Earning a spot in one of India’s elite universities is no easy feat. The grueling entrance exam weeds out all but 2 percent of those vying for an education at one of the campuses of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). There’s no consideration for extracurricular activities or personal obstacles overcome. “It’s one test on one day. Every child gets a national rank. On the basis of that, you get in or you don’t,” says Akshay Saxena, who graduated from IIT Bombay with a degree in chemical engineering. “The system is quite brutal.”
Avanti Fellows is a new program designed by Saxena and fellow IIT alumni to make the system a little kinder for talented but underprivileged students. The idea is to provide academically promising youth with mentoring, academic coaching, and financial aid during their high school and undergraduate years. Avanti Fellows started with a chapter at IIT Bombay and is on track to reach 100 youths on three IIT campuses by the end of 2010. Eventually, the goal is to have self-supporting chapters at all 16 IIT campuses.
Avanti Fellows’ model appeals to IIT graduates, according to Ashok Kalbag of PanIIT Alumni, as a way “to give back to their alma mater and the nation. By identifying children from lower strata of society who cannot afford coaching for admission to IITs, Avanti Fellows provides opportunities that were otherwise out of reach. Student mentors provide the much needed handholding for these students, who find the cultural and academic situations challenging, once admitted to IITs.”
During his own undergraduate years, Saxena says he got to know classmates from slums and villages who had managed to gain admission without benefit of private tutoring and other support that he and most of his peers enjoyed. “You realize these kids are way smarter, much more gifted than you are,” he adds. “The fact that they’re there, despite their background, says a lot.”
But even getting into college is no assurance of a level playing field. Students from poor backgrounds may excel at academics but struggle with “things you can’t find in a book,” Saxena says. “Being successful also has to do with your aspirations, how you deal with pressure, whether you’re able to take risks or do well in interviews.” He watched talented but poor classmates “lose their confidence, their raw enthusiasm, when confronted with unfamiliar social situations.”
While still undergraduates, Saxena and a group of classmates started a peer mentoring program. They recruited seniors to mentor freshmen and smooth their transition into college. At the same time, they began pondering how to reach out to younger students.
“All these issues are more stark when you look at high school kids,” Saxena says. Children growing up in the Mumbai slum of Dharavi may be living in one-room shacks with no electric lighting. “Yet some of them manage to score in the top 5 percent in their high school exams. What would it take for them to go from being a smart high school student to going to the best colleges in the country?”
Saxena found himself returning to that question while a graduate student at Harvard Business School. He was also drawn to the idea of social enterprise—something that he says is “almost unknown in India.”
Avanti Fellows got a boost in May, when it won the BASES Social E-Challenge competition sponsored by the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students. Judges helped Avanti Fellows hone its plan, and the $25,000 prize enabled it to hire its first full-time employee, CEO Krishna Ramkumar, who works in India.
The prize brought media attention in India, where the IIT alumni network has endorsed Avanti Fellows. The organization also was selected by Dasra, an Indian nonprofit that mentors start-up social enterprises, to join a cohort poised for growth. “Avanti is a highly credible and talented team,” says Alison Adnitt of Dasra. “They have all the ingredients: focus, realistic ambitions, an excellent model, a viable partnership approach, and an extremely cost-effective program.”
Once Avanti Fellows reaches scale, its alumni could become an influential voice in education. “I hope we end up with a powerful group of advocates,” Saxena says, “with some good stories to tell.”
Read more stories by Suzie Boss.