questioned. His applaudable monologue touched upon all factors contributing to the unequal practices in the profession. He recognized the architect as an artist whose value is bargained and negotiated. To tackle some of the issues he presented various solutions like raising the fee structure, negotiation of fees before commencing a project and redefining the relationship between the tangible value of a firm and the remuneration it receives.

As J.P rightly said, the fees may be subjective but there need to be benchmarks for salaries of fresh graduates as is the case with other courses. Virendra shared his advice to younger designers. While acknowledging the difficulties and disparities in the income structure, he strongly backed working hard without expectations at the start of one’s career. A higher project quality will speak for higher fees in future projects. The discussion covered the responsibilities of the council as well as the norms of competitions. The panel came to a close after an elaborate question-answer round from the audience.

Yatin Patel, DSP Design Presenting during the conference (Large)

Ar. Yatin Patel of DSP Design, Mumbai spoke about his firm’s area of specialization, offices. He talked about the demographics of the current working population and what is in place for the design of future office spaces. “Who is the client? What are we designing for?” are the questions he addresses before commencing work on any project. With statistics in place reiterating the fact that 75% of the working population would consist of millennials by the year 2030, he listed factors brimming with what makes the millennial workforce tick. They are not afraid to change jobs. They need space but also interaction. Minding their seemingly preferred dynamic variety of options, Yatin’s ‘Adaptable Offices’ concept allows them the freedom to co-habitat a working space flexible to their needs. “Work is not a place to go, it is an activity,” he stated. By giving up the desk, one can gain the whole office. From public to semi-private and private, each area is designed to collaborate, converse, concentrate or relax and socialize. They also concentrate on well being and biophilic design as a way of connecting with nature and unwinding. This way of design gives a whole new atmosphere to the usual office.

Moreover, a series of unique & brief presentations by four creative minds namely Patrica Emma Fernandez Ortiz, Richa Bahl, Sunil Philip, and Vivek Gupta made for an engaging analogue. D Talks encouraged fun and thoughtful correspondence on‘Purpose fuels Passion’. The award ceremony felicitating winners of the various competitions like Everest Design Challenge, Expressions, Architecture Ideas, Creative Minds Next conducted by FOAID brought forth a range of untapped and budding talent.

The annual furniture making design competition, ‘Wood is Good’ invited design students from architecture and design schools to showcase their upcoming talent & creativity. The creations stemmed out of Canadian wood, sustainably sourced from the forests of Canada encourages upcoming talent. Aditya College of Design and Studies emerged as the winner for their installation, ‘The Dexterous Box’. Kamla Raheja College for Architecture and Environmental Studies and Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Architecture were the first and second runner-up colleges respectively. Aakif Habib, Ali Baldiwala, Huzefa Rangwala, Shaheen Mistry, and Tejal Mathur served as the mentors for the five participating colleges.

Noticeably, the 5th edition of FOAID was a grand success. The event weaved together a varied set of activities and events to keep the visitors captivated. The event will celebrate the world of design again next year with a renewed vigour and equal dedication.

  The post CELEBRATING 5 YEARS OF FOAID appeared first on The Architects Diary.

from The Architects Diary http://bit.ly/2Ums29F via SAVI Developers

[lazyupdates]

The Indian education system has been subjected to a lot of scrutinies in the last few years. The pressing need, as always, has been to enhance its scope and efficiency. How do we move the schools from rote-learning to meaningful way of gaining knowledge? The answer, as per educationist and industry pioneers like Shantanu Prakash, Aditya Nataraj, and Byju’s Ravichandran, lies in the holistic relook and revamp of India’s education sector.

The concern was brought into the picture at the recently held sixth Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai, where educationists and industry experts emphasized the need for a shift in current policies for meeting the needs of modern learners.

“A relook at the Indian education sector is inevitable, given that the current system was developed in the pre-Independence era for just 5 per cent of the population, and that too for clerical roles, with no room for creativity or promoting social reorganisation,” said Aditya Nataraj, Founder director Kaivalya Education Foundation, a social change organisation working in the field of education.

Mr. Nataraj focused on replacing the system of “monitoring, inspection, and suspension” with the one that “enables, empowers and inspires” students.

The Global Education and Skills Forum saw diverse opinions for propagating robust changes in the country’s education segment. Shaheen Mistri, CEO of a non-profit organization, Teach for India, suggested the inclusion of ‘love’ factor, deeming it central for revolutionizing the sector.

“This includes a five-step approach of creating safe spaces for voices, promoting the spirit of partnership between educators and kids, view children as change-makers, driving regional and national dialogue on equity in education, and encouraging experiments in reimagining education,” Mistri said.

The present system of education has a number of loopholes. “It mainly focuses on incessant memorization with no meaningful learning at all,” says Shantanu Prakash, founder of the digital education firm Educomp Solutions. It makes millions of students the victims of a futile, unrealistic, and monotonous rat race. The plight is well-reflected in the words of Stephen Leacock, the well-known humorist and writer who summed up the education system.

“Parrots would pass the examination of our time better than men. It is the one who has a sharp memory that will make the highest score, though he may clear forget everything just the following morning,” he once said.

Shantanu Prakash deems creativity and innovation as the only panacea to liberate the education system from the tenets of mechanistic and obsolete learning. Fostering the concept of ‘smart learning’, his venture, Educomp Solutions garnered significant success in addressing the pain points in the current education system.

Current plight of Indian education sector calls for a holistic relook, says Shantanu Prakash

[drprunesquallor]

On the 8th March, International Women’s Day,  I attended the second annual awards ceremony organised by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). The ceremony recognised people who had gone out of their way to help the cause of women in India.

I tried to slip into the Constitution Club without being noticed. This didn’t work because I am a man, and a white man at that. I stuck out like a sore thumb. An official from DCW recognised me, and even knew that I was from MSF. She frog marched me from my unobtrusive seat at the back, to the very front row, which was reserved for VIPs and award winners.

I didn’t last long here. The organisers apologised and put me in the second row, right in the middle. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, so all these photographs were taken using my cellphone. One of our national doctors accompanied me on her day off, translating for me when necessary.

The chairperson was the chief of DCW, Swati Maliwal Jaihind. She is extremely passionate in her battle against sexual and gender based violence. Check out Michael Safi’s article in The Guardian on 4th May, “Her pain should be our pain” – the woman tackling Delhi’s rape crisis.

One of the key speakers was the head of the Delhi Government, left-winger Arvind Kejriwal. He received rapturous applause from the audience. He announced some popular reforms but had to scurry away to sort out last minute changes to the budget.

The stories of some of the award recipients were very moving. Decades ago, Subhasini Mistry’s husband died because he could not afford medical treatment. She sold vegetables to finance her son’s medical school education and finally set up a small free “humanity hospital” in a village in West Bengal, with a branch in Kolkata. She was tiny.

The police were honored, one posthumously, for going beyond the call of duty when dealing with crimes against women. One man rescued children from a school bus trapped in a flooded underpass, even though the water was up to his neck and he couldn’t swim. Two male constables delivered a baby at a bus terminal. One constable cracked the case of a serial child rapist by exceptional detective skill, checking criminals with a similar modus operandi, finally leading to the arrest of Sunil Rastogi.

Sakshi Malik overcame discrimination, sexism and other hardships before winning a wrestling medal at the Rio Olympics. Other sports women were honoured, such as Suvarna Raj, the medal-winning disabled table-tennis player.

Shaheen Malik with the white dupatta

Shaheen Malik is an acid attack survivor who has worked with other survivors, promoting free care at private hospitals for other acid attack survivors.

Laila Shah and other transgenders blocked the gates to Trilokpuri when an angry mob wanted to wreak havoc. She was stoned but stood firm and even swept up the broken glass and bricks afterwards.

Laila Shah

Bhori Devi Kumhar was brutally gang raped in front of her husband when she tried to stop a child marriage (the bride was one year old) in 1992. Her family was ostracized. The courts, police and doctors impeded her fight for justice.  The court did not believe the testimony of her husband. The PIL led to the Vishaka Guidelines, outlining sexual harassment in the workplace, and the subsequent Act in 2013.

Several women were commended for fighting back when thieves tried to steal their handbag or mobile phones (one was a judo black belt holder!).

Neetu Singh started a school near Pragati Maidan for street children, mainly girls. She had no financial aid, no source of income and was harassed by local goons who wanted to use the children for begging. She now teaches 40 children and is being helped by some local volunteers. Another education effort was commended, the “Free School: Under the Bridge”, situated under an urban motorway flyover.

Head Constable Bharti has taught self defence to over ten thousand girls and women. “If you can bring together a group of 50 women, we will train them,” she said.

Doris Francis’ 17 year old daughter was killed at an accident black spot on the road in 2008. Since then she has been directing traffic and pedestrians at that junction between 7-11am each day. “No one should have to die like my daughter did.”

Female scientists, including Dr Anita Bhardwaj were also honoured. She provided “high altitude” expert clinical help during the recent Nepal earthquake, in a village at 11,400 feet above sea level. She has dedicated her medical career to humanitarian causes.

The ceremony was tremendously moving. At the end, a mob of university students dressed in black pyjamas invaded the stage, chanting and singing, drumming and dancing. This is street theatre in India. It has two levels of volume level 10 and 11. They depicted outrageous injustice in a series of sketches. The Asmita group were very impressive. And LOUD.

Some of the audience at the awards ceremony

Lunch was in a marquee, with long queues of hungry ladies with sharp elbows. Being British, I couldn’t stop myself from queuing. Everyone pushed in front of me, probably wondering why I wasn’t starving. Finally, a group of students from the street theatre group took pity on me and shepherded me to the vats of curry, rice and dahl on another table.

I sat on the matting and had lunch with one of the award winners, a lovely girl with Down Syndrome. We managed to have a conversation with lots of gestures and mime. She really enjoyed her few minutes in the limelight. I left her to get us some dessert, gulab jamun, but when I returned she had gone. I am ashamed to admit that I ate her portion too. Delicious.

    International Women’s Day On the 8th March, International Women's Day,  I attended the second annual awards ceremony organised by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

[indilens]

The Way Forward with Shaheen Mistri and The Good Crusaders

http://dlvr.it/NNtBkJ

[c4nindia-blog]

KETTO shares 7 Stories That Define Women Empowerment

Ketto is an online crowd funding space for social causes and is based in Mumbai, India. It was founded on 15 August 2012 by Varun Sheth along with film and theatre actor Kunal Kapoor. In its first year, Ketto raised INR 4.5 million for 18 campaigns. Their causes ranged from education to women’s empowerment. 

Spokesperson: 

Varun Sheth:  

Varun is the Founder and CEO of Asia's largest crowd funding website "Ketto". He has a background in finance and a foregrounding in genius. He was born and brought up in Mumbai; did his schooling in Jamnabai Narsee School and college in Narsee Monjee. Having always been interested in the financial sector, he went on to do a couple of financial programs that included chartered financial analyst (CFA) and financial risk management (FRM).

Kunal Kapoor: 

Kunal was born in Mumbai to a Punjabi family whose origins are in Amritsar. He is a film and theater actor by profession achieving many successes till date including Rang De Basanti, Aja Nachle etc. He's also super clever and has a heart of pure, sunshiny gold which landed him into social work. Mostly, known to be a tech geek, he co-founded Asia's largest crowd funding platform called Ketto, which raises money for social and individual causes. Till date, the platform has raised close to 400 million rupees.

KETTO has shared 7 Stories That Define Women Empowerment with us,

1. Kavita Gonsalves and Charlene Vaz

Image Courtesy: mumbaimag.com

Take a few bakers, mix a few noble causes, add chocolate, red velvet and whipped cream to it. What do you get? Except from the revelation that we have terrible cannibalistic baking skills, you get the super awesome Bake Collective.

Since their inception in 2012, they’ve been making a delicious difference to a huge range of causes by raising over 7 lakhs as of 2015, May. It’s like, buy red velvet cupcakes and help buy teaching material, buy strawberry cheesecakes and fund small town women entrepreneurs, buy monster cookies and get disabled children toys to play with. They’re literally making the world a sweet place to live in, aren’t they?

Isn’t this the best form of charity ever?

2. Anita Ahuja:

Anita wanted to do something about the waste crisis of Delhi; she came up with an ingenious idea that ended up creating employment opportunities and source of income for around 300 unskilled workers.

Image Courtesy: blogcms.outlookindia.com

With her NGO Conserve, she creates bags, diaries, raincoats, umbrellas out of plastic waste through a process that she invented herself. She also patented this innovative process that “up-cycles” waste plastic to Handmade Recycled Plastic, known as HRP.

Anita sure knows how to club the principles of enterprise and social service.

3. Karishma Mehta

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when we say ‘a well captured picture with warm stories of dreams, failures, and hopes on Facebook? Yes, you’re right! We’re talking about the wonderful Humans of Bombay page founded by Karishma Mehta.

Image Courtesy: thebetterindia.com

Along with establishing a powerful connection with the reader, she has also gone out of the way to help people. Not many people are aware of this but Karishma has started several campaigns on Ketto to support causes and has raised an overwhelming amount of funds for the causes she supports. Check out one here. With tremendous reach and a lot of support, it’s super amazing to see her use it for a greater purpose.

We think it’s brilliant to see a community go beyond sharing stories and create amazing ones.

4. Shaheen Mistri

We take a lot of pride in being associated with Shaheen Mistri, founder of Teach for India. She has raised funds on Ketto several times. This woman is ensuring the future generations don’t stop at the fifth grade.

Image Courtesy: outlookbusiness.com

She’s responsible for the nationwide movement of eradicating educational inequality by bringing the brightest college graduates and professionals back to classrooms! Not just that, she started her NGO Aakanksha at the age of 18, to make an attempt to maximize the potential of children belonging to low-income families. She realizes how every child has the power to achieve great things if given the right opportunities.

By raising the quality of education, she’s creating responsible citizens for India.

5. Mahita Fernandez

One night Mahita woke up because of her grumbling belly and this precise incident is how she came up with the brilliant “Feed Your Neighbour”. She realized how there are many out there who don’t have the privilege of just walking into their kitchens and opening the fridge when they experience a hunger pang.

Image Courtesy: bangaloremirror.com

Sometimes even the smallest of the insights can lead to a movement.

With “Feed Your Neighbour” on Facebook, during the festive period of Dusshera, Mahita invites people in Benguluru to cook 5 extra meals which are later picked and distributed by a fleet of enthusiastic volunteers. This simple concept has pulled off a logistical miracle by managing to feed 1,22,937 meals to the hungry.

6. Amla Ruia

She’s rightly called the “Water Mother” of the formerly known dry state of Rajasthan. While the government was helping them with water tanks, Amla started researching and planning on how she could build a sustainable solution to help people. And because of her idea of building check dams, Rajasthan is a different place altogether today.

Image Courtesy: womensweb.in

The farmer incomes have increased and become steady because they are now able to grow 3 crops in a year as opposed to 1, larger incomes have led to purchase of transport amenities like 1 to 2 motorbikes per family and 4-5 tractors per village, migration to cities has reduced and believe it or not, it has also affected the marriage pattern, people are willing to marry their daughters there.

With her Aakar Charitable Trust, she wishes to take this to other states as well.

7. Ria Sharma

During her final semester in Leeds College of Arts, she watched a movie called Saving Face and that moved her so much she decided to do something about the heinous crime of acid attacks by helping the survivors.

Image Courtesy: womennow.in

On receiving immense support from her professors, she travelled to Bangalore to meet some of the victims as a part of her project that required creating a documentary. Soon this project evolved into a massive revolution called Make Love Not Scars.

Under her leadership, the NGO has now spread awareness, raised funds for the treatment of victims, and even made attempts at implementation and amendments of laws with respect to acid attacks.

It’s great to see how many lives these women impacted with their ability to identify a problem, think of a solution, believe in it and most importantly ACT on it!

All you wonderful women out here, bring your beautiful ideas to life.

Identify your cause and get started with a campaign on Ketto. Maybe you’ll be the next woman we’ll be talking about.

[inventivaindia]

A letter from Shaheen Mistri – capturing reflections from 10 years of Teach For India

A letter from Shaheen Mistri – capturing reflections from 10 years of Teach For India

Given the opportunity, every child has the potential to achieve great things, and access to quality education creates this opportunity for children from low-income communities by levelling the playing field. Shaheen Mistri, CEO and Founder at Teach For India, emphasized this thought in capturing some of her most significant reflections in the last 10 years of building Teach For India’s vision…

[naaradpr]

Amruta Fadnavis, Krishika Lulla, Laxmi Agarwal, Gauri Sawant, Shaheen Mistri and Farah Khan Ali honoured with the I Am Woman Awards

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform'.” – Diane Mariechild.

'I am Woman’ Awards initiative is a movement that believes and celebrates the fact that women are reservoirs of strength, and awards the inspiration of women. On this platform every year, powerful women speak about their personal and professional life and inspire many others.

The brainchild of Harvard Alumni Karan Gupta, the founder of Karan Gupta Education Foundation and the Managing Director of IE Business School, I Am Woman derives its name from the lyrics of a 70s song, 'I am a woman... hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore.'

The recipients of the ‘I Am Woman Award 2017’ include Amruta Fadnavis – Social Activist & Banker, Farah Khan Ali – Jewellery Designer, Krishika Lulla – Producer & Filmmaker, Gauri Sawant – Transgender Activist, Laxmi Agarwal – Campaigner – Stop Acid Attacks, Malini Agarwal – Founder & Creative Director of Miss Malini and Shaheen Mistri – Social Activist & Educator, each being a woman who has carved a niche for herself. Besides host Karan Gupta – a Harvard University Alumni, guests at the award ceremony included Madhoo Shah, Mansi Joshi Roy, Rohit Roy, educationists Nitish Shah and Dr.Kamal Gupta, Zarine Khan, Malaika Khan, Reshma Merchant, Kiran Bawa, Maheka Mirpuri, Bina Aziz among many others.

Says Karan Gupta, "I have been working in the field of education for the last 17 years. Initially, when I started my journey I found that there is still a gap which we need to fill when it comes to women in our society. Nothing can be more inspiring than listening to the success stories of our power women. With I Am Woman, we aim to sow the seeds of courage, resilience and empowerment to thousands of women. KGEF and IE Business School are committed to the success of women and IE welcomes women to study in the various programs that the school offers,” said Karan.”

A Brief on This Year’s I Am Woman Awardees…

Amruta Fadnavis – Social Activist & Banker

Our First Lady of Maharastra is working for women empowerment and development of rural India by adopting villages ‘Fetri’ and ‘Kawdas’ to improve sanitation and infrastructure. She supports BMC in wellness of the ‘Sweeper Community’ as well as ‘Film City’ in welfare of film workers.

Farah Khan Ali – Jewellery Designer

She is a renowned gemologist and jewellery designer for top Bollywood celebrities and India’s foremost business families. Farah is promoting and supporting the ‘Antarctic Treaty’ to preserve our planet recycling renewable energy and sustainable living.

Shaheen Mistri – Social Activist & Educator

As a young student she started Akanksha Foundation, a NGO to impact the lives of underprivileged children. Over two decades they have 3500 children in 58 centres and 6 schools. In 2008, Shaheen took on leadership at Teach For India to enlist teachers in low income schools.

Krishika Lulla – Producer & Filmmaker

One of India’s youngest and most successful movie producers who has created several successful and women-centric films like NH10 and Tanu Weds Manu. She has made regional cinema with movies like Phuntroo and Jara Hatke.

Maini Agarwal - Founder & Creative Director of Miss Malini Entertainment

India’s first famous celebrity blogger and social personality. She creates highly engaging multi-platform content towards India's Internet Generation. Malini reaches over 4 Million visitors from 200 countries of which over 80% are women.’

Gauri Sawant – Transgender Activist

Motherhood goes beyond biological ties and she has proved that by adopting a child of a sex worker. Gauri heads an NGO, Sakhi Char Trust that helps victims of HIV and AIDS. Gauri has dedicated her life to providing safety and freedom to transgender, hijras, and LGBT people.

Laxmi Agarwal  - Campaigner - Stop Acid Attacks

She was attacked in 2005 at age 15, by a man whose advances she had rejected.Laxmi advocaed to the Indian Supreme Court to curb acid sales. She is the director of Chhanv Foundation, a NGO dedicated to help the survivors of acid attacks.