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courses, campus workshops, summer Through education and healthcare
internship programs and virtual programs, micro financing, aware-
masterclasses. ness campaigns and mainstreaming
Newspeg. In April, Sangal led a four- underprivileged girl children into
member team to conduct its inaugu- formal education, TWIN, Kolkata
ral campus technology workshops at empowers deprived women. Cur-
the Silver Bells Institute of Higher rently, 300 girl children are educated
Education, Shamli (UP) followed by in three learning centres in Kolkata’s
the Asia Pacific Institute of Informa- Tollygunge, Dhobiatala and Dia-
tion Technology, Panipat (Haryana). mond Harbour suburbs.
History. A computer science en- Newspeg. In May, TWIN-Kolkata
gineering alum of the National established a computer training unit
Institute of Technology, Allahabad, at its Tollygunge learning centre to
Sangal acquired five years of cor- provide basic computer education
porate experience (UBS, Pune and and introduce professional courses
Airtel Payment Bank, Gurgaon) to TWIN’s middle and high school
before he bit the bullet to follow his students.
true calling — skills education — and Sangal: flying start History. In the early 1990s, Dr.
go solo. Marie Paule Baudot, former profes-
“From my NIT days, the idea of from other course providers is that sor of Leuven University, and Josef
lending a helping hand to under-ap- we teach in ‘Hinglish’, a combina- (Tor) Mutton, former IT profes-
preciated professionals in neglected tion of Hindi and English which our sional, visited India as volunteers
small towns of India was always at subscribers from small towns and of the Calcutta-based Sponsor NGO
the back of my mind. Raised in small cities prefer. Moreover, our fees are founded by Dr. John Mettler, a
town Shamli in Uttar Pradesh with affordable with several flexible pay- renowned urologist in Europe. While
limited opportunities and mentors to ment options,” says Sangal. Enrol- working with the organisation, the
guide me, I started teaching under- ment fees per student for 4-7 month Belgian couple had a chance encoun-
privileged children from neighbour- skilling courses is in the range of ter with Basu and expressed their
ing slums while I was in engineering Rs.5,000-20,000. desire to start something of their
college,” recalls Sangal. Future plans. Sangal has ambitious own in education and healthcare of
Subsequently, during his stint plans for the future. “In December, underprivileged girl children in and
with UBS, he was awarded as the we plan to introduce new courses in around Kolkata. In 1995, TWIN was
employee who contributed maxi- cybersecurity, artificial intelligence born and Basu was appointed secre-
mum CSR (corporate social respon- and machine learning. We have also tary of its governing body.
sibility) hours with Pune-based drawn up a blueprint to step up our Since then, TWIN Kolkata, which
non-profit Keep Moving Movement. collaboration efforts with education inducts children as young as three
This incubated the Uplifters idea. institutions in tier II-III cities to years of age, has been dispensing
In 2023, Sangal invested his total place our students,” says Sangal. Basu: fundraising drive
personal savings (Rs.20 lakh) to pro- Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)
mote Uplifters Academy Pvt. Ltd.
Direct talk. “Our goal is to support TWIN girls champion
and enhance India’s untapped and
undervalued talent, and prepare
students to compete with the best minent social worker A.K.
worldwide. Towards this end, our ten BASU is the secretary of
highly qualified (IIT, NIT, BITS-Pi- ETollygunge Women In Need
lani, DTU alumni) teacher-mentors (TWIN, estb.1995), the Kolkata
— mostly my friends employed in top counterpart of Belgium-based non-
multinationals — are making every profit TWIN-Satyagraha. The parent
effort. According to industry experts, organisation was founded by a Bel-
the maximum demand in the jobs gian couple Dr. Marie Paule Baudot,
market is for data science, software and Josef (Tor) Mutton in 1995. For
development and digital marketing over two decades, TWIN Kolkata’s
— which comprise our first offering annual budget of Rs.30 lakh has
of courses. What distinguishes us been funded by TWIN-Satyagraha.

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