Startups solutions: from skill growth to peer learning

Startup spirit

Startup students exhibit their invention at Jagriti Yatra programme organised by Jagriti Enterprise Mela at St Joseph College in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photo by S K Dinesh

As education is taking a leap from classrooms to online platforms, so are the interests of the entrepreneurs in the sector. The Jagriti Yatra 2018 saw a good number of education startups publicise their work.

The 11th edition of the Yatra commenced in Mumbai on December 24 and reached the city on December 27. From those offering skill development programmes to those catering to children with special needs, the stalls that displayed work related to education, saw a good footfall in Bengaluru.

Kyuriocity, that was launched in Mumbai, is working towards connecting resource persons from across the world to students studying in various colleges. “Post lecture support and app learning nuggets are made available on the app. We bring on board experts from across the world, and link them with colleges where sessions are held,” said Hitesh Solanky, one of the co-founders of the startup.

A student from IIT Madras used to believe that peer training made a difference when he was part of an initiative at the institute. Today, Divanshu Kumar has founded the startup, Involve, that trains students to teach other students, a few years younger.

“We train students from class eight and above, to teach students in grade four and above. They do this two days a week. On one day, students attend leadership workshops. This way, peer learning happens. We identified that teaching is also a way to develop leadership skills. For now, students are trained to teach science and math. We are looking at training them to teach English as well,” said Chirag Patil, operations manager, Involve.

Yet another startup believes that giving students hands-on training improves their ability to choose a career.

Young innovators, which has a team from Bengaluru, is also working with schools, conducting workshops for children. With a tie-up with over 50 schools, they have been offering workshops and hobby courses, where students learn robotics, astronomy and aeromodelling.

With training that starts off with static models, students also learn to design the real working ones.