Page 32 - EW FEB 2022

Young Achievers

formative years in south and east starring baby elephant Elpu who
Africa. loves to help his friends solve their
For getting this project off the problems. All five stories featur-
ground Divya acknowledges the ing animal characters have strong
support of Tagore International’s takeaways.
mentor-director Vedica Saxena The only child of a police officer
for connecting Sehpaathi with the and Dr. Chitra Singla, senior faculty
Lalit and Lemon Tree groups, and at the Indian Institute of Manage-
more recently with multinational ment, Ahmedabad, Kuvam is a pre-
fintech company Societe Generale, cocious class II student of the city’s
“Thanks to Vedica M’am, we CISCE-affiliated JG International
have placed three acid attack School, and avid consumer of Enid
survivors with the Lalit Ashok and Blyton’s Noddy tales and Italian
Lemon Tree hospitality chains. author Elisabetta Dami’s Geronimo
Late last year, we collaborated with Stilton mouse series. Thanks to his
Societe Generale which is commit- school and home libraries, Kuvam
ted to soon introduce a programme developed the reading habit from the
tailored for LGBTQIA+ final year early age of three.
undergrads. Candidates who com- “Kuvam’s storytelling is inspired
plete the program will be eligible by his own experiences and conver-
for a three-month paid internship
DIVYA SIJWALI followed by performance-based job sations with peers, adults and the
books and animated films he reads
placements,” say this minorities and watches. He spontaneously
champion. began narrating original stories after
oices raised against gender After completing her Plus Two he turned four. I start making notes
prejudice and inequality are school-leaving exams this social jus- as soon as he starts spinning tales
Vgrowing louder and stronger tice warrior intends to sign up for an which he later types up on his com-
around the country. Especially of undergraduate degree programmne puter,” says mother Chitra.
Delhi-based social activist Divya in gender and business studies. “Many of my stories are the result
Sijwali (17), who is determined “My dream is to work full-time with of playing with and talking to my
to “advocate acceptance of mar- Sehpaathi and a team of like-minded toys,” adds this child prodigy.
ginalised communities and focus volunteers,” says Divya, the younger Fascinated by witches and wiz-
on providing employment to acid of two children of Bhupendra Kumar, ards, this young author’s current
attack victims and members of the a United Insurance regional manager offering to his parents and public are
LGBTQIA+ community”. and Indu Sijwali, a teacher at Delhi’s stories about characters with magical
A class XI student of Delhi’s Greenfields School. powers. “We intend to compile his
high-ranked Tagore International Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) magical stories in April this year,”
School, Divya began her crusade says Chitra, announcing plans to do-
against marginalisation of mi- nate royalty from the first 5,000 cop-
norities at the age of 14 and is the ies to Noida-based Amrit Masonic
founder of Sehpaathi (‘classmate’ KUVAM GUPTA School for special children.
in Hindi). Started in 2019 as a Power to your pen!
student-led social outreach pro- Aruna Raghuram (Ahmedabad)
gramme, this initiative has since ex- nlike most young children
panded its footprint nationwide and who like being told
to Africa. A not-for-profit, it works Ustories by their parents,
with Pride Circle, Amazon, Lalit Ahmedabad-based Kuvam Gup-
Hospitality Group, Sanshil Foun- ta (7) insists on narrating stories
dation, and Gift Abled to promote to his parents! And, these stories
inclusive education. have culminated in the release
“In February 2021, we presented of his first book titled Elpu and
our Sehpaathi project to a jury of his Friends published by Notion
India’s Future Tycoons, a national- Press, a self-publishing plat-
level competition, and bagged seed form, last December. Thus far,
funding of Rs.10,000. Six months 410 copies of the book — replete
later, we signed an agreement with with lively illustrations — have
the International School of Lusaka, been purchased at Rs.199 per
Zambia for promoting our online copy.
education initiatives. Post-Covid, Endorsed by India’s well-
our services include online tutor- known author-entrepreneur
ing and counseling, and helping Rashmi Bansal, this book —
schools initiate community service suitable for four-seven year olds
projects,” says Divya, who spent her — is a compilation of five stories

32 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2022