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Families that are impoverished have been trapped in the situation for generations. Sustenance and access to basic primary needs like education, and healthcare are grave challenges due to lack of land ownership, illiteracy and lack of stable livelihood. Children from chronically poor backgrounds experience disadvantages like timely enrolment in school, frequent dropping out from school and gaining a lower level of education development.
This has a devastatingly direct impact on their growth, livelihood and further opportunities for inclusion. Education has the transformative power to reduce those vulnerabilities, eliminate stigma, discrimination and empower them. Equity, resilience and self-reliance are key to breaking generational poverty.
Education can break barriers.
Our Mission
To provide access to quality education for economically weaker sections and to enable them to become self-reliant.
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We intend to transform government schools by engaging with parents, youth, community, school leaders, and teachers, and creating alignment between them.
Our Vision
One Day the historically under-resourced families will attain the state of self-reliance.
Our Goal is to send at least 50% i.e., 25000 kids from historically under-resourced families to JNV school system so that it helps them become self-reliant and break the generational poverty that’s impacting them.
Educating even one member from a traditionally low income family can help break the cycle and inch them closer to self reliance.
THE PROBLEM
95% of Indian children attend primary school but barely 55% of them end up reaching higher secondary school. ASER (Annual Status for Education Report) 2019 shows that learning levels in government-run primary schools are alarmingly low. This implies that almost half the children drop out after 8 years of elementary education, without acquiring minimum acceptable foundational skills.
From our own survey in 2015, we collected data from five government schools from Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan revealing bleaker realities: ​
55% of the students dropped out of school before finishing their 12th grade.
Only 2% students finished their graduate studies with relevant academic and social exposure.
THE SOLUTION
We hope to bring transformative changes in children by equipping them with better opportunities, building their capacities and molding their schools into effective learning spaces. We deepen individual capacities of children by evoking joy, nurturing greater curiosity which encourages children’s retention rate in schools and makes overall positive difference in school dropout.
Theory of Change
It takes a village to raise a child - equally so to educate one. Collaboration, community participation and ownership is key to address any socio-economic issues affecting remote rural villages. By fostering community support we want to strengthen public education systems in India by transforming their schools into effective learning centers, conducive space for growth and rekindling the hope for emancipation through education.
Providing children with equal opportunities, building their capacities, ensuring greater skills to get admission in alternative conducive school systems like Navodaya is taking one step closer to empowerment.
Meet the Team
Co-founder at SRI, Akah Mishra is a social worker by training and educator by choice. Akash is passionate about creating systematic solutions via a cross-sectional approach for free and interactive learning spaces in the schools. He is passionate about educating the world about the importance of skill development for the youth. He has an inclination toward designing and implementing processes through effective stakeholder management techniques and data-driven decisions.
Akash Mishra
Co-Founder & Trustee
Bhupender has done B.tech (mechanical engineering) and MBA (operation management). He has experience in Calibration and as a Quality Engineer with the automobile industry. He has the zeal to make this world a better place, one child at a time. With SRI, he wishes to help children get the best education. The task is challenging as well as satisfying for him. He believes in collaboration for a better community.
Bhupender Singh
Program Coordinator
Jogender has studied B.A and B.Ed and has 9+ years of experience in the education field. Interestingly, he has been the SRI fellow and has continued to work with the organization. He has chosen this field because he believes in grassroots development for nation building. He is our cherished program coordinator who’s vibrant energy is felt wherever he goes.
He is a fitness enthusiast and enjoys cricket and running in his free time. He wants to bridge the knowledge gap between state and rural settings.
Jogender
Program Coordinator
Neha Sharma
Communications and Fundraising Manager
With Masters in Social Work and Bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication, Neha has 10+ years of experience in Social Impact Communications. She has a passion for reading and cinema for advocacy. She believes in the power of audio visual medium for thought stimulation. With SRI, Neha envisions to get the well deserved visibility to the work done by the organisation in the past and leverage it for breaking the glass ceiling.
Pooja is a qualified Educator with M.A in Hindi, and she has cleared many teacher eligible tests. She has 3+ years of professional teaching experience in private and government schools. She enjoys reading and learning new things. Since 2022, Pooja has been with SRI Foundation and her work entails community engagement for efficient functioning of government schools and giving foundational education to students for concept building.
Smiles on parents and students' faces motivates her to continue her work with the rural schools of Haryana.
Pooja
Program Coordinator
Poonam
Program Coordinator
Poonam is a graduate of arts who later realized her love for teaching and did her B.Ed. She is an experienced social worker who joined the SRI family in 2021 as a program coordinator with the motive to change the way people look at the education system in government schools of India and educate young minds to help them achieve their dreams. She loves reading in her free time and imparts that knowledge to herself and the students around her. She gives her all her skills and knowledge for SRI and works hard every day to achieve her dreams.
With over 16 years of experience in the social work sector, Ranjeeta has dedicated her work and time to primary education. The on-ground reality of lack of connection between community and school due to multifaceted sociological challenges has motivated her to dedicate her time to improving quality education in rural India.She is an experienced state level trainer for Classroom Trainings, Teaching and Learning Material trainings, and Key Resource person Training
Ranjeeta
Program Lead
An optimistic and hardworking individual, Sandeep Kumar is the Admin head of SRI, responsible for the logistical needs of the organization. He joined SRI to fulfill his passion for working in the social sector and helping people around him. He has work experience in companies like Maruti and Pvt Construction firm and this has helped him gauge effective people and resource management. He believes in education playing a key role in the development of a society and this belief has led him through SRI. Sandeep loves to utilize his free time by learning new skills that could help him grow in the professional field. He puts in all his efforts and skills in the upbringing of the community of disadvantaged children.
Sandeep
HR & Admin Head
Sangeeta graduated with a B.SC and wanted to start her career either in defense or education. She grabbed the first opportunity at hand and started working in the education sector. She thoroughly enjoys working with children and she’s found her interest in art, craft and teaching learning material.
As she’s growing in her career, she has shown keen interest in workshops, as she gets to engage with like-minded and passionate people from education background. She aspires to become a trainer for educational workshops in near future.
Sangeeta
Program Coordinator
Surender Kumar
Co-Founder
Surender is an engineer turned social worker with a passion for empowering historically under-resourced communities through education, he co founded SRI. An alumnus of the prestigious Vellore Institute of Technology, University of Vellore and a Gandhi Fellow. At SRI, Surender oversees strategic planning and external stakeholder management. His extensive experience includes participation in various incubation and fellowship programs, such as the Wipro Fellowship, Scotland India Impact Link Fellowship, UnLtd India Fellowship, Pune International Centre-NCSI Mentorship, Edumentee, and TFIx Mentorship. He believes the development sector will match the corporate sector's energy and innovation when skilled youth actively participate.
Yogender has been with the organization since its inception. He is one of the most hands-on people to be found in the office. He enjoys field work the most as he gets to meet the children and visit the community. In his free time, he enjoys watching war and crime cinema. Yogender is known for getting things done. He thinks on his feet and is target oriented. His zeal for life and energy make the SRI office a happy place.
Yogender
Associate Administration
Our Advisors
An IIM A alumni with active involvement in students’ learning. Director of TIME DELHI and founding investor of Vanguard Business School. He is an active member with many Non-Profit Boards providing his expertise to mentor them to achieve their goals.
He is one of the early advisors of SRI and has been supporting us in program design and curriculum development. His guidance has helped us broaden our horizon for the education sector as a whole, which has helped us in concretizing our base in non profit in the education sector.
Ulhas Vairagkar
Ex-Director, Time ​Education
With three decades of experience in global human resource management and people function in multiple geographies, she had played a pivotal role in scaling the organizations and navigating large-scale mergers. Apart from corporate work, she is now working in the development sector. At present, she is a member of the Advisory Board at Sampark Foundation and SRI Foundation.
Reema Malhotra
Advisory Board, Sampark & SRI Foundation
Anu Singh Choudhary, a celebrated author in Hindi, is also an award winning journalist, documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. She has worked with NDTV and has been awarded Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism and Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for her stories in "Gaon Connection". She has been an Art Omi Fellow (New York) and has been a juror on the Sir Peter Ustinov Award at the International Emmys for 2022 and 2023.
At SRI she is advising us in creating the narrative of the organization to reach a wider audience.
Anu Singh Chaudhary
Co-Founder, Dopamine Media
Mr. Jitendra Kalra, a NABARD Foundation board member, has worked with Western Railways, UNIDO, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, and Reliance Foundation. He specializes in policy framework, livelihood promotion, financial literacy, skill development, gender mainstreaming, agricultural reforms, health, and digital reform for poverty reduction.
Widely published and a prolific speaker, his work and interviews are influential and educational.
He advises SRI on scaling and creating a replicable growth model.
Jitender Kalra
Board Memeber, NABARD Foundation
Our Mentors
Program Director Gandhi Fellowship, Vivek Sharma has the expertise in working with communities and bringing change at the grassroots. SRI Foundation is also founded by Gandhi Fellows (GF) and it would be correct to state that the journey of GF inspired the birth of SRI. Vivek Sharma has been instrumental in providing structure to the organization and execution of SRI. His constant support and mentorship has helped us climb the graph towards success.
Vivek Sharma
Director, Kaivalya
Education Foundation
A professional in the field of children and teaching intervention, Durga Prasad has 15+ experience with grassroots organizations. At present, he works with Sampark Foundation, and he has worked with BODH, Aga Khan Rural Support Program India, Piramal Foundation.
His expertise in effective classroom processes has helped us in developing curricula, fellow capacity building and he’s been an observer for bringing positive results.
Durga Prasad
State Head-Haryana Sampark Foundation
An IIT Delhi and Birla Institute of Technology alumni, he provides technical support and knowledge to organizations. Co-founder of Liqvid, he has helped in creating mobile apps for student learning. He has been a strong support in visualizing how tech can improve the effectiveness of the program.
Manish Upadhyay
Co-Founder, Liqvid
A serial Entrepreneur, an individual who believes in grassroots solutions for the nation's development, he is one of the leading voices in Indiafellow, Cash Relief, and other initiatives like Ivolunteer. He advocates for policy formulation and implementation and sees himself as a student because of his hunger for knowledge.
He is one of the early supporters of SRI and has always been present to support and help us see the big picture. He is bringing collaborations with other organizations for a wider reach.
Rahul Nainwal
Co-Founder, iVolunteer,
India 20 Fellow
Experienced Business Strategy Consultant with over 16 years of success from IIMA. Proven track record in driving growth, reducing costs, and enhancing operations for Fortune 500 and product organizations globally. Strong leadership in executing large projects, business development, and building relationships with customers, senior executives, and cross-functional teams. Results-oriented professional applying management best practices to implement strategic goals aligned with organizational objectives.
Ram Iyer
IIMA - Alumnus
Sr. Consultant - Fintech
Gireendra is the Founder and CMD of Ideas to Impacts Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Lead Investor and Managing Partner at Pentathlon Ventures and Owner of the Ideas to Impacts Hub. With the expertise of running and managing businesses for over three decades, he now mentors social entrepreneurs and invests in start-ups.
He has been mentoring SRI in becoming an organized and systematized NGO.
Girendra kasmankar
Founder & CEO
Ideas to Impact
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Prashant Raj is the Chief Creative Producer of Dopamine Media. With his deep understanding of the digital medium, keen eye for detail and his natural flair for storytelling, he ensures that all content pieces are of top notch quality. His expertise will ensure that SRI’s story get a professional touch.
Prashant Raj
Co-Founder, Dopamine Media, Founder- TVF