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IIn a small, nondescript house in a BJS colony in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 17-year-old Kusum Chaudhary, with visa in hand, prepares to travel to the US University of Maryland to pursue a four-year undergraduate degree in computer science.
Until a few years ago, the future of her education was uncertain. She comes from a farming family who did not own the land they worked on, which meant that sufficient funds were always lacking. Kusum believed that due to her financial constraints, she would not have been able to continue her studies beyond Grade 12.
“My family couldn’t afford my graduation, so dropping out of school was the only option. There is a lot of work in the fields, so I didn’t have time to study either.” India’s best.
Until the sixth grade, I studied at the local public school. “It was an English medium school but we were not taught in English, and the teachers always spoke in Hindi,” she says.
But Class VII onwards, admitted to the Sitar Foundation.
Founded by married couple Shilpa and Dr. Amit Singhal in the US, the all-India NGO focuses on providing quality education to children from low-income backgrounds. They provide all financial support—school fees, travel, lodging, food, and more—for the seven years of a child’s education, from sixth to twelfth grade. The institution offers partners with the most prestigious private schools in the city.
Soon Kusum was accepted into the European International School Jodhpur. “I was surprised to see such a big school. She learned to read, write and communicate in English. With the support of her teachers and the foundation, the world of Kusum is starting to open up.
Recognize the power of education
Senegal recalls witnessing first-hand how education can bring about generational improvement in families. “I am where I am today only because of education,” says Amit.
While he spent 15 years working as a software engineer at Google, Shilpa completed a master’s degree in Physics from Binghamton University, and in Computer Science and Engineering from Cornell University. After working as a software engineer for several years, she became a homemaker, before joining Amit Corporation in founding Setar Corporation.
Amit’s grandfather used to repair bicycle punctures on the side of the road in Bulandshahr in UP. “He put four bamboo sticks in the ground and put polythene on top to save himself from the heat and rain,” says Amit.
The only thing he can give his son, Amit’s grandfather, is permission to study. He, in turn, obtained a bachelor’s degree in English and became a teacher. Amit’s father went to IIT Roorkee and became a civil engineer.
Meanwhile, Amit has a BS in Computer Science from Roarkee, an MA from Minnesota Duluth, and a PhD from Cornell University. “I left the country with a few hundred dollars and only two suitcases,” he recalls.
“The only thing each generation has given to the next is education, and having no money.”
Today, the couple is on a mission to give back whatever they have earned to the cause of education in India. Quitting their jobs, they founded Sitare in 2016. Each student’s education costs $2,000 a year, and the couple pays for it with their personal funds.
“Basically, education is the only sustainable way out of poverty. Education is near and dear to our hearts,” says Amit.
The couple realized that money does not have much value beyond a certain point. “The only useful thing one can do with one’s money is improve some people’s lives.”
Finding and sharpening citaris (stars)
Once the institution was established, the couple’s biggest challenge was finding the best students so they could offer their assistance. Amit notes, “Low-income families live in an information-poor environment, not just a money-poor environment.”
In the first year, they had about 240 applicants, of whom they selected 50 to join Sitare. As their work has continued over the years, word has spread, and this year, they received 73,000 applications from entrance examinations conducted in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bhopal and Indore, out of which 100 were selected for the programme. Selection is based on an aptitude test designed by the test experts at Education Technology for Educational Initiatives. To date they have worked with over 400 children.
But given the background of the students, new challenges arose. Girls in particular are often denied an enabling environment to focus on education because of the domestic responsibilities imposed on them.
“Because parents are uneducated, they sometimes don’t fully understand the value of education, and they don’t provide the necessary environment for a child to succeed,” explains Amit.
Between tasks like working in the field, doing housework, or taking care of younger siblings, their studies end up taking a backseat. Poverty also means that these children often live in small, noisy and crowded homes, where it is difficult to concentrate on studying.
“In that environment, they struggle on a daily basis. We give them an education that allows them to compete with children who live in luxury and whose sole responsibility is to study.”
Even for girls who are skilled enough to get into Sitare, there are cases where their parents married them off and they had to drop out of school. “All of the social pains on our show show up in more ways than one,” says Amit.
For students who stick to the programme, Sitari has also partnered with Sanskriti, The School in Ajmer, Kids Club School in Jaipur, IES Public School in Bhopal and Millennium School in Madhya Pradesh.
For Kusum, Sitare helped her take an interest in programming. “At my previous school, there was no computer lab, so I didn’t realize there was such a thing as programming,” she recalls.
The establishment provided her with a laptop computer, and after she became accustomed to handling the device, her interest in computers only increased. “Our Euro teachers introduced us to HTML and Java, as well as working online. I was impressed with that and decided to take it further,” she says.
Today, as she prepares to study at university, Kusum remembers how, through all the struggles they faced, her parents had always supported her education. Since I got married, my mother has faced many difficulties. She is my inspiration. She did not study because her parents did not support her. But she wanted me to study and she always supported me.”
“When I go back to my life, if it weren’t for Setar, I wouldn’t have been able to continue my education and would have been working in the fields,” notes Kusum.
Meanwhile, Amit explains, “their education is supplemented by social and emotional development.” Sitare’s staff includes counselors and city coordinators who make sure children are doing well socially and emotionally, and ensure that all of a child’s needs are met. They also encourage children to continue this development among their families and communities.
For example, the mothers of one female student stated that after she had been in the program for two years, the girl did not like seeing her mother use her thumbprint to sign, so she taught her how to write the signature instead.
“After a child completes 10th grade, we have to make him world class to compete with all the rich kids,” says Amit. For classes 11 and 12, Sitare runs a residential program where students live in a hostel and focus on studying for exams like JEE, NEET, and CLAT, depending on their chosen subjects. They also prepare their application to study in the United States.
After seven years of work, their first batch graduated this year. Besides Kusum, four other students are also preparing to study in the United States, all of whom focus on STEM-related degrees, which the institution encourages. “Because after that, the prospects for employment go up and our job is to make sure that they get good earnings, because that’s how they can change the future of their family, and maybe the whole of society,” he notes.
When kids enter the program, Amit says, they don’t even dream big. The most ambitious want to become the teachers they saw in public schools. But Sitare encourages them to come out of their shell and explore a wider world.
Amit and Shilpa are also in the process of launching Sitari University in Madhya Pradesh, where undergraduate students will be offered free education in computer science.
Edited by Divya Sethu
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