Kitaab-Ek Khwab
India has massive potential due to its relatively young population, which can fuel growth and enhance its standing in the world. But that human potential is not fully realised because of a lack of effective education. No Help Too Big (NHTB) is doing its bit to move the needle in a positive direction.
Starting with 40 students in the village of Chuttu, enrolment has grown to over 1,000. NHTB provides education by conducting classes in person and online for women and children. During this process, NHTB identified major problems: a lack of foundational knowledge; children being far behind in basic reading and maths for their age/class (with lack of guidance as the main issue). Many women had never been to school and therefore find it difficult to support their children’s education. Children are often reluctant to seek guidance from their parents because they feel their parents aren’t educated enough to teach.
NHTB addresses these problems by running in-person classes for children wherever qualified teachers are available. Elsewhere, classes are conducted online. NHTB focuses on teaching basic concepts, spoken English, personality development, motivational and positive-psychology talks, cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, extracurricular activities, career counselling, and family counselling, as well as support for entrance-exam preparation for ITI, police, and government clerical exams.
Our mission is to help students throughout their journey to becoming self-reliant. (Phones for online classes are often borrowed and shared among children.) All personality-development sessions are conducted by professional trainers who have delivered similar programmes for employees at companies such as IBM and Infosys. The curriculum is developed by specialists from a reputable school chain and includes both learning and assessments.
All counselling sessions are held under the guidance of an AIIMS psychologist. These include career, life, and motivational sessions (conducted by interns who are psychology majors from a reputable university, under professional supervision).
As part of our educational initiative to enable every child to live up to their full potential, we have partnered with MentoMind, a unique learning platform that combines academic learning with the development of a growth mindset and self-belief. Both children and women can access the MentoMind app’s features. New features are coming, such as recorded video sessions in local languages, so students can study at their own pace (some people find it difficult to join classes at a given time due to phone availability, network problems, or daily labour schedules).
Women trained in community classes can now read and write and are therefore employed in roles funded by government schemes. For example, they help people fill application forms, open and manage bank accounts, and conduct classes for other women in nearby villages.