My journey from working in Corporate to an entrepreneur was an overnight decision that was fueled by a passionate dream to do something of my own and to connect to others independently.
My first baby step towards entrepreneurship was a giant decision to take over a franchisee of Computer Accountancy Training Institute which was on the verge of closing down. With no such huge financial back-up but strong support from my parents and spouse, I took the challenge by putting my best foot forward- i.e. my ability to convince people and determination to roll the startup.
Thus, I started creating my own niche. But, the yearning for an independent medium of operation and my dream pushed me to move forward. This brings forth Scholar’s Society, a not for a profit-making organization that has the single-minded mission of providing quality education. Through this medium I tried to nurture a healthy, inquisitive scientific mind, to see and explore the world crossing beyond the boundaries of worldly constraints.
I foresee and find this school as my means to reach to all those children with the gift of quality English medium education as aspired by their parents, who themselves were not fortunate enough to learn.
At present, I am running a few educational institutions in Guwahati, under Scholar’s society, as the Chairperson of the society.
Scholar’s Society is not a profit-making organization. It mainly focuses on various marginalized sections of the society to overcome their barriers and financial constraints.
The humble beginning of this mission under Scholar’s Society started with the activities in Amgaon area which is a suburb of Guwahati city. It conducted a literary event, wherein small children of the surrounding area had participated. They were allowed to explore themselves by competing in different activities like poem recitation in English, Hindi and Assamese; singing and dance competitions; oracular competitions and drawing competitions.
It was been observed that not only the students but the parents are also very keen to learn English and to converse in English. Being a peripheral area (Amgaon)and due to their meagre income, the parents were unable to provide quality education in English medium to their children. The dreams of lower-middle-class families to provide quality education in an English medium school always sometimes become hard to achieve.
Aligning to this dream, I offered quality education with affordable fees along with my father, who is a Retd. Education Officer, I started my initiative by the opening of an elementary school by the name-Little Pearls School, on 25th August,’2013, under the banner of JH Scholar’s Society. The school got started with very limited resources, but with excellent teachers. The school initially started with four students.
To overcome the fear of the parents concerning expenses of educating their children in the state of the art modern educational institutions, the school adopted certain parent-friendly policies like- low admission fees, instalment facility, free books, free stationery, free & healthy food, health checkups, Scholarship for top two students per class, free 5-year education for one needy or orphaned child.
Several Initiatives undertaken towards achieving the mission like a competitive curriculum of the top CBSE schools is followed, English inside the school campus by teachers and students was made compulsory, focus on Project-based learning, and Extra classes were provided, computer classes from Class I onwards, several outdoor activities, birthday celebration & annual celebrations.
Keeping the vision in mind of providing accessible education to all, Little Pearls School is now imparting education to 111 students that include classes from the Nursery section to Class V. We have worked over the years with lots of hurdles to achieve our vision. At the same time, we have received an abundance of support from the surrounding people, and appreciation from a few organizations as the Best Emerging and as Standalone preschool. Each year the classes are being added and subsequently, the enrolment of the students is also going up.
With the growing strength, new infrastructure needs have come up to strengthen the quality. The Little Pearls School, under JH Scholar’s Society, is trying to fulfil and achieve what it aims. We are aiming to contribute towards a brighter future for these brilliant but marginalized students by catering to their higher education needs every year in order to curtail the fear of parents of not been able to afford for upper classes.
This will surely need a huge effort and determination, which I am ready to endure.
