When Kamlesh Joshi joined Delhi College’s Dyal Singh Faculty in 2007 to pursue an honours diploma in physics, he rapidly realised two issues. First, he had no actual curiosity within the sciences and had chosen the topic primarily attributable to household strain. Second, the hole between him and his friends at Delhi College was extra like a valley than a schism.
Calling his expertise a tradition shock could be an understatement — every part about this new atmosphere was unfamiliar to him, coming from a rural background.
Unable to manage, and regardless of opposition from his household, he dropped out after his first 12 months and switched to political science at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Faculty. However this too proved difficult: transitioning to a wholly new subject (having studied science in class), and far of the educating was performed in English, whereas he had attended a Hindi-medium faculty (Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Nanakmatta, Uttarakhand). Many lectures went over his head “like a bouncer”.
When it was time to fill out examination varieties, he stored them for every week earlier than deciding which language he would write the exams in. Hindi was his consolation zone, however English was the problem he wanted to overcome. Finally, he took the more durable route and studied tirelessly in libraries and with pals from his village who have been pursuing related topics at Jawaharlal Nehru College (JNU). His exhausting work and perseverance paid off — he topped his class of 18 college students and gained a gold medal, a redeeming achievement within the eyes of his household again dwelling in Nanakmatta.
Kamlesh then went on to earn an MBA in worldwide enterprise with a specialisation in tourism from the Indian Institute of Tourism and Journey, Gwalior. He assumed {that a} skilled diploma would safe him a decent-paying job, even when his profession in tourism wouldn’t considerably influence the world.
An opportunity dialogue along with his JNU pals led them to query their futures and what contributions they may make to society. That’s when the concept took root: why not begin a faculty of their village to make sure future generations wouldn’t face the identical cultural and academic gaps they’d? “We learnt every part below the ‘danda’ system (strict, imposed self-discipline), and this fear-based training solely produces well-trained people, not well-educated ones,” Kamlesh argues.
The group unanimously agreed — they needed to make a change. The subsequent era in Nanakmatta deserved a greater, extra trendy training that aligns with the remainder of the nation and the world.
This dialogue at JNU formed the subsequent few years for the small group of 5 — Kamlesh Joshi, Varsha, Kamlesh Atwal, Chandra Shekhar Atwal, and Gopal Dutt Joshi — who had ventured exterior their dwelling state for increased training, a transfer usually discouraged by households of their village.
The early years
Deciding to start out a faculty was one factor, however really strolling the speak was a wholly totally different ballgame. Not one of the 5 founders had formal coaching in training, monetary backing, or expertise working with youngsters.
With an preliminary batch of 110 college students and an funding of Rs 40 lakh cobbled collectively from varied sources, ‘Nanakmatta Public College’ started operations in 2012. It began in a former orphanage with simply six lecturers, minimal sources, and little experience. The one factor the founders have been clear about was their mission — to supply a holistic training incorporating Twenty first-century expertise, one thing they’d by no means skilled themselves.
To start with, issues have been chaotic. Moreover group help, they’d nothing of their favour. However they determined to persevere.
To study and enhance, they started observing and finding out different academic fashions. They drew inspiration from Educate for India (TFI) after being a part of TFIx (TFI’s incubator programme), Aavishkaar (a science and maths centre in Palampur), and Bal Vigyan Khojshala of Berinag, Uttarakhand (supported by Pratham Science Program). They invited these and different academic organisations to their campus for steering.
Concurrently, they started to make use of movies — world cinema, artwork movies, documentaries, and Bollywood — extra aggressively to reveal the scholars to what’s taking place exterior their instant environs. For the final 5 years, they’ve been utilizing cinema as a pedagogical instrument to enhance classroom studying below the ‘Cinema in College Initiative’, with steering from cinema activists and educators from totally different components of the nation.
“We didn’t simply watch the movies for enjoyable however actively debated, mentioned, argued, and drew classes and insights from what we had proven them,” explains Kamlesh Atwal, one of many 5 co-founders and the tutorial coordinator on the faculty. Movie, he says, slowly however certainly grew to become an integral a part of their studying and expression, as did subject research and analysis. Each single topic throughout the sphere of social sciences was explored and made clearer to college students by the usage of movies.
Since Nanakmatta stays fairly distant from as we speak’s India, the college began collaborating with as many organisations exterior their state as attainable, in order that college students might be uncovered to the most effective studying practices and really feel linked to the surface atmosphere. Folks’s Archive for Rural India (PARI), Educate for India, Bal Vigyan Khojshala Samiti, Pratham Science programme, Children Schooling Revolution (KER), Books for All, Claylab, Pleasure Of Studying Basis, Nature Science Initiative, Life Meets the Lens, amongst a number of others, have been early collaborators. These organisations acted as sponges for the Nanakmatta crew and lecturers, enabling them to study, imbibe, and take up methods to additional training in its entirety.
The COVID breakthrough
Oddly, when most different faculties have been grappling with the best way to hold themselves related through the pandemic, Nanakmatta College discovered its ft and commenced to get seen. By this time, the college had near 980 college students and round 65 lecturers and had managed to safe admission for a few of its college students in moderately good establishments in Delhi and different cities in India.
Not solely have been the scholars coping effectively, however in lots of instances, they have been thriving. “The pandemic allowed us to pause in our efforts, catch our breath, and share our learnings with the remainder of the world in a means — on how multi-dimensional an training might be,” says Atwal, who calls 2020 a “watershed” 12 months for his or her faculty.
The scholars started to show small teams inside their group whereas sustaining the protocols set in place throughout COVID-19. They began organising libraries of their villages (a observe that continues as we speak) and publishing a newspaper that stored everybody abreast of present occasions. Many movies have been made and disseminated by WhatsApp, YouTube, and different mediums, highlighting the college’s revolutionary studying strategies. These started to resonate with faculties and organisations not simply in India but additionally overseas.
Some organisations from exterior even made the trouble to attach with the college. One of many lecturers from The Heritage Colleges in Delhi, for example, bought in contact and needed to make use of a number of the materials put out by Nanakmatta. Digital school rooms and digital visits from members of TFI have been additionally organised presently, giving the surface world a peek into the college’s workings.
The validation from those that had been within the training sector gave the founders extra confidence and the power to redouble their efforts. By then, Nanakmatta had additionally been formally integrated into the TFI community, a programme below which the latter presents help to rural faculties.
Doing it in a different way
A 15-minute movie, Tharu Eco Weaves, made by the scholars of the college on the weaving practices of the Tharus, a tribal group in Uttarakhand, captures the essence and function performed by this conventional exercise within the lives of the ladies of the group and the way it has contributed to their financial effectively being. Merely portrayed however professionally shot, the movie was proven on the Udaipur Movie Pageant and was extra not too long ago dubbed into Spanish and screened at a competition in Mexico.
One other documentary movie, Gold In The Web, made by the college scholar physique made its approach to a movie competition in London. “The concept of utilizing movie as a pedagogical instrument started to point out outcomes when our personal college students took the initiative and commenced making movies that highlighted and unfold consciousness of native tradition and practices across the globe,” shares Atwal.
A professor from Jamia Milia College in Delhi has additionally been working intently with the scholars to hone their expertise in filmmaking and supply steering wherever wanted.
In 2021, when Nationwide Geographic launched a public science programme/problem to doc the biodiversity of the area, Nanakmatta College was one of many early contributors. A complete of 1.5 lakh totally different species of biodiversity have been documented by the scholars. Even when the venture expanded to 300 cities, the college was capable of keep its place among the many prime three, because of its sharp deal with environmental research, which incorporates birdwatching as a part of the curriculum.
In November 2024, 56 college students from the college went on a week-long academic tour to Jaipur and Delhi, the learnings and insights from which have been then compiled and illustrated of their faculty journal The Explorer. “These collective efforts of studying and dealing collectively give our college students invaluable publicity and educate them that true studying occurs exterior the 4 partitions of the classroom,” Atwal factors.
A journalism and social media membership additionally assist the scholars keep in contact with day by day and related happenings, each in India and globally.
Extra not too long ago, the college has been awarded the Wipro Earthians award for adopting and spreading safer menstruation practices amongst women, who’ve switched to utilizing menstruation cups relatively than pads and different much less environmentally pleasant choices.
The observe was initiated by the senior women of Nanakmatta and is now being actively promoted by college students in faculties throughout the area. This initiative is intently guided and supported by the Nature Science Initiative Group of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Thus far, college students have reached out to 40 faculties to lift consciousness about this sustainable observe.
A College for Entrepreneurship has additionally been launched with 120 college students, serving to them perceive the idea of entrepreneurship and study to market items made by tribal and different communities. Pankaj Wadhwa, who runs the Udhyam venture that nurtures, helps, and funds entrepreneurs in Uttarakhand, believes that lots of his future entrepreneurs might emerge from this distinctive initiative — one nearly unseen in another faculties within the state.
A small, quiet revolution
What has stunned dad and mom, the group, educationists, and academicians throughout India is the place the scholars are discovering themselves after faculty and the way they stand out wherever they go.
Virtually 10 college students from the college have secured full scholarships at Ashoka College, Sonepat — an achievement unprecedented for a rural faculty and thought of more durable than gaining admission to prestigious establishments resembling St Stephen’s Faculty, Delhi. Additionally, one of many Nanakmatta college students at Ashoka College not too long ago gained the RISE fellowship and shall be heading to Oxford College this 12 months for a two-week programme.
One other scholar from Nanakmatta, additionally finding out at Ashoka, not too long ago accompanied Educate For India’s CEO Shaheen Mistri to an training convention in Malaysia as a scholar consultant. In line with Mistri, the college is doing “one thing very totally different and really proper”, as she has but to satisfy such confident and conscious college students from India’s rural panorama.
Moreover, 15 Nanakmatta college students have made their means into Azim Premji College in Bengaluru and Bhopal, with others securing spots in good faculties at Delhi College. To assist college students deal with the extent of English required at these establishments and develop needed smooth expertise, a mentor from the Claylab Basis (a collaborator of the college) is assigned to every scholar from Class 9 onwards to assist them hone their language, vital considering, and different expertise.
With 95 % of Nanakmatta college students being first-generation English-medium learners, 20 % coming from households under the poverty line, and 40 % coming from the Tharu tribe, the college is defying all odds. Just a few of the early graduates at the moment are working in high-paying and fairly safe authorities and personal sector jobs in metropolitan cities — an achievement that may have as soon as appeared unimaginable to their dad and mom.
All of the validation acquired by the Nanakmatta faculty founders has led them to launch a two-year Himalayan Fellowship for Transformation, with none authorities help or intervention. With six fellows to start out with, the programme is nurturing younger leaders who can replicate this mannequin and contribute by introducing revolutionary studying and educating strategies in faculties throughout the state, which the founders argue is probably the most urgent want for the subsequent era.
In the meantime, the college is steadily rising and now has a complete of 1,350 college students with a educating workers of round 70. It has managed to interrupt even and turn out to be self-sustaining, with charges starting from Rs 750 (major) to Rs 2,000 (Class 12) per thirty days, whereas delivering a top quality of training that many high-end non-public faculties in India’s metros wrestle to supply, regardless of having far higher sources.
Till not too long ago, the Nanakmatta Gurudwara, a couple of kilometres from the city centre, was the only real crowd-puller on this in any other case unremarkable city. However now, this small faculty has turn out to be a brand new beacon of hope — for folks, college students, and the broader group — serving to the 5 founders realise their dream of creating a distinction.
As its college students carve out paths as soon as deemed unimaginable, this quiet revolution is popping a forgotten village right into a blueprint for change, one classroom at a time.
Edited by Khushi Arora; All photos courtesy Nanakmatta Public College
This text was initially printed in Outlook India.
