Guest speaker

Rohit Chaudhary

Social entrepreneurship

Social project: 

Situation: Remote and underdeveloped part of India near the Himalayas

Vast network of government schools, the quality of education is unsatisfactory

Gap between the aspirations and what exists/is available

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Solution: a private school that builds connections geographically-wise but also in terms of quality of education 

The school is called: "Happy by Nature"

It has existed for 15 years. The need for a private school, the community got involved in ensuring that schools like this sustain and got associated with the school.

100 students at this point - this is significant in the hills because the villages are far away from eachother

10-11 local teachers

Classes: Prep to 8th

children profile = families are mostly farmers, they come from unprevileged parts of the society, they dont have many facilities back at home

Those children are the first generation of learners, their parents are mostly illiterate

-> Eveyr child has access to nutritious food

-> Health check

-> Access to knowledge

-> Reflection and compassion

-> Openness for spiritual wisdom - the place has a religious significance in India - there is some amount of knowledge based on the value systems of the country and of the country. This is integrated into the curriculum

-> Environemntal awareness

This school is called "happy by nature" because in this school principles of alternate schooling are practiced.

The indian community is very competitive.

The mainstream schooling focuses too much in getting children to compete eachother in order to have future careers etc.

In this school they try to detach themselves from this mindset and philosophy, have principles that are more relaxed for children.

"no punishment-no reward policy"

Encourage them to have open conversations and ask a lot of questions, the children are very outspoken

and sometimes the parents have to be educated too to have this philosophy

Volunteers are welcome

Challenges = Availability of good teaching staff

Bringing people from outside is helpful

-> Activity-based learning as much as possible

-> Mixed-age learning school

-> Mixing indoors and ouotdoors

-> Leaving no child behind: equal opportunities to participate in the school

In COVID-19 in those areas there was no learning going on for 2 years. (there was no online access in order to continue)

New resources were brought, fundings - by doing these things they managed to bring back life to the school after COVID

Entrepreneurial spirit = shared energy and happiness

non-profit money, foundation, individual donors

The children pay a fee for attending the school.

QUESTION: In the school there is a non-competitive nature, but as children progress through grades and get older, how can children deal with the "real-world"? What happens when they go to college?

There are many bodies across India that support alternate schooling.

Sometimes children learn to only compete with themselves. They try to become the best version of their own selves. It doesn't matter, the fact that you did your best is enough to ensure a fullfiling life.

Sometimes there has to be a balance at looking inwards VS looking otuwards. But, the belief is that no matter what they do, if they become engineers, doctors, as long as they learn to look within to do the best they will be successful in life wherever they are and whatever they do. It's a philosophical answer mostly.

Future plan: Expansion of the space of the school to facilitate more children

The reason to scale up is to stand up on their own foot but they do not compromise on the kind of schooling they are offering - the philosophy doesn't change

There is actually an active plan to contstruct a full stack K-12 school at the moment. The goal is to create a sustainable institution. 

What type of education do you give your parents?

The parents need to be educated to prioritize education over material needs.

MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT A SENTENCE "if something is free then it loses its value".

In social entrepreneurship there are models about that.

It is aligned with understaffing and underfunding