Meri Shiksha is a student-led online mentor program that aims to improve the learning opportunities available to students from underprivileged backgrounds. Meri Shiksha was founded in 2022 by Aanya Kataria, a 16 year old from Gurugram seeking to do her part. What started as a small effort with just one volunteer and three students has now grown exponentially. Today, Meri Shiksha supports over 100 students across four schools, with the help of 35 dedicated volunteers, all united by a common goal: empowering students through education.
Scaling Up Amidst Challenges
From the outset, Meri Shiksha’s team identified three major hurdles: making the initiative scalable, scarcity of resources, and ensuring the sustainability of the platform. “We knew we had to create a scalable model if we wanted to have a tangible impact,” Aanya said.
To achieve scalability, the team focused on building strong relationships with schools and nonprofits. They engaged directly with school principals, presenting Meri Shiksha’s model and showcasing its benefits through workshops and demo sessions. While the journey was not without its naysayers, she persevered, driven by a deep sense of conviction and commitment to the cause. Today, Meri Shiksha works with 4 NGO schools across Delhi NCR.
Innovative Solutions to Resource Scarcity
Adopting an online model allowed Meri Shiksha to reach more students and volunteers, but it also presented a new set of challenges, including the need for devices, internet connections, and educational resources. To overcome these obstacles, the team chose to prioritise learning in — English, Mathematics, and Science — creating their own content based off of the government curriculum’s requirements and organizing several campaigns along the way in order to supplement the resources available to students.
A notable achievement is the artificial intelligence-based software that Meri Shiksha’s team developed and integrated into their teaching methods, which allows students to translate any online resources from English to Hindi, provides audio transcription, and text-to-speech facilities for the same. This tool not only allows them to better understand concepts but can teach students entire topics, quiz them and make them independent learners.
In its latest endeavor, Meri Shiksha is conducting English Proficiency Workshops at the Parivartan School in Badshahpur village and is raising funds to provide the children from Badshahpur village with basic educational necessities. In addition to stationery, books, school bags and school uniforms, the team is curating a school library specifically suiting each child’s level of proficiency and comfort with English, to supplement their learning in the classroom with essential language-related skills.
Looking Towards The Future
Meri Shiksha has adopted this holistic approach to learning – access to quality resources, learning tools and encouraging mentors in order to catalyze the change. As Meri Shiksha continues to expand, it stands as a testament to the power of youth-driven initiatives. What began as a simple idea has now become a beacon of hope for many students, proving that with commitment and perseverance, real change is possible.
For more information about Meri Shiksha or to support their initiatives, visit Meri Shiksha’s website: www.merishikshas.org/
