up against all odds

This is a small-real-story that happened during 2002 -2006. This story has taught me many things. Hence I wanted to share this.

On one not-so-fine day, he had a very heated argument with his boss. Sanju’s boss was running the coaching institute for money. Sanju’s ideals did not match with his boss’. He was a young kid,  just starting up with his BTech at NITK. He loved teaching. He quit the coaching class institute but was still left with the crave to teach.

Passion..

Out of the institute, the intensity to pursue his passion of helping the rural students had increased. Sanju wanted to make the students aware of the modern day competitive exams (AIEEE, CET, IIT-JEE) and train them. A small dream in a big way. The big question was. How? Hah. Answer is always the same I guess. Do it yourself.

Boostrapping

He and one of his friend decided to meet some PU college principals and talk about their intentions of coaching the students for competitive exams. “We stumbled at start, a few times, then we knew what to say. We were nervous at start, then confidence was getting restored. This went on for 2-3 months and we did not have any principal listening to us.  We almost covered colleges in the area from Katpadi to Mulky (FYI – 45km strech). And one fine day, out of nowhere we were given an stage to talk to students and auditorium was houseful!  It had to be extempore. That day, we did not speak, our passion did. We had a big surprise waiting for us that weekend. We see ourselves in an article of “Education Plus” magazine. That was a big ray of hope, that was the string we were looking to hold on to. We held on tight to this. We now knew our selling point, we are from NITK, we knew how to get there, we can teach how to get there. After that weekend, we started getting calls from various principals for career guidance session in their respective colleges. We were thrilled. At the end of 4 months, we had 5 students.”

Hope and belief

” We had confidence, we had support, we got trust, we had knowledge, we had passion, we had students, all we needed was a place to start off. We started inquiring for a small place that would serve as a classroom. There was an aunty who runs a bakery in our campus(NITK).  We were inquiring her about a small place for rent if she is aware of any. She made an offer. Her old garage for us in exchange for teaching her daughter free of cost. We agreed! Not a penny in our pockets, but now we had a place. Awesome!! Now we need blackboard and chalks. A store manager from constructon department(NITK) was a friend of ours. We were sharing our concerns and he readily gave all the chairs, blackboard and chalks that were dumped in the store room. This was super awesome!!!”

I guess someone has rightly said, ” When you really want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you achieve it”

odds

“Seeing his students join our institute, leaving his, the old boss went and lodged a complaint in police station against us for stealing books and materials from his coaching institute. We dint see this coming. We had to go and meet the SI. It was a tense moment for us. We dint even know how to go and stand in front of a SI. After some waiting, SI arrived. We told what we had to, the truth. Magically he believed in our words and sent out a strong word to the coaching institute boss that these guys should not be troubled any further. Also he asked if we would be able to teach his daughter in 2nd PU ;). Thrilled!

With police not working, he sent out a local goonda to chase us off. We spoke politely and sincerely told our stand. We told him that our sole intention was teaching only, for making the rural students come up. We don’t know why, but he believed in us and told us, not to worry about any trouble from his side. Also assured us that, hereafter we wont be facing any problems from the coaching institute boss”

results

“Two years went by. End of 3rd year, and first batch from our institute (20 students) were waiting for their results. Our fingers were crossed. The results were out and 5 students made it to NITK from our institute. This was a huge result for us. Considering that one of our lecturers conducts AIEEE classes for 300 students and only 1 got through that year. This was a moment which is very close to my heart. I still remember when I was in my last year and seeing my students in 1st year was a delight”

today

• 9 years have gone since this started. It running strong even today without Sandesh being there. This is because of the model he has created for this to sustain. ( Shoot me an email if you want to know what is the model)
• It is near to Surathkal busstand, look for “Matrix Coaching Classes”
• 2011, one student was ranked in IIT-JEE, 16 students through in AIEEE
• 110 students today
• A system in place : They have hired a typist to type out materials, qpapers, progress reports to be sent to parents

Making a difference is easy when you do it yourself. But getting the cycle to continue and sustain for as long as 9 years for no profit, but sheer passion. Hats off!! Some souls are immortal. Bow to you!

holding on

“It was never easy. But when we got to the first string (Education Plus article about us), we held on tight. We always hoped, believed in our hopes. That is what kept us going all the way. If you want to do something , have patience to wait for that first string. Once you get it, put your heart and soul into it. You will definitely succeed.”

He is very humble person, and probably he might not have liked me putting all this information here. I guess if there is some great work done, it needs to be shared. If you have, in any small, way gotten inspired, please sms/call 8861138405  and wish him. Today (June 23rd) is his birthday!

Happy birthday Sandesh 🙂

———————————————— Some Photos———————————————–

Sandesh teaching

Classroom

First batch

Disclaimer: I have tried to be as accurate as possible. Sandesh: Please forgive me for any incorrect information and do correct me.