Page 68 - EW November 2024

People

tute a huge under-resourced talent
pool,” she says.
Right on, Sis!
Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)

Apprenticeships

missionary

UMIT KUMAR is the New
Delhi-based Chief Strategy
SOfficer of TeamLease Degree
Apprenticeship (TLDA, estb.2014;
headcount: 1,000), a constituent
firm of TeamLease Services Ltd, the
country’s premier personnel place-
ments company which places skilled
technicians including accountants,
eVidyaloka TTT programme: mission-aspiration match. Inset: Brinda Poornapragna data entry/back office, BPO/custom-
er care, front office/receptionists,
of corporate experience in blue-chip curricular activities such as the Na- hospitality managers, chefs, chauf-
companies (JP Morgan, Bank of tional Student Innovation Challenge, feurs etc in India Inc and MSMEs
Nova Scotia, Hewlett Packard, ANZ, Edge, Joy of Reading, and founda- (micro, small and medium enter-
Capgemini), Poornapragna took a tional AI pedagogies. These activities prises) countrywide.
sabbatical in 2018 to explore her stimulate children’s creative, innova- TLDA is a public-private partner-
passion for teaching, and invested six tive and problem-solving skills,” says ship with the Union ministry of skill
months to acquire teacher certifica- Poornapragna. development & entrepreneurship
tion from Bengaluru’s Asian Col- According to her, there is a large and All India Council for Technical
lege of Teachers. After a six-month pool of retired and serving profes- Education, and bills itself “India’s
“inspiring” stint as a teacher at the sionals in India and abroad ready, fastest-growing apprenticeship pro-
Lok Jeevan Vikas Bharti Residential willing and able to teach India’s left- gramme”. It places college/university
School in Uttarakhand, she formally behind children, and their number is students in companies and firms to
resigned as senior director (banking growing. “Merely through references acquire industry-specific skills for
and capital markets) at Capgemini. and word-of-mouth publicity, our periods ranging from six months to
In 2019, driven by deep desire to cohort of volunteer-teachers who three years. During their appren-
educate rural children, she accepted expect no remuneration has grown to ticeship, interns are paid monthly
the role of CEO of eVidyaloka whose over 6,000 in one year. Their online Sumit Kumar: employability boost
mission matched her new aspiration. lessons are supplemented by local
Direct talk. “Our model addresses community partners who ensure
the two major challenges confront- regular attendance of government
ing children in rural India — teacher school children by visiting homes of
shortage and teaching quality. To absconders,” says Poornapragna.
address these challenges, eVidyaloka Future plans. Encouraged by improv-
has established 734 digital class- ing attendance and learning out-
rooms equipped with large screen comes of eVidyaloka’s 1.89 lakh stu-
monitors, webcams, mics, speakers, dents, Poornapragna plans to extend
and reliable internet connectivity to the digital classrooms program and
reach class V-X children in remote explore skilling initiatives. “Over the
locations and connect our volunteer- next five years, we intend to reach
teachers with them. Live lessons pro- 2,000 government schools, build
vided in students’ mother-tongues stronger ties with local communities
make learning easier and more and onboard more global volunteers
engaging for them. Age-appropriate to enhance learning outcomes of
learning is further enriched by co- children in rural India, who consti-

68 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024