Guwahati, Sept 5: During the late 90's when Bongaigaon based Rheeddhilochan Kumar Chaudhury went to Fergusson College, Pune for further studies, he was taken aback by the reasoning ability of his classmates. A feeling of inferiority complex crept into his conscience.
"My classmates were very smart, extrovert and they possessed a good knowledge in every field, I was at lost and was unable to comprehend how well they excelled in each and every field. Somewhere, I felt I was unable to cope up with them," said Chaudhury.
Chaudhury completed his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bongaigaon district of Assam. He was a brilliant student and passed out with flying colours, he later went on to study Electronics in Pune. It was during this time when he thought of doing something in the education sector.
"When I was studying at Fergusson, one day I went to see my friend's school, it was a Kindergarten school under the banner of Loyola, and it was one of the renowned school of Pune. I was stunned at the kind of education given there. Then I realised that it might be the education system in my area that is lacking something," asserted Chaudhury.
Chaudhury started churning out ways to do something in the education sector so the inferiority complex which he has gone through does not become an impediment for the children of his area. Over the years he travelled to several cities completed his masters in Computer Science from Hyderabad and upon returning back he took up a Euro kid franchisee and started a preschool in Bongaigaon in 2007. Later, he started a formal school- Braintree International School under his trust Reiyukai Knowledge Foundation. The school was initiated with a vision to impart quality education to the children in the Lower Assam district.
While speaking about the school, Chaudhury stated, "Very soon the school will be affiliated to CBSE. Currently, around 400 students are studying here till class 9."
Chaudhury's quest to bring about holistic development for the children in his area did not end here, coming from a technical background he felt the need to develop his management skills, and went to IIM Bangalore in 2016 to pursue a programme on management. Later, on stumbling upon a teachers training programme, he came across the Teach for India initiative and applied for a fellowship.
"Fortunately I was selected for the fellowship in 2020 and I got the opportunity in Pune. The amount of knowledge I have gained during the two years of fellowship is inexplicable." added Chaudhury.
Although he was doing everything in his capacity to develop Braintree, he felt that until and unless he is not doing anything for the underprivileged kids, be it in Pune or Bongaigaon, he is not doing enough for the society, "If I am not working and dedicating my energy towards the development of the underprivileged kids, it will not fulfill my purpose and my skill and talent that I have gained over the years will be wasted," said Chaudhury.
During his fellowship, he used to teach students of grade 8, 9 and 10. "Teach for India is providing all intervention and good quality education at ground level. However, even the students of higher classes were not able to cope with subjects like English, Science and Maths," informed Chaudhury.
After doing a research on the early education of the children, Chadhury understood that their pre schooling was not strong. Moreover, the guardians of the underprivileged kids are daily wage earners and used to reside in small houses, "Let alone education, the children don't even get their basic needs. 90% of brain development happens during kindergarten, moreover, the pre schools in India are highly expensive and they are not catering to government schools or Anganwadis. Since I have a registered trust (Reiyukai Knowledge Foundation) and in association with TFI we initiated a pilot project and we tried to fill in this gap by creating a pre school programme named "Udbhav" for the underprivileged kids," informed Chaudhury.
Speaking about the programme, Chaudhury stated that the children are taught free of cost and among every 10 students, a parent representative is incorporated and the role of the parent is to work with the programme team and support a group of 10 families to help their children continue learning. They are responsible for conducting support circles for parents to discuss and solve challenges at the community level. They will act as a bridge between the teacher and the parents for the development of the children.
"The curriculum not only educates the children or trains the teachers, but we have also involved the parents in it by making one guardian as a representative. Moreover, we are also paying a monthly stipend along with other allowances to the parent representative. Apart from encouraging them, this is an attempt to empower them," asserted Chaudhury.
The model which was initiated as a pilot project has now been implemented in two schools in Pune- Sardar Kanhoji Angre English medium school, Guruwar Peth, Pune and APJ Abdul Kalam E-learning school, Kothrud, Pune. Meanwhile, Chaudhury and his team are in discussion to tie up with all the Anganwadis of Pune. The schools will operate as Public-Private-Patnership model and their intervention is from nursery to grade 2.
On being asked about the implementation of the same programme in Assam, Chaudhury informed that he is determined to replicate the project in Bongaigaon and Assam at large and he is in talks with the authorities concerned. Given the challenges in Assam, he is of the view that the system needs to be improved for the holistic development of the children.
