“Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation” (EVF-USA) , an organization that brings education to millions of underprivileged children in remote rural & tribal parts of India, recently hosted a “Power of Education Forum” at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MA. It brought academicians, entrepreneurs, community leaders of stellar credentials together, to explore various avenues under “Ekal” to empower neglected millions through state-of-the Art technology and techniques.
Dr. Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School, in his opening remarks at the event said, “The power of education allows you in the end to accomplish things that you yourself would not have dreamt possible. In many ways, the reason why I stand here today as the part of Ekal movement is that it allows millions of people in India to have that right to dream”
Following welcome Ranjani Saigal, the Executive Director and Vinod Jhunjhunwala, President of EVF-USA made introductory remarks about the organization, its objectives and its recent accomplishments. At panel discussion titled “Ekal in the 21st Century – New Opportunities” Dr. Subra Dravida, Sr. Director at Qualcomm analyzed opportunities that technology can bring to improve the quality of education, healthcare and micro-entrepreneurship in rural areas. Dr. Anantha Chandrakasan, Head of Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT elaborated on various opportunities that wireless devices can provide in rural healthcare. Dr. Sanjay Sarma, Director of Digital Learning at MIT led the discussion on use of online learning to bring new opportunities in education. Dr. Raj Sisodia, founder of the Conscious Capitalism movement and a professor at Babson College touched upon the impact of entrepreneurship on development. Dr. Ranu Dhillon, faculty at Harvard Medical School who had done extensive work in the field of health care in Africa and rural India described viable initiatives that could have great impact. Overall, the sessions were interactive covering the challenges and opportunities to uplift the lives of the neglected masses.
Dr. Nohria applauded the scaling ability of the Ekal model. He lamented that “I find it extraordinary that Ekal, as large as it is, has target of 100,000 villages. It is simply remarkable that they are already over half way through with over 50,000 schools”
“It gives me and my wife Radhi great joy to support this movement,” said Girish Navani, CEO of E-Clinical Services. “ The industrial revolution saw the steam engine transform transportation and the textile industry. The Internet has been a catalyst for quick access to information. If we give every child the ability to read and write and facilitate internet access to them you may start a new revolution” said Navani.
The event concluded with appeal for generous support for ‘Ekal Vidyalaya’ in many different way so that those children from the rural areas can one day become one of us.
