Wings to aspirations

Armstrong Palme leveraged Navgurukul Group’s affordable coding courses to make engineers out of rural graduates and undergraduates of Northeast in just eight months

- ANIL SWARUP

There is absolutely no doubt that if opportunities are given, there is nothing that rural folks cannot achieve. Armstrong Accordingly, Palme, a young IAS officer was on the lookout for something which people from the Northeast have not yet explored because of a lack of opportunities. Wherever he went, he noticed boys and girls from NE usually working in the hospitality and retail sector; all of these were great but they didn't last. He wanted to provide them with skills which would last them a lifetime; that they would be so good at their work that their employers wouldn't think of working without them and even if they chose to start on their own, they could be equally successful.

In September 2021, when Armstrong went down to Bangalore, he was introduced to this Navgurukul group through its founder Abhishek Gupta.

They impart coding courses to boys and girls irrespective of their qualifications with all facilities being provided including food, lodging and a laptop to each student. He believed this was one perfect opportunity for boys and girls who had either dropped out of Class 12 or had graduated and doing nothing productive. He visited the campus and interacted with the students.

Within the next 45 days, Armstrong decided to set the ball rolling to select about 30 girls who were willing to try this course. After a basic assessment test, they came down to Bangalore. Most of these girls were either graduates or Class 10-12 pass or who had discontinued studies for various reasons. They were sitting idle at home and couldn't find many opportunities to take up further.