Foundations in Social Innovation and Enterprise: Educating the next generation grassroots

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Educating the next generation grassroots

Economic development has been a serious challenge to tackle for all economies. The success of an economy is defined by ensuring that the basic needs - food (hygienic), water (clean), shelter (provided with electricity) - are met. But, there is a hidden force that can keep this model sustainable - "Education".

A high quality early childhood education is crucial for a country's prosperity. This creates a self-sustainable model.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day;

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

-unknown

Educators face the following challenges in imparting the following f's:

1. Facilities: It is important to have a well built architecture and facilities that make a child's education comfortable - but this involves cost. A few NGOs in rural India have come up with cost-effective innovative ideas to make basic facilities accessible to BoP families.

2. Funding: Entrepreneurship models like Khan academy rely on public funding. Investment in education has always been of low priority because of focus on scarcity of public resources. There needs to be a shift in public understanding of the economics of providing quality education to the GenNext.

3. Fundamental knowledge: The meaning of this word has changed on a generic scale. To prosper in this generation it is not enough to teach people to read and write. The success of organizations like Khan academy is because of internet. In order to know how to use Khan academy tutorials, a child must know to use a computer and the internet.

Why to invest in education?

From an economics standpoint, it creates a WIN-WIN model for society. High-quality early childhood education helps children prepare to become better citizens. Through this, they earn more, pay more taxes, and commit fewer crimes. Early quality education is as important for a productive GenNext workforce as public resources like infrastructure, sanitation and healthcare; because investing in it grows the economy.

I would like to share an example of a latest innovation in Rural India.

Most schools in Rural India lack basic classroom infrastructure. Children write by keeping books on floor which leads to bad posture, poor eye sight and bad hand writing.

An NGO in Mumbai, Aarambh came up with an interesting solution to tackle this problem. They created a dual-purpose portable desk made from recycled cardboard boxes.These desks have simple outlines stenciled, which is then cut and folded into a unique shape that allows it to be used as a desk or as a briefcase-like backpack. The product costs only about 20 cents a piece to produce. Aarambh already distributed some of the Help Desks to schoolchildren in rural Maharashtra, and proved their concept.