Send 15 Less Privileged Students to IIT in 2020

This project report is a submission to GlobalGiving’s 2017 Fail Forward Contest, where organizations are asked to share a story of when they tried something new that didn’t go as planned and how they learned from it. Enjoy!’

Project no. 29503.

‘PROJECT UDAAN’ FOR THE GODS OF SMALL THINGS

 By Viney Kirpal

Project Leader

Global Research Education and Training Foundation, Pune  was set up in 2002 with the mission of  helping less privileged students become scientists and engineers..An activity-based Science project was run in 91 government schools for over 40,000 students for five years to strengthen the students’ concepts in Science.

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Experimenting with Motion

More than 500 science teachers were trained for longer impact and sustainability.  But the reality was different. As long as we ran the project the teachers and students were enthusiastic. Student marks also went up. However, the moment our project ended in a school, the teachers stopped doing the activities. They said they did not have the time. The students’ learning was back to Square One. This happened ever so often. So we listened, and learned from our experience that something different was needed. We would not be able to realize our vision without that. We decided to start a project to train the children directly and help them succeed. We gave the program the name of Project Udaan (“To Fly”): A Stairway to IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology)..

The Founder of the organization who had taught at an IIT for 23 years (1974-97) had observed that less privileged students who joined the IITs under the affirmative action quota system usually left without completing their graduation.

The IITs are internationally –renowned colleges of Engineering and Science. To get into them, students have to clear the toughest examination in the world- the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). The students who came into the IITs under the quota system were the lowest ranking entrants. The reason for their failure in the institute lay in the lack of a sound foundation in Science, Math and English. She felt that if such students could be empowered in school before they entered IITs, probably, it would transform their lives.. This became the inspiration for the project that GREAT Foundation decided to offer to bright, needy students studying in government/ low fee schools.

Under Project Udaan, we decided we would select the best students of Science and Math in Grade 9 and coach them for 4 years in Physics, Chemistry, Math, Logical Reasoning and English. The goal was to prepare them for clearing the JEE and entering the IITs considered way beyond them. The project would be offered outside school hours and would not be dependent on any school or its casual academic culture.  We wanted to offer a project where we would have complete freedom to design the program as well as implement it without external  interference.

The method we adopted for selecting students was to write to School Principals asking them to recommend the brightest Std 8 students interested in Science and Maths. An objective Entrance test in logical reasoning was administered to 150 students  The test was given in Marathi (Local Language) and in English.

Forty students were selected after an interview from among those short listed. The interview  tested their ability to understand simple English and their motivation for joining the course. Since the course would run alongside school, we wanted to make sure the students would like to be on it. Written parental consent was taken. The annual parental income of the selected students ranged between $625 and $3906. The course would be offered without a fee.

The students who had appeared for the Entrance test had  no dreams. Their parents who were invited to the introductory session too had no dreams. It was taken for granted that the boy students after passing Grade 10,would become electricians or mechanics like their fathers, while the girls would get married and become house servants like their mothers. Their School Principals and teachers probably knew about the IITs because own their children had studied there. Yet no one had ever told the students about the JEE because it was assumed that they would never get there. So when GREAT Foundation introduced the project to them and its objective, not only the students but also the parents felt excited. A bright, new world of hope and sunshine had opened up before them and they promised to give the project their  full support. Everybody was on wings.

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Students and their parents attending the launch of Project Udaan in 2016

The project started in earnest. Four hourly classes were held every Sunday. Besides being taught IIT Foundation Course I  in Physics, Chemistry, Math, Logical Reasoning, the students were also being trained in English. This was to help them understand their lectures and test papers. The students seemed to be enjoying the course.  

Four months and two Tests later, we decided to take stock of the students’ progress. On closer scrutiny, we were dismayed to find that only 4 out of 40 students were doing well. The rest had  been scoring zero, and below zero (negative) marks. This sent shock waves through us and we decided to pause, listen and examine the reasons.

It came as a revelation that these intrinsically  bright students didn’t know the concepts of Grade 8 Science and Math properly. No wonder they were not able to understand the concepts of Grade 9 Science and Maths! Now what was to be done? We asked the students and they admitted that they did not know a number of basic concepts. We collected the list of difficult concepts from them. The list seemed to cover the entire Grade 8 syllabus in Math and Science. We realized that some times it is necessary to go backward rather than forward to succeed

Without losing more time, we re-traced our steps and requested our teachers  to first teach the students all the concepts that they didn’t know.  This exercise took around two months to complete before teaching the students at Grade 9 level could be resumed. We were already in the eighth  month of the ten month long program. At the end of March 2017, the students were tested once again to assess which of the students would go to the next level of the course- Foundation Course II.

Merely 10 students had performed comparatively ‘well’ with a maximum score of 400 out of 900 marks. The  rest stood way below. 16 of them quit the program. 14 pleaded for a second chance. Given the way the program had gone, we  allowed them to continue. We seemed to stand at the cross roads with just 24 students left to be coached in Year II and not all of them the very best. We decided to take a chance and wait before taking a call whether or not to continue the project. The students alone were not at fault. It was also the kind of teaching that they had received in school.

In the meanwhile, a new batch  of ‘bright’ Grade 9 less privileged students had to be selected for  2017-18.These are the students of the Project “Send 15 Less Privileged Students to IITs in 2020”  currently described on GlobalGiving. Having learnt a lesson from the previous year, we administered not only a Test in Logical Reasoning and but also gave the students of Grade 9 (2017-18) and Grade 10 ( Grade 9 of 2016-17) the ASSET (Assessment of Scholastic Skills Through Educational Testing) in Science and Math to evaluate where they stood.

ASSET is a standardized national level test which provides not just each student’s marks but also a graded skills matrix of their performance. For example we learnt that most of our Grade 9 students were good in Algebra and Word problems, but weak in Integers and Rational Numbers. Grade 10 students were good with Mathematical Data Interpretation but weak in Integrating different Concepts or Information for decision making. The matrix provides a skill mapping to the teachers who get an idea which skill to focus on first for improvement to benefit  the maximum number of students in the class.. Thus if 80% of the students are weak in Integers, the Math Teacher could start her course with clarifying that concept, spending more time on it than on Algebra in which they were good.  The strengthening of conceptual skills in students  moves in a descending order of difficulty until the last student feels empowered. The ASSET will be repeated at the end of  the year to evaluate how far our coaching has helped them.

The program in 2017-18 was offered from the start of the summer vacation. The plan was to complete the school syllabus before schools re-opened. Classes were held from 8.00 to 13.30 hours, six days a week. Since the beginning of the course, very knowledgeable and dedicated Teachers have engaged the students whom they teach and re-teach if required until every student in the class has understood the concept.

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Grade 9 students: Listening attentively to their Physics Teacher’s  explanation

 While all efforts are made to ensure that students learn well, it  was observed that some students were not attending regularly. They were also not completing their homework and were reported to be disturbing the class because they did not understand the topic ( This happened with those who did not attend classes regularly). Their performance also was poor. We gave the students one month to improve on all counts. When they did not, we asked them to leave the program and concentrate on their school studies. We informed the Principals, Parents and students that if interested the students could take the Entrance test  for Grade 10/11 coaching in 2018-19.  They could join the program if found successful.

The JEE is an exam intolerant of underperformers; so are the IITs. We too had learnt in the course of the program that inculcating habits of discipline, hard work in less privileged students (unused to such behaviours at school or at home), was very  important . A total of 19 students –twelve from Grade 9’ and seven from Grade 10 were dropped from the program. An example had been set. All the students are now showing diligence, studying regularly and performing very well.

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Grade 9 Class Topper

On a regular basis, we give the students individual help and teach them how to manage school work as well as work in the Foundation Courses. Barring sickness or a death in the family, nothing keeps the students away from their classes now. Students as well as parents are happy with their performance at school and with Project Udaan. They appreciate the effort their teachers put in to make the higher level learning worthwhile for them  Feedback responses of students. below say it all:

Akeel: “I like strictness of some teachers because it is necessary for children to study and I also like the lovingness if some teachers” (3 September 2017)

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Students call their Chemistry Teacher The God of Chemistry

Anupam: “When our teachers teach Math and Science and from these classes I’m become clever than before when I didn’t join these classes.”

Rakesh: “ I can solve so many problems which are tough. Also I can teach to my classmates in my school”.  

Asha: “In Science and Maths I have more knowledge than other girls in school. I will go to IIT Bombay.”

Parents affirm that their children are doing very well at school and want see their children fulfil their dreams. We keep the parents motivated through counselling and regular bimonthly meetings.

Ideally we would like to retain all the students on the program. We are doing every thing possible to make them knowledgeable and confident. We do not want to turn them into race horses (like commercial coaching classes do) or to feel so threatened by the pressure that they feel driven to harm themselves. We would rather that they are well-equipped with the basics  and do well in their chosen vocation wherever they go. There will be some among them who will top and some who will flop. From our side, we will continue to give them an equal opportunity for high quality coaching and support them so that they feel enabled to enter the IITs. We wish to see them study and graduate from these eminent colleges. We want to see them walk out as well-qualified professionals -heads held high- into a life of equality and dignity.

The ultimate choice rests with the students themselves how they use what is given to them. We at Project Udaan will continue to give them the best we can, ever unafraid to listen, learn, act, and to repeat best practices that can make a lasting impact on those whose lives it touches.