An edu-leader is passionate about education and gender equity. She makes knowledge and learning a powerful medium to enable and empower (सक्षम) herself and others in the community. In the long run, she builds her capabilities to pursue her aspirations and play a mainstream leader's role in her community.
70% of our cohort consists of 12th pass young women in the age group of 18-20 years, and 30% are married women around the age of 30 years.
They are selected through a rigorous process of community nominations, written assessment, behavioral event interviewing and family counselling.
Local youths act as a social change agent and bridge the gap in provision of quality learning to children in their communities. They teach children at their learning centres or schools and engage with stakeholders to build their capacity and grow in the process. In the long run, a two year fellowship acts as a stepping stone for youths to build their capabilities to pursue their aspirations, attain higher education or become a mainstream education professional. Thus adding to the capacity of the sector.
Starting her i-Saksham training at 16, she progressed rapidly to become one of the star fellows of the program. She taught a class of 30 students of Grade 3-4 at Middle School, Saradhi. All of whom loved to be present in her classroom and enjoyed learning.
She used to make sure that her students maintain proper hygiene, laugh often and get love and respect in the classroom. Today Taniya is a buddy, a peer-mentor to 10 edu-leaders and guides them in the leadership journey.
Mamta is an economically poor, Differently-abled class 12-pass girl based in Khairma village of the extremism-affected Jamui district, Bihar. She wants to study, skill herself and further learn computers and prepare for government jobs but can’t pursue her dreams because of physical, geographical, and economic constraints.
In her pursuit, she realized that most of the children in early grades have huge learning gaps. Poor parents look for accessible and good quality education. She saw this need and started teaching 30 poor children studying in grades 1-5.
However, having no formal training in teaching, she realized that she can produce only sub-optimal learning outcomes. She struggled to teach language and mathematics in a multi-grade, multi-level context that can improve reading abilities of children, and help them
understand numeracy concepts better. With no access to any sort of scientific assessments, she couldn’t plan and individualize the curriculum delivery.
One year after attending the i-Saksham fellowship program, Mamta is a role model among the educators in her community. She has drawn attention of various teachers because of her innovative child friendly pedagogy, and use of digital content. She now caters to more than 45 children, and aspires to be a teacher.
Alka in 2019, like several other young women of her age, had very high chances of dropping out of higher education and being forced into early marriage.
Alka in 2021 became a confident, proud daughter with strong identity. She is pursuing graduation, and not yet married. Almost 100 people than just 15 know her by name, as ‘Alka. She inspired at least 10 other peer girls to pursue graduation and negotiate with their families for their dreams. She convinced parents of few of her students to stop early girl child marriage. She is a role model to 30 children whom she helped build foundational literacy despite several covid challenges.
Alka is currently working with i-Saksham to take the programme to many girls like her.
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