CREATING LEADERS WITH EMPATHY

In 2017, Raju Kendre set up Eklavya India Foundation to promote higher education and grassroots-leadership among first-generation learners in Maharashtra. It has been mentoring students from marginalised communities to pursue education in India’s premier educational institutions and now, it wants to send such students abroad through its Global Scholar Programme GSP). In 2022, Kendre featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 list’. Hailing from a farming family, Kendre spoke to Careers360 about the inspiration for GSP and why they are focusing first on law, media, public policy, development, humanities and social sciences.

- Sanjay

Q. What was the motivation behind starting Eklavya India Foundation?

A. A lot of people have to move to Pune from the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra for higher studies. I, too, had gone to Pune 11 years ago. I had to leave my studies in Pune after fourfive months due to financial, social and other reasons. I returned to my village in Buldhana district and completed my undergraduate studies through distance learning.

I belong to a nomadic tribe and I worked in the tribal regions of Maharashtra for two years during my undergraduate studies. During my work with an NGO, I saw that students from marginalised communities have potential but don't get opportunities as they do not possess soft-skills. Later, I joined Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Tuljapur for master's and saw that the representation of marginalised communities' students in such courses is not good.

When I was in TISS in 2014, I used to provide career guidance to marginalised students in villages. Later, I got Maharashtra chief minister fellowship and started teaching in a college.

Considering all my experiences and the problems in the education system, I started Eklavya India Foundation with a pilot batch of seven students in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district. Now, we have more than 700 students.

Q. How does Eklavya Foundation select students?

A. We select students on the basis of several social and economic indicators. We ask students to fill the Google forms while applying for mentorship.

Through their responses, we check whether the student is from a marginalised community and has studied in vernacular languages and select them.

We don't charge any fee for training but we charge a nominal fee for workshops.

Since 2017, Eklavya India Foundation has been mentoring students.