Bed-ridden IITian conceives a tuition class for school kids

Every evening from 3pm-10pm, around 45-50 children from standard VI-XII from the National Capital Region (NCR) flock to a unique set of classrooms for coaching in physics, chemistry, math, and biology.

Their coaching takes place in smart classrooms which are equipped with webcams, projectors, speakers, illustrations. If a student is not present in the classroom, he can still remain involved by getting a live session at home via the webcam.

This unique coaching class, started since June 2009 with only one student, was the culmination of an unfortunate event in the life of its founder, IIT Delhi alumnus Aditya Shankar.

After working with management consulting firm ZS Associates in the US for over two years, Shankar returned to India in August 2008, and worked for a short while in his father’s construction business.

But an accident rendered him bedridden for 6 months, and forced him to cease any work involving physical exertion.

That’s when a bright plan ignited Shankar’s mind. Looking around, he noticed that school education is not really at its best, with students failing to get a good grasp over fundamental concepts in math and science.

“There is a need to build science and math concepts early on, specially in those children who are not good in these subjects. Being an IITian, I felt I could utilise my knowledge and expertise in an area which could help children get a sound footing,” he says.

Moreover, unlike any other venture, coaching classes would require neither too much capital, nor a long gestation period.

Thus was born Class 21A, a coaching institute for CBSE, ICSE, and IGCSE students in the four subjects, with an initial investment of approximately Rs20 lakh, which Shankar and his wife, also an IITian, made from their personal savings.

Shankar says the name “Class 21A” is inspired by Article 21A of the Constitution, which guarantees right to education for every child.

“My wife and I impart lectures ourselves and often, we get friends from IIT as guest lecturers. From about 50 students at present, we aim to have 50 more during our April 2011 batch. We plan to hire some IITians as faculty in the near future,” says Shankar.

Students coming to Class 21A pay what their parents can afford to. “There are those who pay Rs1,000 per month, as well as those who pay Rs5,000 per month. We also teach a few students for free. We don’t want to turn down any student for lack of finances,” says Shankar.
The institute is planning to expand its syllabus coverage to include coaching in social sciences like history, geography, economics, civics from September 2011.

“These are equally important subjects and requiring additional coaching,” says Shankar.
From April 2011, Class 21A also plans to provide coaching to schools located in the remote regions in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and the North-East; through the very small aperture terminal or VSAT.

“For this we would need about Rs5-10 lakh for each remote location, and about Rs15 lakh for the central location in NCR for setting up the VSAT systems,” he says.

Schools in remote areas also lack proper educational modules, good faculty, etc, and hence we plan to bridge that gap by imparting education from NCR,” says Shankar.