Amit Kataria comes from a humble background. Brought up in Choma village, Gurgaon, Haryana by his father, a farmer and mother, a housewife, he always dreamt of making a change in the society. Never having let his walking disability come in the way of his dreams, today he has successfully transformed the lives of many in his village by imparting computer literacy and in the process, setting a precedence worth following.

Amit’s journey began in 2007, “I completed my primary education in Choma but beyond that level of education, there was no opportunity there so I decided to study at a school in West Patel Nagar and passed my tenth and twelfth class there. In my final year, I came back to my village in 2006. I realized that most villagers owned land and money but they had little or no literacy especially in computing. They were ignorant of the need for computer skills. I found that this was the biggest need of my village and its future generations. That was when I decided to start a computer learning institute in my area.”

Students in Rose Computer Academy

With a vision to spread computer literacy throughout India, especially in rural areas, Amit started his venture ROSE Computer Academy in 2007, when he was only nineteen years of age. Having learnt computers, he realized its potential in making his community independent and in the long run, in contributing to strengthening of the economy and the nation at large. At no point of time did Amit lose heart in the face of difficulties even when finances were few and far between, he persisted. “I still remember September 7, 2005, the day when I had earned my first hundred rupees. When I set out to start my institute, I had twenty-three thousand rupees of savings. My maternal uncle agreed to lend me one lakh rupees and I could start my computer lab.”

Amit’s academy has so far trained 300 students from his village, offering courses such as Basic computing, Java, Graphic Designing, Tally, C++ and many others. His is the only academy in Palam Vihar, Gurgaon which offers different kinds of computer courses under one roof, working 18 hours a day. Some of his students have also gone ahead and opened their own enterprises, while others have taken up jobs. Some start working at the academy itself.

One of the students at ROSE Academy is seventeen year old Ashok Silwal. Born in a small village of Nepal, Ashok came to India in 2007. His father is a bus driver at a school in Gurgaon and had no money to support his education so he went back to Nepal and enrolled for a correspondence course in India. “In Gurgaon, my father met Amit Kataria sir. Sir needed an office boy, so I started working with him at the Academy. I soon developed an interest in learning computers. I completed a Certificate Course in Computer Application and Desk Top Publishing and also completed my schooling here. Then I started teaching at the ROSE Academy and earned salary also. Now I am able to contribute to my family too,” Ashok smiles, gleaming with pride.

ROSE Academy has provided computer skills and employment opportunity to many like Ashok. Besides computer education, ROSE Academy also provides learning assistance to students in their studies, considerably brining down the examination failure rate. As Amit puts it, “ROSE academy is like the rose flower that spreads its fragrance everywhere.” True to its name, the work and virtues of the Academy are an inspiration by every measure!

A less traveled track to Tilonia gives one a journey into Indian entrepreneurship and perhaps changes the way our villages are perceived by city dwellers. Tilonia brings you face to face with the real spirit of India. Its misty hopefulness uncovers the nature of the task that is ahead for a social entrepreneur, its uniqueness and challenges.

Tilonia is a small town 25 kms from Kishangarh near Ajmer in Rajasthan. Barefoot College, established in 1972, inspires this town with the conviction that solutions to rural problems lie within the community. These solutions are broadly classified by Barefoot College into solar energy, healthcare, education, water, rural handicrafts, people’s action, communication, women empowerment, income generation, wasteland development, electricity and power as well as social awareness and conservation of ecological systems in rural communities.

Barefoot College was founded by Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy, an Indian social activist and educator. Roy was influenced by the philosophy of Mao Zedong, and modeled his organization after Mao’s Barefoot Doctors. Roy has worked all his life with the Barefoot College.

Spread over more than 8 acres of land, the campus of Barefoot College was built between 1980 and 1986, designed by a team of rural ‘barefoot’ architects, masons, blacksmiths, farmers and members of women groups who sat and struggled through the initial basic designing of the campus. This institution believes in imparting informal, non-structured, on-the-job practical training by identifying the poor, unemployed youth who have been unable to finish their formal education and have returned to their respective villages as dropouts. The five principles which are an integral part of the functioning of the college are equality, collectiveness, self-reliance, decentralization and austerity.

The education program focuses on the overall development of rural children, with literacy being just one part of it. It encourages hands-on or learning-by-doing process of gaining knowledge and skills. Lessons are focused on awareness about the environment and socio-economic and political forces that dominate development. The aim is to provide the children with a right balance of education and literacy so that they choose to stay in their village and work for its development. The college has different programs for children and women. There are Balwadis (rural crèches) established for children between the age of 6 months-5 years for the convenience of working mothers. Night schools have been set up for ‘working children’. There are bridge courses, courses for night school children who aspire to join formal day schools. In these night schools, initiatives like the children’s parliament are established which allow them to participate in the management of their schools through a democratic process. Candidates are selected through a proper election process, giving them an idea of the working of a democracy.

There is also a huge emphasis on the holistic development of women by empowering them socially, financially and politically. In the past 38 years, the college has trained more than 15,000 women in jobs ranging from construction work, education, metal craftsmanship, toy making and solar engineering, to mechanical repair and fabrication, health care, water testing, handicrafts, film making and social activism.

Vocational Training at Tilonia

The Barefoot College has setup eight field centers in Rajasthan and a society known as SAMPDA (Society for Activating, Motivating and Promoting Developmental Alternatives) through the collective efforts of which the Barefoot approach is replicated in rural communities across 14 states in India.

The global response received by the organization is worth acknowledging. The institute has witnessed semi-literate middle aged woman traveling from places as diverse as Afghanistan, Cameroon, Gambia, Mali and Sierra Leone to undergo training to become barefoot solar engineers.

To know more about this organization and to read on some of its wonderful initiatives, please visit their website at www.barefootcollege.org.

In our busy lives where our abilities are taken for granted, we forget that living along with us are challenged people who have special needs. Who could better understand the needs of the visually challenged than someone who has suffered it herself? Madhu Singhal is visually impaired by birth. Born into an upper middle class family in Haryana, Madhu had the affluence to lead a comfortable life. But she chose not to be laid back and wanted to do something on her own.

After completing her MA in Hindustani Classical Vocal Music, Madhu came down to Bangalore to undergo specialized training in communication and counseling. To her surprise and much difficulty, she found that there was very little support for her learning needs. In the North, audio recordings of text books were made available for students like her, but here in Bangalore Madhu couldn’t find any such help. Fighting this difficulty she completed her studies and got out only to find that it was extremely difficult for her to get a job. This is when Madhu decided that no one else should suffer what she suffered. And Mitra Jyothi was conceived.

Mitra Jyothi is aimed at empowering the visually impaired by supporting their educational needs, finding suitable jobs and making them independent enough to take charge of their lives. The organization’s most popular initiative is its Talking Book Library. Text books and books for general reading are given a voice by volunteers, and cassettes and CDs are recorded for circulation. Over 22,000 cassettes of more than 2000 books have been recorded till date. Mitra Jyothi set up its own recording studio to provide this service professionally. Notably, Mitra Jyothi’s effort in this front was the first of its kind in Karnataka and over 5000 people have benefited from the library.

The organization is also extensively involved in Braille transcription and providing computer education to the visually impaired. Mitra Jyothi runs a full-fledged job placement cell for its members, a service that has helped its members find suitable jobs in corporates and manufacturing units. Another admirable service is that the organization runs special courses for women to impart independent living skills.

Mitra Jyothi has been serving the needs of the visually challenged for over two decades now. It has extended its services to Kerala, Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Madhu Singhal has nurtured the organization with her selfless commitment that grew beyond her impairments.  Madhu lives independent, travels abroad on her own, spearheads an organization and chairs important positions in various social service organizations – a true role model. What she has achieved can be made possible for more visually challenged people. Help spread the cause.

Visit http://www.mitrajyothi.org/

We have all read comics when we were young. Many of us continue to read them due to their fascinating nature of conveying stories very easily.

But comics need not necessarily confine to the comedy genre. Can they be used to communicate an issue, a cause or a fact? World Comics India, led by Sharad Sharma, is doing exactly that – using the power of comics to bring about a social change!

World Comics India is a collective of cartoonists, media persons and grassroots activists. This organization makes use of comics to serve as a communication tool and as a mode of self-expression in remote areas of not only India, but many countries in South Asia.

Sharad Sharma, who leads World Comics India, is a cartoonist from Jaipur and has initiated numerous workshops where cartoons and comics are used to spread awareness. A novel idea indeed, considering that comics can easily cut across language barriers!

One of their campaigns was the Girl Child Right Campaign which aimed to address the issue of female infanticide in the region of Western Rajasthan. Here, they trained children and adults in comics making. These trained people in turn created over 300 comics focused on the girl child’s rights. World Comics India then conducted a road-based tour with all this material which was distributed to various villagers and local leaders. You can view all the comics created as part of this campaign here: Girl Child Right Campaign Comics

Similarly, they had also initiated a campaign against corporal punishment in Uttar Pradesh. Students of a school in Maharajganj used comics to spread awareness amongst teachers that punishment by beating is not really the right way to discipline children. Details of this campaign available here: Corporate Punishment campaign.

Their website is comprehensive with a lot of material available for people and organizations to make use of. For instance, the entire manual on how to go about creating these comics is available in both English and Hindi (both files are about 2 MB each).

If interested, you can download a series of videos available on their website which showcases how the various campaigns were initiated and also on how World Comics India trains people in the art of comics making! Click here to view and download all resources related to World Comics India, including a book written by Sharad Sharma and Leif Packalen titled “Grassroots Comics – A Development Communication Tool”.

For contact details, please visit their website www.WorldComicsIndia.com

Pointer to WCI provided by Sunandini Basu of Inktales

Sittilingi is a remote village in Dharmapuri district, 125 km away from Salem town in Tamil Nadu, which used to be a god forsaken land caught under the spell of quacks and black magic. Noisy drums and fake injections were all they had to cure illnesses. This is when Dr. Regi and Dr. Lalitha took the plunge. This doctor couple went ahead to provide medical services to the tribals of Sittilingi, leaving their promising careers in the cities.

The couple found their calling in service to the underprivileged and wanted to use their knowledge where it was needed the most. Their hunt for the right place to offer their service ended at Sittilingi, a totally neglected and ignored tribal village. They ventured into the village, faced tough resistances and now they have emerged successful in establishing a full-fledged medical center for the tribals. A service beyond praises! 

Regi and Lalitha called their service the Tribal Health Initiative (THI). Their perseverance and continued service has brought about dramatic change in the living conditions of the natives. Infant mortality rate in Sittilingi has reduced to 20/1000 and there are no mothers dying in childbirth for the past 5 years. The nutrition levels of children and the general well being of the people have improved to a great extent.

Another striking fact about the Sittilingi initiative is that the girls who serve as nurses at the medical center are personally trained by Regi and Lalitha. When Regi and Lalitha saw that it was extremely difficult to get nurses to work at this tribal village, they decided to go choose smart and trainable girls from the village. This became such a wonderful uplift to the self esteem of the girls that they are extremely proud to be part of this initiative and to serve their community.

THI’s approach to medical care went one step ahead in educating the people and ‘helping the tribals help themselves’. They wanted to create a general understanding about health and health issues and make the natives acquainted with basic first aid. Today, over 21 neighbouring villages are benefiting from the Tribal Health Initiative that sprung at Sittilingi.  

And, the couple didn’t stop with medical facilities. They organize educational programmes, cultural activities and community development initiatives. There is a library facility that is available for children who also get to listen to motivating stories from a community worker every month.  Truly commendable, right?

It is very heartening to know about the selfless and committed service of Regi and Lalitha and many others who are supporting them. You can visit them at Sittilingi and get to know their service better. We also encourage you to support the initiative by contributing to the cause. Visit http://www.tribalhealth.org/

Children in over 70,000 government schools in Bihar are now enjoying reading hundreds of colourful, well-written, and well-produced storybooks – thanks to Pratham Books and its novel mission to see “A book in every child’s hand”.

In our country, children are expected to learn to read and comprehend simple text by the end of their first year in school. Textbooks in early school grades require children to read fluently by the end of class two. However, available evidence indicates that a large proportion of school children are still struggling to recognise letters and decode words after 2 or 3 years of formal schooling. This makes helping children learn to read one of the biggest challenges in India today.

Pratham Books, a children’s book publisher with a difference, is addressing this challenge in style. The organization is a not-for-profit trust that was set up in 2004 with the objective of publishing high quality, low cost books in Indian languages and giving Indian children the opportunity to read interesting books that they can identify with, in their own language.

Last year, the government of Bihar introduced Bodhi Vriksha Karyakram, a programme to improve reading levels in early grades of school. However, for reading skills to actually improve, children need many, many books that stimulate their imagination, expand their minds, and evoke enough interest to keep them reading. In an extremely foresighted move, the Bihar government utilised 2% of the funds provided by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to buy storybooks and other such resources for students of standards 1 and 2.

The Government invited publishers including Pratham Books to participate in ‘Pustak Melas’ held in 37 districts of Bihar from November 2008 to January 2009. The schools were encouraged to attend these Melas and buy books for their students. In what could be the biggest investment in India’s history towards making books other than textbooks available to young children, this programme spent Rs. 30 crores, and reached no less than 6 million children! In just 7 weeks, truckloads of books, approximately 400 tons, were distributed across thousands of government primary schools in Bihar.

The Bihar government’s initiative is a simple, efficient model that can be replicated in other states. Efforts like these immensely improve reading levels among young students, and bring us closer to making India a reading country.

You can get more information on Pratham Books at http://www.prathambooks.org/.

For related articles please visit:

http://blog.prathambooks.org/2009/01/books-reach-children-in-bihar.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9812691/Kitabain-Chali-Bihar-Ke-Bachhoan-Ke-Pass

Khabar Lahariya a weekly newspaper in Bundeli (local dialect of Bundelkhand) is being run by a group of women from various sections of the society from the interiors of Chitrakoot and Banda in Uttar Pradesh. Their main objective is to reach out to the nearby villages and provide them with ‘infotainment’.

Despite having a limited exposure to the literacy and information, their ability to interact with various people in public sphere and coming up with innovative ideas is extremely remarkable. Their works have been acknowledged and credited by leading National Dailies including The New Indian Express, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Tehelka and various other dailies and weekly’s.

In 2008, the Khabar Lahariya group registered themselves as an independent organization, Pahal. With the incredible support from Nirantar, which is an acclaimed centre for gender and education, Pahal has now found its place in rural women’s media collectives of our country.

Khabar Lahariya carries out news that is of primary importance to the masses in and around these areas. Although they do have sections regarding current affairs, national and international news, they strongly highlight the cases of violence against women, issues on Dalits and more. This 8-page newsletter also covers issues on institutions like schools, marriage, health care and more.

Although these journalists do not come from strong literary background, they do ensure the quality does not receive a set back. Significant efforts have been made in order to improve their technical skills, their reporting and writing skills and more. Apart from the above, they also encourage public interactions and gather inputs to cater to the specific needs of the women. Meanwhile, frequent workshops are also being conducted by these women to encourage more writers and volunteers to have an in hand practical experience of running a newspaper.

Depending on the need of the hour, they hold meetings at their editorial office to divide their beats and after enormous research and writing they go all the way to the nearest city Allahabad for printing.

Click on the image below to read an issue of Khabhar Lahariya:

These phenomenal revolutionaries, who have gone beyond their capacity to go on fields, have received the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson. Also, three members of the group have received fellowships from the Dalit Foundation in 2004, for reporting on issues related to rights of the Dalit community.

Overwhelming technological cloud has also been bestowed upon the offices of KL as they now work on computers with broadband connections. The challenge of consistently making an outstanding appearance in the face of media and having an unbiased opinion regarding the political scenario of our country comes very easily to them. They aren’t restricted in writing what their leaders want them to write. They write information regarding subjects that pertain to them. Hats off to the women behind this initiative, they have managed to achieve what many of us with enough resources have been unable to do!

Read more details about Khabar Lahariya, including how the paper is produced, edited and distributed at Nirantar’s website: NIRANTAR

This article written by guest reporter Jheel Parekh.
All images courtesy NIRANTAR.

Meet Laxman Rao. He sells tea on the roadside in Delhi. He is also an author, having penned 20 novels in Hindi so far. What’s more, Hindi is not even his mother tongue! Laxman originally hailed from Maharashtra and has settled down in Delhi, running a tea stall. His interest in writing manifested in the form of a book in the late 70s when he published his first novel Nayi Duniya Ki Nayi Kahani.

When he wrote his first book, no publisher was ready to give him a second glance. After numerous failed attempts at getting the book published, Laxman decided to take the task upon himself. He got the book printed at his own cost and then set out to market it as well! Since then, Laxman has been printing his books and distributing them to various organizations. His books are available at the Delhi Public Library and many school libraries.

Laxman’s penchant for writing started early in his life, during his school years. Since then, he has read a great deal including the works of Gulshan Nanda, Mahatma Gandhi, Shakespeare and many more. By virtue of his novels, Laxman has had the chance to meet Indira Gandhi and recently President Pratibha Patil. Winner of the Inderprastha Sahitya Bharti Award, Laxman is an inspiration for many of us! To know more about Laxman Rao and to see his pictures, please check out the following stories about him:

1. More than his cup of tea | The Tribune – This is a great profile of Laxman, talking about his past, his current life and how he has managed to keep his passion alive.
2. Brewing up Books | Open Magazine – This is a recent article on Laxman and continues to convey his message of positivity and persistence.

Image on the homepage courtesy AFP and The Tribune.

The Divya Chaya Trust (DCT) was established in 1984 mainly to help destitute children and women. Their main aim was to support educational and vocational activities at schools in rural areas and encourage educating the orphans and school drop outs.

Their work is significantly differently as they impart career counseling and provide students with opportunities for further studies. The trust holds confidence building therapies in order to enable women to support themselves financially.

Divya Chaya Trust is located at various states across the northern part of India including West Bengal, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and is currently working with various child care homes and ashrams. These include the SD Jain Mahila Ashram and Arya Bal Griha at Delhi, Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission situated in West Bengal and Delhi.

The trust has around 49 employees who work full time for the establishment and betterment of their reach. Apart from the above, there are approximately 50 volunteers who are working for the same mission.

Their remarkable achievement for the year 2007-2008 is that they have sponsored educational expenses for 500 children. They also had organized seven career counseling sessions for more than 150 children who had graduated and were looking out for jobs.

Their contribution towards the growth of special children with various disabilities is also outstanding. Although the government claims that of the total disabled population only 2% are educated and very few are employed, the DCT is doing their best overcome these figures and make them more presentable for the country. To achieve the same, the trust has various services which are solely for the disabled. They have a range of options to reach the disabled, which include financial aids, or even providing them with simple basic necessities like a hearing aid, a wheel chair or even a Braille kit. A contribution from our end towards supplying these necessities would definitely be of immense support to them.

The most disappointing fact, however, remains that their total income is severely lower than their expenditure. The trust did loose a significant amount which could have been well avoided, had there been enough contribution made towards the trust from citizens.
Despite this, the trust did not loose hope and has recently built a residential home for the elderly at Haryana.

It is truly incredible to know that citizens of our country are going beyond their reach to dissolve the bridge between the privileged and under privileged by ensuring that primary education and fundamental living necessities are being provided to significant section of people.

Read more about Divya Chandra Trust here: http://www.divyachayatrust.org.in/

NGO write up done by guest reporter Jheel Parekh.

In this post we bring to you an insightful interview with Maitreyee Kumar who is the founder of Dream School Foundation. Before we get into the actual questions, here is a brief background about Maitreyee.

Maitreyee started her career as software professional and worked with multinational software development firms in India and abroad for over 8 years before she made a shift towards social development. Her desire for social change and interest in child development through civil society mobilisation urged her to join CRY (Child Rights and You). She worked with CRY in the resource generation and volunteer management divisions for a decade and was instrumental in setting up and coordinating Volunteer Action at national level. Educated at Pune University (Masters in Computer Science), Maitreyee provides leadership and direction to the organisation and is primarily responsible for the overall management and administration of the organisation. She was also a recipient of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust Fellowship.

Interview

The Better India (TBI):Tell us about Dream School Foundation (DSF) and the work that it does?
Maitreyee: Dream School Foundation (DSF) is a Bangalore based non-profit organisation working to ensure the child’s right to quality education. Our School Development Programmes help with holistic development of government schools while our initiative – HeadStart, addresses and assists a smooth transition from primary to secondary stages of education and strives to ensure continuity till the 10th grade for the vulnerable and underserved children.

We started as a group of committed individuals volunteering their time and skills for the cause of quality education for disadvantaged children in Govt. schools. Later we formally registered the organization and now 4 years later, we are fairly established with organizational framework in place, focused school programmes and two Education and Development centres for High School students. The underlying belief of our organisation is faith in people’s ability to contribute towards the education and development of our children.

DSF Volunteers with Maitreyee (5th from right, standing)

TBI: Who has benefited from your program and how have you made a difference?
Maitreyee: The objective of the our intervention at the school level is to enhance the learning levels of the children studying at the government schools through support and partnership with teachers, active participation of the community coupled with intensive class room and school level interventions through trained personnel, teachers & volunteers. We believe that these interventions create an environment and processes, which ensures holistic development and enhanced performance of the school and its students.

Our initiative HeadStart aims to mentor and track individual students from the various schools, we support, through and beyond their Higher Primary / Middle school and High School Education. The underlying driver of the programme is to ensure that children both continue into high school (not drop out) and make an informed choice of schooling in the neighbourhood schools that are willing to give them an opportunity to share a learning experience without being discouraged by the financial liabilities.

The programme is strengthened by volunteer-involvement to mentor and track the performance of the participant – students and motivate them through the commitment of financial support for 3 years of High School Education. It is closely associated with our Learning Centres where the student-participants will have the opportunity to capitalise on Spoken English and Life –Skill Tutoring. We have seen marked improvement in the academic performance as well as personality development of these students and they are much better equipped to face the challenges of the world today.

TBI: What inspired you to create an organization like DSF?
Maitreyee: My experience and exposure as a software professional and later work with CRY gave me lot of opportunity to have a world view of society and social development. I came across several well meaning individuals who wanted to do something to bring about a change but very few ended up doing anything worthwhile. Some of us who were really passionate for the cause of Education and felt it is the only sustainable tool that can empower the nation and bridge the economic divide between communities in India started getting together.

We saw that while govt. efforts have ensured that most children have access to schools, quality education in these schools was still a dream. Schools needed to be equipped to provide education that is more than just development of cognitive abilities and rote learning and make learning an exciting and stimulating experience for children. Thus was born the idea of a Dream School which was developed by this group of passionate individuals with a keen desire to bring about a change.

TBI: How does DSF sustain itself?
Maitreyee: A large percentage of our funding comes from CSR initiatives of corporate firms while another significant part is from individuals and groups.

TBI: What are the schools that are currently under the purview of DSF?
Maitreyee: DSF partners around 20 schools across Bangalore for the Holistic school development and extends its services on smaller scale to several other needy schools. Our schools are primarily located in North Bangalore – RT Nagar, Yeshwantpur, Rajajinagar areas, while we also work with some schools around HAL airport area. Our Learning centres are situated at Yeshwantpur & RT Nagar.

Students at a DSF Adopted School

TBI: What plans do you have for the future?
Maitreyee: This year we would primarily focus on strengthening our interventions both at our existing partner schools and Learning centres. Meanwhile the public education scenario in the urban context is undergoing several reforms and changes. We need to wait and watch before we step further in our programme expansion in urban areas.

Instead it’s the rural schools that are kind of orphan and need developmental support. There we also have tremendous scope for enhancing community participation in the school development. We plan to take on a pilot School development programme in the outskirts of Bangalore, extend our existing programmes to the rural community and then explore possibility of scaling up the initiative.

Computers at the DSF's R T Nagar Center

TBI: In what ways can our readers contribute to DSF?
Maitreyee: DSF owes its beginning to few committed individuals who volunteered for the cause of quality education. We have full faith in people’s ability to contribute towards the nation building process. Whether it is through volunteering your time or financial contributions, each one of you can reach out to underserved children. One can be a member of our School Support teams and volunteer at a school or mentor / teach students at our centres. We are in need of sponsors to contribute to the High School education of our HeadStart children.

One is also welcome to help in specialized areas like website & content development, financial accounts, counseling, child psychology, education etc.

TBI: Any other message you would want to provide or talk about?
Maitreyee: We believe that people at large are responsible for the situation of the state of education and children today. And people should play a proactive role to change the situation through collective action. We need to work on formation and strengthening of alliances that promote collective action which will finally result in influencing govt. policies and bringing about constitutional changes. We as educated citizens need to widen our perspective, get more aware and involved in the education system and advocate the right cause that would benefit a larger population than a narrow segment of society.

Maitreyee is ably supported by DSF’s Co-Founder Sabu Joseph. Sabu holds the post of Director – Strategy & Partnerships. Here is a brief bio of Sabu:
Prior to initiation of DSF, Sabu worked with Centre for Environment Education (CEE), in Bangalore where he initiated and managed projects in Environment and Sustainable Development. He taught Social work and management in IIRM, MATS school of management and was visiting faculty in many management institutions and organisations. His interest lies in training and development and has conducted various programmes in corporate, academic and NGO settings. Sabu currently consults with global organisations on sustainability and business transformation.

He provides vision and direction to DSF and is responsible for strategic planning and partnerships. He holds a Masters in Social Work and also a recipient of Common wealth Secretariat scholarship on Environment Education (TEE).

Contact DSF

For further information, please click here to visit the website of Dream School Foundation.

You can also e-mail DSF: info[at]dsfindia[dot]org