The Dhi-e Foundation’s efforts to educate young high school students with advanced global skills, have seen the light of success. Meet our two accomplished students, Dipam Das and Rupam Das, twin brothers from Rajballavbati village in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. They have received the prestigious "National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme" (NMMSS) after being mentored and guided by the expert teachers and mentors of the Dhi-e Foundation.
Each of them is now receiving INR 12,000 per year for four years. The Department of School Education and Literacy began the NMMSS program in 2008 with the goal of awarding this scholarship to talented economically weaker students thereby preventing their early dropout and encouraging them to complete their secondary education.
Approximately 65% of the Indian population comprises the rural community. Recent data from earlier this year show that literacy has increased only 16% in the last 20 years from 61% in 1991 to 77% in 2023. Notably, there is an inverse relation between literacy and indigence. While pushing rural literacy to a higher level can substantially boost the Indian economy, education is still a luxury to a significant body of rural families.
Many villages in the remote corners of India do not have schools in the vicinity and students have to walk miles to get primary educations. To mention a related anecdote, I grew up in a remote village where all students (including me) completed secondary education without electricity at home and walked five kilometers everyday for six years, and many did not have the privilege to afford books, let alone the lack of advanced skills beyond classrooms.
Although the financial and technological infrastructure in India has reached a global level, there are still many students in the remote corners who struggle with adversities, including economy, lack of outreach, lack of facility, and scarcity of proper mentorship.
When the Dhi-e Foundation was established, our founders had one crucial idea among many, which is to address the education accessibility issue and maximize the outreach so that deprived students can learn the global skills at a minimum expense. The result is quite evident today as this blog proudly features the success of two such students from a remote village in the eastern part of India.
The Dhi-e Foundation members have recently conducted an interview with Dipam and Rupam to evaluate the impact and outreach of Dhi-e’s coaching in such interior villages. These two talented brothers belong to a low-income family with their father being a day laborer and their mother a housewife. They lack a constant source of income. They often do not have access to quality books and well-equipped classrooms, let alone the affordability of a smartphone or any kind of internet services. Although they aspire to become scientists in the future and are passionate about helping the villagers, they do not have enough exposure to the advanced education system and competitive skills. It is also quite challenging to find a role model in a village where people can not afford education beyond high school.
It is a proud moment for the Dhi-e family as our managers and educators have successfully reached and inspired such hidden talents and provided a light of hope to them. It is exactly what we initially imagined and what motivates us to expand this initiative further. In our previous blog, we pledged to maximize the outreach and the story of Dipam and Rupam further consolidates our determination, and this is just one example. We also highly encourage our community to be a part of our efforts as you can largely boost the creation of a learning ecosystem that provides competitive resources to students at every remote corner in India.
Beginning on Nov 20, 2023, the Dhi-e Foundation will conduct special classes aimed at offering comprehensive coaching for the NMMSE competition across various districts in West Bengal. These classes will be accessible through both online and offline platforms (Dhi-e’s centers in Palaspai Hooghly and Sagardwip, South 24 Parganas). In addition to discussing the solutions from the past 15 years of MAT and SAT, Dhi-e experts will teach strategies and in-depth subject knowledge crucial for success in such competitive exams. Moreover, we will offer mock tests and homework sets to enhance students' performances.
Dhi-e community sincerely appreciate everyone spreading this news to those who could benefit from these classes.
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